S1E3: Moments We Experienced Unexpected Challenges

During this episode we touch on times we have struggled trying to stay motivated and encouraged while parenting in an Anishinaabemowin Immersion household. We also speak on times of things that we found were obstacles to get over in our own personal learning journeys as we learned Anishinaabemowin as adults.PSA: If you do not wish to listen to our Anishinaabemowin dialogue skip to 6min 25 sec.Follow us on Instagram @oursound.enweying

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Many people have reached out to ask where they can donate or support revitalization efforts. This link leads to our Link Tree which has a Patreon as well as "Buy me a Coffee" where you can donate to our families cause and initiatives we do to support learning in the home and across our communities. Miigwech

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to anyway. Our second podcast. This is our podcast about raising children and second language learning.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

I want to go up with it.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Bojo, Ozao Giji Bogeno, Day Monty, Martimaghi, Shogunashi Nazwin.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

And I think today we were gonna talk about um some of the good times and the fun activities that we've done while second language learning with our kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Um gonna much gonna much gun. Um to our sada. Expect the we nishnabem with an a good name one and the mah can always now be makan goodding a zaday big shade. And Jigazi Big Shay. Sabao doya Sabah do you know winter sun winter sun? Me nogi at the bungie bungi peachana togani Sada Mino Zada. Oh Toganan Meung Mam Mam Kadendama Shaganashim one Sada gendan at the Nishna Bay one kid win.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Um Zodai uh Gibb the Goshen and Gashan and Gosha and Gigwesh Katata uh uh Zodai Pika Goshen and Donna Gija Ode Be show um Mandawning um uh craftage like uh Nibana Beast Beast um Bisagun Be Sagan Sor I guess that's the win I'm like a bunch of little things um Gitch Mage Artake Zade Zade we or in Donna's we uh we onadin gonna baj uh beij piten dog pitendog what uh mezinagan zadai zade sho umanded opening gikida uh gusha missin um mission uh mzinagan magi gikida nanong good nung Ms Ms um Msinegan McGinnis McGinnesonabachiki going gi kidosiuk Sustamina eh Midashki kido mizenagan oid sho manda mizin bigay natagunsuk or nunda mazinbigaonsukad den dum onzam gikida non anday in godwaswe kidwinan um going beijik magic uh imperative command um gid the b not going the bajma wind the mo uh describe guy um going fantasy um no waj like going gasha going io de be show g gi gi obje tun be show gido um be show mazimbi notagun suk me wa o um git a kid when mazimbigay notagunsak like going o day mump like yeah so um I wasn't expecting that because um so up so far up till now she's three and a bit three years old and a bit and it's usually like she can say a couple words you know two three maybe four she'll string along but this was like a whole her explaining and she had just come home from my mum's house so um I was thinking like she would be in her English thinking brain you know coming home and for her to come home immediately go to Nishnabimwin and then uh for her to be using like filler words and stuff like for me I was just like very shocked and impressed and to me that just showed me that her increase in vocabulary in English helped her increase in vocabulary in Nishina Bimwen without even learning it so that was one for me. So I think we're just gonna kind of take that and lead into times that we the times we enjoyed the most learning with our learning alongside our children or learning with one another um as partners. And we kind of wanted to go through you know different times that we can reflect on and remember that we're really good and then kind of reflect on all those different phases of our life together as um in a in a partnership that's aiming to revitalize Nishnabimwyn. Okay so I guess we'll start like when I first got pregnant um I wasn't we weren't really expecting that. So that kind of like pushed us into um a space where we felt like an urgent need to learn the language faster. We had uh both already attended Oog at that point um which we had talked about in our last episode um Ojebuta Magda Kimanang in Minnesota. So we had already um been there together um the previous summer and so I believe we applied again and were accepted. So we went back knowing that I was five months pregnant and we were gonna be bringing um somebody into this world very soon, like within five months. So there was like yeah I felt a huge pressure to be learning as much as I could in that time period.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yeah I think there was pressure to be like okay I need to be really proficient. I need to be almost fluent because this baby is gonna be coming soon and they need to hear the language spoken as properly as possible.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

