An Alaskan radio station is reporting on the dire reception of a new Tlingit (an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of America) encyclopedia. “The problem is: The language in the book is not recognizable by contemporary scholars, or Native Tlingit speakers.” All in all, the story is absolutely baffling and provides a very clear negative example for Bible translators.
What the author did wrong:
- She did not employ the already established Tlingit writing system, leaving her work illegible
- She used a non-conventional spelling of the language in the title
- She’s entirely unknown to the the people for whom she did the encyclopedia
- She remarks, “I think often I’m led spiritually, and I don’t make my decisions with the full knowledge of the situation.”
- To elders, who learned Tlingit at the knees of their parents and grandparents, her CD recordings are gibberish
Does the author then view her self-published work as a waste? She describes her motivation,
“To some degree I think I was trying to bring my mother and father back together through my Celtic heritage. My father had a little French, and my mother had a little Scottish. And I thought that when they lost their culture, they lost their reason for being together. And I think that deep in my heart I was looking for that family togetherness, and I wanted to find that through language.”
What?!
Read the full story (with audio).
(HT: Language Hat) New Tlingit encyclopedia baffling to scholars, speakers _ KCAW