Suggestions for next year’s Language Week

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

Drat, I missed Language Week again this year.

I know that Language Week is over, but I want to make a suggestion for all interested parties to keep in mind for next year’s Language Week.

One of the strong points of Inuit culture is unikkaarniq and unikkaartuarniq — oral traditions and storytelling. It’s how important and vital information was and is passed. It shapes character and instills morals and values while children are growing up. And it entertains.

But we are losing the art of storytelling. Do you ever notice that Inuit talking on Sinnaksaut on CBC Radio broadcast at 10:30 p.m. every weekday is mostly done by older people and elders? Or that guests on TV are of the proficient storytelling type?

My Dad still has that tradition. He can narrate an event so clearly and with so much detail that you can imagine it as if you were watching it on TV or as if you were right there.

One night, while trying to tell a bedtime story to my panik with the same story my Dad used to tell, all I could do was, “There was a little girl named Tikiq, who had a puppy and a fast sled … and …”

I was pitifully at a loss for words. With my paltry attempt, I could not even begin to scratch the surface of the series in which the story was told.

But I’m probably not the only one. I suggest that there be some kind of facilitation to encourage storytelling. I’m not saying that one exclusive agency should follow my suggestion.

There can be many ways to encourage storytelling – through local community radio, through the CBC, through TV and so on. But those under 40 (or whatever the age where it’s deemed losing the art of storytelling) should be most considered as the target group. Wouldn’t it be neat for a 20-year-old to win a storytelling contest and we find he or she is as good as the elders?

Sandra Omik
Kutaktuq
sandraomik@hotmail.com

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