And I think these are both goals that we had in mind maybe not well I don't know like I'd say I'd have I had always wanted to have a partner who was anishanabe who could speak the language since I was a little girl but I didn't think it was possible. So in my adult life when I found Monty and I knew that's what my goal was um we both were kind of like alright here's our goal and it's kind of being put into play here it's it's becoming a reality um we are gonna have to get to the work faster than I had anticipated. One thing that I I started attending prenatal classes at the local um there's an organization here that helps out um urban indigenous uh community members and they had a prenatal program so I got um a little bit of access to ceremony and culture and knowledge carriers through that but um it also helped rearmind me and reinforce me to start reading to my belly and for Monty to be reading um for that baby not to just not just to hear my voice but to hear his voice and to hear it in our language. So we picked like one book in particular that we read a lot um Gibbdagoshinowat Mayagi Wagoshak I think.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Um I read that one a lot just because I like the pictures it was slow um was one of the few picture books I had already invested in um and I was like encouraging Monty to also talk to my belly Yeah so I would read from different resources that we had even like non-kids books and or just speak in the language.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

You and I like encouraged you to drum to me a couple of times as well to sing. I mean that's um it was still language excuse me language exposure and also like part of who we are to hear those sounds right um and at Oog I it was awesome because we just had so much so much exposure 247 um to those sounds and oh and and then I just knew that um when it came to like physical activity and whatnot that that was usually the time that I like sat out or took a break. I I started opening up Marianne Corbier's lexicon book at that point. I had received it in 2013 at Georgian college but we were never given it in school so I started to open that up and try and um tackle that um throughout the the beginning of the pregnancy we were also able to like before COVID attend a lot more events conferences and stuff right we were going to conference um I came to Ashkinishnobemjek again I think yeah and I was I oh yeah that was the summer in Chiking right I didn't attend for too long because it was outdoors and that was rough on big pregnant me um and then yeah you were trying to speak Nishanabamman during the labor telling you to stop so even she got to hear you know some language in um when we were about to meet each other um that was actually really wonderful though because she was welcomed into the world with her language um and so when we had so when she did arrive all I can remember for those first couple days was we just listened to Lee Opusan staples for like on repeat with her for those first couple like I think maybe one or two days we were just catching up on sleep and whatever but then after that that's all I can remember for a couple days.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah like I remember we were pretty strict the first or I was a base the first year. Like I didn't want her to have any English nothing.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

We had like this house was really good for the first year.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Yeah so I when I would put on a movie I would put it on in a different language and I would just put on the English subtitles to read. Mm-hmm so whatever it was German or French or Russian or whatever just another language so that she wasn't hearing any English and I was putting her to bed with um tapes of recordings of elders and um into her room as she slept.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Um I'd I'd taped post-it notes all over the walls for myself because I was learning I was I was still very very beginner very early on in my learning. So I was practicing that every day um yeah we were we had a lot of Nishnabin when wherever we go in public I was always singing to her um whenever I was in the mall I was always talking to her in the in the language. I like nonstop I would always see every opportunity we were in public together to be in the language. Especially because no one knew what I was saying so I felt if I'm making mistakes anyways people aren't you know I uh that was the one benefit of being alone practicing the language on your own um with babies like they just need to hear those sounds yeah and I was reading to her still with the the children's books that we have and just giving her exposure to to the language 'cause they talk about how when you read books like English like a regular um if you're raising your kid just speaking English it's good to read read to them 'cause they get exposure to all this other language that you might not say in the regular day.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

So I thought well if we would just do that in a language and that that would help.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

