Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
I don't see it as racist. That said, the conscious elimination of indigenous language and culture that took place in Canada was definitely racist, and established racist conditions, including the ongoing treatment of indigenous languages. So, I don't see it as racist, but I think it's fair to say that it's unintentionally aligned with the continuation of conditions created by and perpetuating racism.
Also, it's not really learning a new language. Nobody considers someone an Italian speaker because they can use Napoli and Firenze instead of just Naples and Florence.
Just making things easy for English speakers to read doesn't equate to proper pronunciation. It's just using English names instead of the Indigenous names. Local languages here have a bunch of sounds that simply don't exist in English, so there is no proper pronunciation of them that only uses English sounds.
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Let's get an approximation then. It's going to see a lot more uptake and is probably better for reconciliation in the aggregate. There are dozens of Indigenous languages in BC, many of them with less than a hundred speakers.