Oji-Cree phrasebook
Book Dimensions 3.5" x 5.5" x .5"
Excerpt from CBC in December 2015
translator Jerry Sawanas
First Nations people hoping to hold onto the traditional language of Oji-Cree will have a new tool to help them.
Pocket Oji-Cree is a phrase book being launched in Thunder Bay, Ont. on Saturday, Dec. 19.
The book is full of handy phrases one might use when visiting an Oji-Cree community, said translator Jerry Sawanas, and it will serve a vital purpose in helping to keep the language alive - especially among younger generations
"It's for the kids. For the young people," he said. "They don't have the Aboriginal education that those of us that are older have. And this is great way to begin — going into your culture by learning how to talk to your grandmother, your aunt, or elders in your community."
"Once you start learning your language it changes everything. It changes the way you think. It changes the way you look at the world. It goes from a dark place to a really bright place."
Pocket Oji-Creeis the fourth in a series of phrase books that began withPocket Ojibwa, written by language teacher Patricia Ningewance Nadeau, and published by her company, Mazinaate Press in Winnipeg.