So one thing that I can recommend is trying to find a support system not just an emotional support system but a language support system. Just because within that first three months of her arriving we had okay it's um I'm gonna be emotional. Um we had one, two three four was it just four was it four I think four of all could fit in the car right steeping, so and squanquet and um pedicunes yeah they were they they showed up and they drove from you know all over um minutes yeah so friends that we had met through Oog um they had and also Miss Squanquit who is from Soxing um who we talked about last episode as well so they all came here um someone let a smudge for me please just kidding they all came here in was it October? Yeah well I think November November yeah um and they and we all just just right away we just stayed in the yeah as soon as they opened the door and they were all talking to Sada and just using the language with her and singing and I cooked a dinner that was way too freaking spicy because I forgot Thai green curry spicy on top of it didn't eat those jalapenos shout out to you guys for dealing with that it was awesome we spent like I don't know two three days like we went for a walk and we had dinner at my house and they sang and we they sang us a song um of the ukulele and their beautiful voices and um and then I think we went bowling the next day and when we went bowling we again yeah we just stayed in the language and um it was just so it was just so awesome and I can I I know for a fact that they'll tell you the same thing that those were like some extremely special times because like um to find people your age that are willing and able to do that is is um I think like super crucial in your learning. Like I said when I was learning German um the times that I learned the most was when we were speaking in German, having fun going out and doing things together because you want to be there and and you want to it's a it's motivation on its own to have fun, right? So I'd say get a good support system going learning wise if that has to be from a far on Zoom or whatever, but you know try and create friends within those language communities um it makes it a little bit easier. And then um shortly so then that takes us into March I think we had another immersion over at um the Shonius residence with our Eshkenishna Bemjik friends.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Not to brag about all our friends well no it's I'm just kidding it's it is important to create it is the point.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

It's important to create a community of your own like of not only you developing a relationship with fluent speakers that you can talk to um even daily if you could um or weekly or just someone you can connect with but also those other learners that are kind of in the same spot as you and I mean you can talk about different things that you know you're not gonna talk to an elder about various memes. Memes or sports or movies might have might not have the same taste as amongst us something like that.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

And then now there's like the commonality of being parents now um so we have friends that are now parents that are raising their kids in in the language. Um but yeah so we had um Idab and then just showing us invite us over and other people. So at that point we were the only ones that had Sodai at the time and uh we had our other friends there and we just all stayed in the language and hung out and We cooked together.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

I can remember cooking and trying to find a word for stir and then we came up with Dodge um and then we played I think were we playing cards at the table or what were we s we were doing at the table? Someone had a guitar and I remember sitting with Zodai and the cat was there and the dog was there. Um were we playing a game and with cards or were we just probably talking or something? Yeah and I can remember you know we played a couple of games that weekend Mario Kart and they played one downstairs that I wish I could have joined in on but I was feeding Zodai and getting her to bed and stuff but um watched UFC Yeah we went on a hike out um they had like a really nice trail out uh near where they live like out behind um their house um so we got to go for a walk all together.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I think we bought the dog and um Oh and I remember we're sitting at the table and Migunabic um looks at Zada and Zada is like really small and not talking yet.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Yeah she's like five, six months.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Yeah. Um so Migunabik says oh and done go bibgyoyan like I like your shirt and then Zada starts laugh like starts smiling and like like she understood and like what she said. Yeah it was it was So it was like she understood at that point like even though she wasn't talking she could understand a lot.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah yeah definitely comprehension at at that point because I have a video of her at five months and I'm saying Neiman Neiman and she's rocking back and forth in the laundry basket. Um so she had a lot of comprehension at that point I think she had exposure as well to English just because of our family the we had our family around so she was bilingual um at six months.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

