This article addresses the traditional prescriptivist views of language usage and language errors. It then provides ample arguments to suggest that this strict view of language is flawed. It then highlights key characteristics of errors and the ways in which we naturally react to them. The argument presented may seem like a rejection of language rules, but it is more of a caution against a black and white, condemning view of language usage that aims to punish those who use “errors” in every day life. Here are some questions to consider:

• What “errors” tend to elicit negative reactions from you? From your peers? From your parents?
• In an academic setting, how do you think we can strike a balance between prescriptivism and a more anarchic view of language?
• What “errors”, if any, do you think should remain stigmatized in academic writing?

Answering the question: What are ways in which you can teach these stories and these lessons then without translating, or is it better to keep these stories sacred/secret between their culture and our own? I would say that it is important that these stories are shared between cultures for the sake of cultural understanding and acceptance. However, I do believe that there has to be a movement within native speakers to preserve the language simultaneously in order to avoid loses in the nuances of the language. It is necessary for native speakers to teach young children the language to avoid the necessity of translation either to or from English. If we simultaneously rewrite these stories in English and the native language we will be able to create both greater understanding and preserve the language with greater accuracy. 

1. It can be possible to take the “glass half-full” approach to these stories. Going through elementary school Native Legends and stories were used to explain positive attributes such as patience, forgiveness, love and bravery. The question could then become has English altered these stories to fit an English standard or portray an American Perspective. However, I believe that if the core message still gets through the translation, it is still worthwhile.
2. A way to teach stories to children is by use of a storyboard with large pictures. My mom is an early childhood educator and deals with kids who are not able to read yet. For storytime she has these large books and before she reads the story she asks “OK friends what do you think____ is feeling,doing etc…” This allows the students to become actively engaged in the story without dialogue because they see with their eyes what is happening. I believe that this could be done to teach Native stories without imposing English upon story.
3. Probably the most historic example of Englishing was during the time of immigration. Immigrants were sometimes given new names to sound more American or willingly changed their name for the same effect. For example my family name was Engels but my ancestors dropped the s to sound more American (turned out to be a positive given that my family is related to Friedrich Engels who co authored the Communist Manifesto). Furthermore as the immigrants progressed in society speaking in their native tongue was discouraged effectively stamping out their language from this country.

Much of what this reading focused on is the way in which language (and the stories of culture/significance they carry) can be shaped and slowly devalued through a sort of “whitewashing” and English”-ing” of stories and traditions. Silence Before the Void focuses on the stories of the Maliseet people, but can be applied to the theme of cultural and lingual destruction of the Native American tribes that we have discussed in class recently, and how the writing down and passing down IN ENGLISH of their languages and stories is slowly helping in the destruction of those two very same things. Questions that arose for me, both questions for myself to ponder and ones I thought the class would have a great discussion on, were…

1.  Is it possible to take a “glass half full” approach to this story and extrapolate and positives that come from the translating and retelling of these sacred stories into more commonly used English?
2. What are ways in which you can teach these stories and these lessons then without translating, or is it better to keep these stories sacred/secret between their culture and our own?
3. What other examples of English-“ing” can we think of that has happened in our history?

 

https://www.air.org/resource/essa-and-native-american-alaska-native-and-native-hawaiian-students – Source discussing the Every Student Succeeds Act and the effect of boarding schools on the loss of Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Alaskans

I am currently in a Native American religions course this semester and, in our discussions, we briefly talked about Native Hawaiian religions, the culture, and language. There are many similarities of treatment of the Native Hawaiian and Native American cultures and languages by the United States. Many Native Americans and Native Hawaiians were sent to boarding schools to learn English and were greatly discouraged from speaking their native language. Consequently, many Native tribes and Native Hawaiians have lost their language or are just beginning to recover and relearn their language.

Responding to Marcel’s first discussion question “How does generalizing various Latin American nationalities under the umbrella term ‘Hispanic’ impact how non-Spanish speaking populations view them?”, I believe that this generalization serves only to homogenize various communities that are, in fact, unique from one another. Each of these communities has its own culture, customs, and linguistic history entirely separate from its neighbors, and should be treated as such. On the flip side, however, the term “Hispanic” could also be useful for non-Spanish speaking people; in the same way whites, blacks, Asian-Americans, and many other ethnic and linguistic groups in the United States fall under the umbrella term “American” (not to mention the other disparate communities that speak different varieties of English we have covered in class), many Spanish-speaking groups can be helpfully called Hispanic. Also, just like the term “American,” there does not seem to be anything inherently negative about using the term “Hispanic.”