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Article: INCLINED TO SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE.(City/Region)(A Yakama elder teaches UO students an American Indian language that only 200 people (soon to be more) can use)
- Article from:
- The Register Guard (Eugene, OR)
- Article date:
- February 9, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Register Guard. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Shelby Martin The Register-Guard
When his foreign language instructor says something, University of Oregon freshman Carson Viles knows it's important to pay attention.
"I might never get a chance to hear that phrase again," he said.
It's true. Viles is taking Yakama Sahaptin, one of a family of American Indian languages spoken along the Columbia River and offered for the first time this year at the UO. The class, taught by native speaker and Yakama elder Virginia Beavert, is not a typical foreign language class. There are no textbooks, no study-abroad programs, no dubbed TV shows, and the instructor is one of only 200 people who can ...