It's just there was none in our household um and then I have um like I have a YouTube playlist of Nishina Bamwin like I think we talked about that before that I would play for her and she liked it.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Um and then Rochelle Allen has a playlist that she collects uh a bunch of different YouTube um videos so we play we played that for her too Michelle is an all-star just pioneering the way I just want to say that she I can remember that first time at I think it was Nishna Moyne take was it in Toronto or was that a different one? What one was the Toronto one? Oh little NHL we were all there for little NHL that's what it was um and we had gotten together I think for um or was it it's an all native hockey tournament for those that don't know. Um either or it was somewhere and we were in the same hotel where we were gat we were gathering in a hotel after swimming and she put on this playlist and I hadn't even seen it before and I thought you know it was something special from a website that I'd never have access to and and the kids are all sitting around you know still like drying off from the pool and they were having their snacks you know we had she had bought in a bunch of snacks and she's at the snacks out and thought I was there with um um our daughters are about the same age and and um they all sat around and watched um Schnabenwen stories um from that playlist and I was just like what a life saving because at that point I was like so exhausted right and um nursing and not sleeping right everyone knows and it was just kind of my first like that was kind of like the first time we had really hung out and our children had had access to hang out together and stuff in the same space and who are also um first speakers and uh yeah so that was just like such a special moment and we've had many after that but I just wanted to give a quick shout out um I do I do not want uh that to go unrecognized or unacknowledged. Um so again even for our children we were we have um tried to create that language learning community for them and that was that is one way because they're gonna need people to talk to and they're gonna need f little friends and like don't isn't this the collective mission right um for them all to be speaking together and for them to actually be friends and have stuff to talk about right um so that has been another mission of ours um I don't want to say mission either but just goal.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yeah so the first year that we brought her to there it was for me challenging because I was facilitating and then also being a dad at the same time. So it's like juggling juggling both of those things making sure this immersion experience is running running proficiently and then also making sure diapers are changed and no everyone's I'm getting a mental health break.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Um because I was on I was up with Monty um and Zade and our daughter alone in a residence with like very little AC and stuff right while he's he's trying to facilitate this and we're trying to be there because it's language exposure, it's a community of learners, it's exposure for our daughter, right? Um I didn't want to be there as a mooch by any means but the whole collective is for us to be raising and I and I couldn't commit to being a a a learner in that space either just because I um I had a daughter and I I had to commit to her um and her learning so but yeah she got a lot of exposure to the language and um the fluent speakers spoke to her and other learners that were there all spoke to her in the language and um for her it was Mealtimes were really awesome because there was so many people sitting down in one room and sh we all had to eat and it was just um it was a really good time for her to be able to kind of sit in her stroller and eat or sit at the table or or bounce around between tables and have to the opportunity to speak with different kinds of learners and different speakers from different places um as well as socializing and and and coming together for food, you know, that's so important.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

I guess I should add that um she had the privilege of being there because I'm one of the organizers. So one of our rules of Ashkenish Nabemik is that there are no kids, that it's all adults 18 and over and part of that reason is because we want the students to be focused fully on language learning. And like um Emilina was saying she was there she couldn't commit as a student she was there as a mother just exposing our child to the language and I could see that like that kind of reinforced that for me like if you're there to learn the language then you can't have any other distractions and hopefully what you take away from our are that two weeks of immersion is you can take that back home and use that for the rest of the like the rest of the time you're with your family but um so for some people um that's one of the rules that we put in is that um there are no children and I think that's why because um there's no other way but to say that there are distractions for your learning because you you're parenting and you can't uh focus um anyone who's parents in the language knows how hard it is to try and learn and parent and especially when you're given an opportunity in a in a condensed amount of time with the exposure you are you don't want to lose that because it isn't an ideal learning space not space but it isn't ideal but neither is our situation and so it's it's just kind of one of those sacrifices and unfortunately I kinda got the opportunity to because of what Monty said with our daughter was for her exposure and we both committed to, you know, no English whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Um Including my daughter, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Um and there's not a lot of people who are having their children immersed in the language at home. And so s um kids aren't if you tell your kid uh Nishna Bhimonata if they don't speak it anywhere else, and then you wanna bring them to an immersion experience and you want them to only speak in the language, that's probably not gonna happen. They're not gonna listen to you, they're gonna speak what they know.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

