tendances et perspectives sur l'acquisition d'une langue seconde,"
fewer and fewer Canadian Indians, or First Nations people as they are
known in Canada, speak the language of their grandparents at home.
Between 1996 and 2001, the percentage of Indians who spoke an Indian
language dropped from 29% to 24%. In a note of optimism, the report
says that the number of Indians who had studied an Indian language as
a second language in school actually went up a little. My guess is
that this optimism is misplaced, because few people learn a second
language to any degree of fluency unless they use it every day either
at home or at work. If Canadian Indian languages are not spoken at
home, they will probably go the way of the dodo.
Source:
"Déclin de la transmission des langues maternelles autochtones,"
Presse Canadienne, 15 mai 2007.
