Language Heritage

We’re putting together some ideas about preserving and promoting Montagnard language skills in the US.

• Community Newspaper Project

• Affordable Software

• Census 2010 Translation Project

• Nti Ngơi Nau Bu Nong (Central Mnong Language Lessons) Bunong, Vietnamese and English brochure (1974-78) from Cambodian refugee camp

• Klei Mrao Hriǎm Dlǎng Hrǎ (Premier livre de lecture rhadée) Rhade language lessons (1939)

1. Translated materials make a a small part of Montagnard language needs. Since many cannot read their own written language, this presents an unusual but not unsolvable problem, which often means conveying the basics of health and medical care or other emergency information.

To read an overview of the problem, click here. To read some proposed guidelines for translation and communication, click here. To read the proposed specs for translation and communication, click here.

2. Language heritage conveys the larger problem Montagnards encounter. Fear that one's children will learn English to the detriment of one's native language is a concern. But the pathway to Americanization can be smoothed if Montagnards also feel assured that their languages and customs are also being preserved, studied, and promoted. What's needed is a program to record stories, opinions, beliefs and produce a viable literature.

This project would require interviewers, bilingual speakers, language experts, poets, writers, and musicians, cultural anthropologists, and technical experts in digital media.

To see videos recording Montagnard weaving in Greensboro produced with the help of the Community Folklife Documentation Institute, go to our YouTube video site.