And not fair, right? Because we both know how it feels to be trapped in your own head, right? And not have the what you need to be able to express what you need to do to just be a human and live your life, right?

unknown 30:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Um so it's it's just kind of the best uh for both for both situations. Um but for Zodai It was just it was just wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

So I guess w we can get into having accessorial. Um just he hasn't um had that exposure to immersion because of COVID and uh we didn't run our immersion camp this year, so he hasn't been like exposed to that type of intense language just at home with us, but not hearing it from other fluent speakers or like in person, like not in person, will play videos and stuff, but um and then he'll have he'll hear like our friends who kind of we use Snapchat or other social media apps to to communicate. He'll hear it from there, but he hasn't had that exposure that Zodai had yet.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Yeah, fortunately he's a second ch second child and so um he's getting not only triple the amount because of language exposure from us this time around, because Zada is now in the picture using how many more words than we used, but we're also using way more words with Zade and with him, so it's kind of like a uh I don't know, quadruple quadruple effect because um I mean I would prefer us to be able to go get real exposure out, but for him himself, um I'm feeling pretty good. The comprehension is definitely there, he's way too smart for me. I'll admit that he's way more intelligent than me. Um and he's a very good communicator, despite the fact that he's not uh speaking he's not verbal yet, which is not he's just not there, he's he's only 13, 14. What where are we now? March? He's almost for 15 months, so not expecting words.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Um yeah, and he's had more exposure to English than Zodai did at her age. So like I said, we were really strict like the first year with her. But he's getting more exposure to like English TV and um things like that. Uh because we'll let Zodai um watch movies in English. Um but sometimes she'll we'll we'll turn on like French and stuff like that still, but we're giving her exposure to English, just so that she's um getting some because we know that in our community, like when she goes back to school or goes to school and stuff like that, um it's not gonna be immersion, so she needs to understand some words. Um and one of the I guess one of the reasons like safety and stuff like that. He's getting more English than she did, but he's still fully comprehending in a shenabe one, so it's like he's they're both they'll both be fully bilingual, I think.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Yeah, I do too. I have no doubt um about that. Sasuke Aji. Um he also got to hear a lot in the belly. So something that we forgot to talk about was um like while Zada was I don't know, she turned two no, she was like 18 months, I guess. Because we missed like a whole gap there where she she had ended day care, which was in English with a little bit of exposure to language. She had more language exposure at her child care operator now. But it's been closed for an entire year. Um so while I was pregnant, he was also able to hear Zade speaking, us speaking, so he got like a lot more exposure in the womb, um, than Zade did. I was trying to talk, but when you're just a couple, you know, you're not talking nearly as much as when there's a toddler running around. I think that had a big effect on him as well, and that grounded him as well. Zodai had full comprehension of what was going on. I had no I did not expect her to understand whatsoever, but you know, he was in there, he was in your belly, now he's out, and that's the same nishime, like Nishima. So, anyways, that was one part that I f I forgot to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Um well the just going back to Zade, so our daycare on our um on our community, Chipotle Thames, um, they're trying to do the immersion, or trying to create that, and so the ECEs aren't fluent, they have a couple fluent speakers in there to help with getting them proficient. But they mostly speak English with some language sprinkled in daily, so Zodai for us, because we speak to her every day, we don't know exactly because we haven't heard her use any new words or anything that that we haven't used with her. And so other parents um they talk about uh other parents or grandparents that have kids that go to the daycare that Zodai goes to. Um they'll say things like, Oh, my my child or grandchild they're coming home and they're saying words and I don't even know what they're saying, I can't even talk back to them. And they're singing songs in the language and I don't even know what they're saying, and for us, like we don't know because we just use the language and so we don't know w like we don't know.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

We can't say like we we can't give her like that applause of like, oh you're using the language more, yay, like um well it's funny because it's almost the opposite, because that first year that she went there, it was like she would come home and then she would use English words that she we had never used before, and we'd be like, Where did you know this word?

