For Tseshaht’s Jane Jones, preserving and teaching the Nuu-chah-nulth language is a passion she has committed herself to for more than 20 years. This passion is shared by many other Nuu-chah-nulth-aht and some of them got together to work on a project that will allow free access to their latest learning tool, a series of E-books.
An E-book is a digital or electronic book that can be read on electronic devices, including computers. They are an attractive option to both publishers and consumers because they cost less to produce and provide easier access to titles for the consumer.
Jane, along with her daughter, Connie Watts and elder Angie Joe got together to produce a series of three children’s books written in the Nuu-chah-nulth language that tell stories that Joe recalled from her childhood.
Jane says each of the women bring very important talents to the table in the creation of the books. Jane says she is the organizer, Angeline Joe is a fluent speaker in the Barclay dialect of the Nuu-chah-nulth language and Connie is a renowned artist also gifted with the technical skills required to create the books on computer.
The three books are titled Angie and the Bird, Berry Picking and Going to get Mussels. They are each about 10 pages long and are written by Angie and Jane and illustrated by Connie. All of the books come with English subtitles.
What makes these books even more special is that they come with a sound track so that the reader can hear the proper pronunciation of each and every word.
Angie Joe drew from her own life experiences for the stories. In the book called Angie and the Bird, Angie recalled a time that she had been working in her yard when she noticed a bird that seemed agitated. Curious, she watched the bird, then followed it as it moved toward its nest. It was then that she saw her cat looking up at the nest and she realized the bird was not happy about the cat’s attention so she chased the cat away.
“This is a true-life story about animals and how we listen to them and how we are one,” said Jane, adding that we also listen to plants, because everything is one.
The women have been working tirelessly to develop tools and opportunities to keeping the language alive. Connie wrote proposals for funding and was successful in getting a grant from Primates Wildlife Refuge & Development Fund through the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation.
The money they raise to create books does not fully cover their true expenses so the work they put into the project is a labour of love for the language and a gift to future generations. Besides creating innovative teaching tools, such as the language books, all three women have been involved in Nuu-chah-nulth language classes and tirelessly work to keep classes going.
The women will not be making money from the books but will make it available for free, first by email. Then they will add it to the Quu-quu-atsa Society website. By making the books available for free to everyone, they hope to spark even more desire in people to learn the language.
Jane says she hopes one day that there will be a central location to store and access all of the Nuu-chah-nulth language learning tools developed by everyone over the years so that people can have easier access.
“We’re still fighting to bring the language back and that’s why we work so hard on these projects,” said Jane.
While they lack funding to do more books the women vow to continue recording Angie’s stories in the hopes that someday funding for language preservation will become easier to access.
According to Connie, the work they do is needed. “That’s why the work we’ve done is pretty much on a volunteer basis.”
The Quu-quu-atsa Language Society (QLS) is a legally registered society formed by language students at North Island College taking the Nuu-chah-nulth Language course delivered by the Huu-ay-aht Nation. For more information about QLS visit http://quuquuatsa.ca/
To receive a copy of the books, email chimsstudios@shaw.ca. The files are large,12mb, so the books may need to be sent in more than one email.
