KL Launches Language Learning

This February, Kw’umut Lelum has begun to share the language of our Coast Salish people across our Nine Nations and beyond. Our goal is to revitalize the language of Hul’qumi’num by sharing it in a way that is fun, accessible and open to all.

With the help of Thiyaas (Florence James) and Autumn Cooper, we are sharing a Hul’qumi’num Word of the Week on our social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube) from now until the end of the year.

More Language into Community

“The word of the week project was created to help get more language into community,” says Autumn. “Florence and I worked together to find words that would be relevant to each month in hopes they may be used more frequently. Florence is teaching me proper pronunciation and how to read Hul’qumi’num’ so she supported me allowing me to record her through the creation of this project.”

Florence’s recordings are joined by those of other helpers, encouraging our communities to practice and learn the words each week.

Autumn has also been supporting daycares to incorporate Hul’qumi’num’ into their circles as well as daily activities. She currently works with 6 daycares in our communities providing resources, training and running a circle once a week in each facility.

100 Hul’qumi’num Flash Cards

Other projects KL will be launching this spring include a set of 100 Hul’qumi’num flash cards that are being shared out to daycares, schools and other centres, and we are eagerly anticipating the release of our free Hul’qumi’num language app where users can learn words and phrases through games, as well as a dictionary lookup feature! Stay tuned here for more details.