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Yeah, she for us she was coming home and learning new English words. Like, what it was the opposite effect for us.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Oh, we couldn't and then we were like it was hard to we can't really we wanted to applause it, but then we don't want to applause it because we want to encourage Nishabin win, so we're like, yeah, like that's that's a table, but it's dope win, you know, and we're trying to like it's just such a weird fight to have in yourself.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Yes. Because you're you wanna most people are like, yeah, it's it's word, and you were like, oh, it's a different language real hard, hard on our kids.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

So I've I don't I can't think of a time, but I don't think I've ever like giv given her praise for using English. Even though like most parents would. Um like, oh yeah, you said that right.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

I've been a little softer. I've I always give the the encouragement, but then go back to Nishab and would. And so I'm paranoid.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

I guess I like guess I don't know. There's a couple of things I'd like to talk about Sasuan J, but um I also don't want to miss over um kind of talking about you and me, just us. Like for instance, right now we're given the privilege of like we had spare time today to do this podcast. We don't have the kids, and so um just kind of things that we've done ourselves as a couple for those who may not have kids and still want to help raise babies or children in the language, or our aunties and uncles, or whatever, right? Whatever the situation may be. Um these are men, whatever, right? Um so personally, we have a whiteboard, we have a couple of whiteboards around the house. And um, I always like say to Ozawa, I've been saying this for a while, if I'm making a mistake, like please correct me, because I don't want to keep reinforcing the same mistake over and over, and then it's embarrassing. Like if you're walking around with something on your tooth and no one's telling you, it's really embarrassing, right? And that's how it feels in the language when you're constantly making mistakes. So Monty Ozawa knows uh um to correct me, and he does often, and that's good. Um, but sometimes he'll just write something on the whiteboard if he's noticed I'm saying the same thing over and over wrong. Um, it's like he's never told me this, but I know it. A really gentle way of being like, hey, maybe if I write it down, you can read it, and then you kind of understand what you're saying wrong. And I still go back and make those mistakes because um a lot of my Inishnapim one was wrong and reinforced wrong. So I have to go back and you know undo a lot of those mistakes that have already been habitualized and conditioned into me. Um so that's one. We have a couple whiteboards around the house. We had encouraging words on there at one time. Sometimes it's all baby words, sometimes it's all diaper words, and right now it's kind of like expressions that we say that um we can be using in the language that he wrote down. So I think eventually Mom Peach you had written down. Um I just erased it to write our podcast stuff on it, but I have a picture of it on my phone. Um, and I've also been doing a word list, so I've been going through um different books and stuff or words that I've found that I don't know that I use often that I'd like to incorporate. I do like seven at a time, and I don't know if anyone does workouts, um, the add-on and take off, add-on, take off workout where you start with like 12 dumbbell pumps and then you do 12 squats, you do 12 dumbbell pumps and 12 squats, and then you do sit-ups, you do da da da da da 12, 12, 12, and so you keep adding on and then eventually taking off. So I was doing that same kind of exercise but with memorization, so I was adding one word, seal, ashki, plural, ashkiek, and then I would draw the word into a seal, just because as a learner myself, I learn really well that way by drawing and writing and saying all at the same time. So I draw my words into like the action it was, or like um I'm on the s like waves gook. Um so drawing them like that so that I can remember. Um that was just one way that I was putting stuff around the house. Do you have any that you'd like to share at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Just sometimes you just have to grind and just study Yeah, yeah, sorry, I'm not interrupting. Yeah, you just have to put in the grind and just sit there and just like go through a list of words or phrases that you want to know and just kind of memorize them and write them on different things around the house to remember them or study them or look at them every night before bed or something. Um, but the main thing is consistency and um if you're just thinking that you can go to a class once a week and you're gonna become a speaker, then that's you're gonna be waiting a long time. Um you have to use it every day, no as much as you can and you have to study.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Like you just have to You have to wanna nerd out on it.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Yeah, you have to like put in the grunt work, I guess. Like there's different I think everyone kind of if you're an adult, you kind of know what helps you learn or what helps you remember things. Um, for me, like I'll write I'll write it down and then I'll um lately I've been trying to record um record myself so that I could put it on while I'm driving or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

