We're back and we have some catching up to do! This time we are diving in to the mailbag to answer your listener letters. Today's episode title, Maajiibiignan ("maw jee beeg nun") means "letters." You can always send us an email to have your letter read aloud on the show, especially if you have a funny or embarrassing language learning story. 

Pretendians. Race shifting. We hear about these stories in the news where individuals with tenuous or untrue claims to Indigeneity have taken positions of power or prestige reserved for Indigenous people. Now we see this same issue happening in the language reclamation field. Today we sit down with Dr. Celeste Pedri-Spade to discuss the article her and colleague Dr. Sarah Shulist co-authored on this very topic, entitled "Lingua Nulls: Indigenous Language Learning and Revitalization as Sites for Settler-Colonial Violence." Our episode title, "Enishnaabewikaazjig" means "Those who pretend to be Anishinaabe." To read the aforementioned article, email us with the subject line Celeste, or click on the following link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OIWdQd-jzf-0q3bqoue8BITtw9vewK27/view?usp=sharing 

Ezhi-giizhweying ("eh-zhi geezh weh ying"), or how we speak, is one way we have decided to translate dialect. Although Anishinaabemowin is understood amongst different speakers across the territory, we do still have different dialects and ways of speaking our language. At the end of the day, speaking any dialect is better than none at all. To listen to Aakoziiwigamig: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/indigenous/indigenous-languages/aakoziiwigamig.html