#SpeakGwichinToMe: Using social media to reclaim language | CBC Radio - Action News
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#SpeakGwichinToMe: Using social media to reclaim language

Jacey Firth-Hagen has launched a social media campaign using the hashtag #SpeakGwichinToMe. "We don't have time to wait for another generation or so to really work on bringing the Gwich'in language back to being spoken more," says Firth-Hagen.

Social media campaign launched by 23-year-old Jacey Firth-Hagen

Jacey Firth-Hagen, left, put this photo of herself on her group's Facebook page, with the Gwich'in pronunciation for laughing and #SpeakGwichinToMe. (Gwich'in Language Revival Campaign/Facebook)
A Gwich'inwoman is using social media to get people speaking one of the most endangered languages in Canada.

Although nearly10,000Gwich'inpeople live in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska, a United Nations study estimates just a few hundred fluent speakers of theGwich'inlanguage are left.

"We don't have time to wait for another generation or so to really work onbringing theGwich'inlanguage back to being spoken more," said 23-year-oldJaceyFirth-Hagen.

Just over a year ago, she sparked a social media campaign called #SpeakGwichinToMe.

She wasinspired by the efforts of theSamian Indigenous people from northern Europe who started a language campaign usinghashtag#SpeakSamiToMe. TheyuseInstagramand other social mediaappsto share photos captioned in theSamilanguage and translated into Norwegian, Swedishand Finnish languages.

Photos captioned in the Gwich'in language, like this one posted by Ashton Semple, are posted to social media as part of the #SpeakGwichinToMe campaign. (Ashton Semple/Facebook)
Firth-Hagen, who currently lives in Yellowknife,now has aFacebookgroup called theGwich'inLanguage Revival Campaign, where she and over 1,000 other members of that online community regularly post photos captioned in theGwich'inlanguage, or just shareGwich'inwords and phrases.
Crystal Norris,who isGwich'in,but lives in Regina,is one of those members.

"The thing that I do struggle with is the pronunciation because I'm not really anywhere near that can speak the language to me, butJaceyis quite helpful with how to pronounce things," Norris said.

The Gwich'in aren't the only indigenous group using social media to protect or revive their languages.

In Nova Scotia, Savannah Simon has been using short Instagramvideos to encourage others to speak Mi'kmaq for years now.

That has other Mi'kmaq people following suit, posting their own videos as well.

Scroll through Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, and you'll also find other languages being shared as well like#SpeakTlichoToMe and#SpeakCree, to name just two.