What about stuff as a couple? Like not romantically, I just mean like stuff that we do within each other to help reinforce I guess going out in public, if we're out in public I think we use it more just because one, it's more comfortable when people don't know what you're saying to each other. And two, it gives us an opportunity to speak in public without making mistakes, maybe, I don't know. Practice saying it out loud in front of people without having to worry.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Yeah, it's the just trying to use it with each other and getting comfortable using it. Especially if you haven't really spoken to someone in the language before, like just as uh just having a conversation and sometimes it feels um contrived or fake when you first do it, but after a while like you get more comfortable using it.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

And I like to learn like I know it's a little bit of a shake a shape or something, but like I like to memorize or know a couple words in our language, in our sound, that are like nice to use with your loved one, like um up to gin chin, gazoggin, gazigu, ginchin.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Words words of affection.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Yeah, like those are just really nice to have in the home and they're like to be able to speak in a different language that is your own to your partner, even if you're not even if you don't um speak the same language, it's still like your own kind of love language as partners. So I really encourage learning a couple and getting used to using them and like making making it be yours. Yours again.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Um and our kids know those words like off to jeans or things like that.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Yeah, and it's super nice for them to see us using it or for them to see us um using it in action, it reinforces and through more through role modeling, you know, this is how you use it, this is how it's used, it's okay to use. Um sometimes we're just like too afraid to speak in front of our kids, I find, because we're afraid to make mistakes, but that's how they learn. Like monkeys see, monkey, monkey do. Um, don't what's that expression? Like kids do what you do, not what you say. And so if you want them to listen, you gotta demonstrate it. And I'm learning that, you know, through being calm when you're frustrated, but um, especially through our sound. Like I encourage you to um have the confidence to speak, to give your children the confidence to speak, or your loved ones, your little ones, your ones around you, anybody doesn't have to be your children. Um just um we are gearing this specific podcast, um, us personally, uh, towards raising um our children in the language as second language learners, um, to in Indigenous parenthood. I don't want to say indigenous, I don't want to say Nishnabik, but your family.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

I would say if you're thinking about what words to study or use, I would just say what's common in your everyday life that you do. And one thing is like everybody eats. So words around eating, uh food, um things like that. Um and then just other things that you do if you whatever kind of work you do or things the hobbies that you have.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Yeah, um it's good to like we have at one point we had a refrigerator refrigerator magnet that had all the labels of the food in the fridge, categorized from inanimate to animate. Um, for beginners. Um that's something that you can explore later on. It's not crucially important right now, and for those of you that know, you know. Um it's just um for us it's a it's a matter of memorization. Um and so we had that up there, and so it makes it makes it much easier to remember how to say what you want to say, like in gimmic, ni me jin, when you know what's um what's what because you memorized it. So makes meal time easier, and then then once you, you know, feel like you've gained some control and confidence in that area with you know an emotion, the ziganan beach uh greem equina, you know, we s nada, that kind of thing, then you can explore another room and some of those actions within that room. So um just starting in one area and getting feeling really good in it before attempting like a new area, new space or whatever I find is is good in the beginning.

unknown 48:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:22

So we wrap it up.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

I'll say anish uh pane nishnabeem Pane go nishnabe. And uh but I liked yours better, I just forget what you said.

SPEAKER_00 48:36

Gegua on shit can Kwaja Nishnabemia.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Gegu An Shiki Anshkita Gegua An Shit Kan. Anshit can uh Kw Nishnabe Muyon.

SPEAKER_00 48:49

Kwe Nishnabemia.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Yeah, Migwech. That easy folks, it's that easy. Just demonstrated. Alright, Migwech, Pamapi.