Talk:Jesus Biʼdiisxínę́ędą́ą́ʼ Bééhániih

"Jesus"

Isn't Jesus Jíísas or Doodaatsaahii in Navajo? 71.66.97.228 03:22, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes. Lots of words have synonyms, also in Navajo. However, synonyms are not always (or not often) interchangeable in set phrases. —Stephen ^(Talk) 03:54, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

OK, so "Jesus" can be Navajo, even though phonologically "Jíísas" is better? If so, Jesus would need a Navajo section. 71.66.97.228 04:15, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Spelling is a delicate and fluid matter. If the language is able to recover from its current crisis, and if it ever truly becomes a written language, then spelling will eventually be fixed. For the moment, Jesus and Jíísas are pronounced the same, and making an entry for Jesus when I am not aware that it is really a naturalized form, could exert an external effect on the language. As far as I know, this phrases is spelled as we have it, but I would not make an entry for Jesus. Everybody keeps thinking that Navajo and all minority languages are just like English and Japanese, with set orthography that most educated people know and agree on. It’s not the case at all. Few educated Navajo can read Navajo, even though they speak it perfectly, and fewer yet can write it. The standards and practices that are applied to languages like English and Japanese are not always appropriate for unwritten or almost unwritten languages like Navajo. —Stephen ^(Talk) 04:28, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, I just assumed that there must be a lot (tens of thousands?) of Navajo Christians, so there must be a "normal" or "conventional" way of writing "Christmas." I also assumed that there must be at least some Navajo newspapers or other kinds of printed periodicals that would also need to have a normal way to write "Christmas." 71.66.97.228 05:00, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

When they speak, they speak Navajo. When they read or write, they use English. There are no longer any newspapers being printed in Navajo. The Navajo Times is in English, since most Navajo cannot read Navajo even though they speak it. —Stephen ^(Talk) 05:18, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

I didn't know that. As I understand, Navajo, although declining, still has the most speakers of any indigenous language in the U.S. (maybe Cherokee or Lakota/Dakota/Nakota has more; I'm not sure), so I assumed that more people could read the language than you indicate. 71.66.97.228 05:24, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Only twenty years ago, some 90 to 95% of Navajo children could speak Navajo. Today, only about 5% of children entering first grade can speak it. There is normally a clear warning sign when a language is about to die, and that sign is that most young adults understand the language perfectly well, but they rarely try to speak it, and for that reason, they only speak English to their children when they are born. This is a fatal cascade and it happens in a single generation. Twenty years ago, Navajo was a vibrant language spoken by over 200,000 people. Today, adults still understand it, but mostly the elderly are the only ones who speak it. So very suddenly, almost all the children being born are not learning Navajo, not even to be able to comprehend it when they hear it. Just in the past few years, Navajo has begun to be taught to school children from the first grade on. The first of these courses began in 2002, and it has taken a lot of time to train teachers and create teaching materials and convince politicians. If the Language Revitalization does not work, the language will soon vanish. Nobody knows if children who only speak English can learn Navajo well enough beginning at the age of six to gain enough fluency to be able to speak Navajo to their own children when they grow up. If they cannot learn it well enough in school, then the language will die out within the next 20 years. Then only a few non-Navajo linguists will know how to speak it. —Stephen ^(Talk) 05:48, 9 August 2012 (UTC)