Fanshawe launches program to help revitalize the Oneida language

Fanshawe College, in partnership with the Oneida Nation of the Thames settlement southwest of London, is launching a new program this fall to help address an urgent need to grow the number of Oneida language speakers.

The Oneida - Language Immersion, Culture and Teaching program, a three-year advanced diploma offered temporarily online, will prepare students for a variety of language-related careers including teacher of Onyota’a:ka as a second language, translator, language consultant, language specialist or storyteller.

The program comes at a time when precious few fluent speakers remain.

According to Hubert Antone, the program coordinator and one of the instructors who is himself 70 years old, there are fewer than 20 people in the Oneida of the Thames community who can speak and understand the language.

“If we lose the language now, we’re going to lose another part of our culture,” he says.

Antone says it will be an intensive program that requires students to attend each lesson and take advantage of the many opportunities to practice in the community.

“It’s one of the hardest languages in the world to learn,” he says. “It will be essential that they hear the correct pronunciation and feel the meaningful relationships coming from a fluent speaker.”

The program expands on an earlier program - the Twatati Program - that was designed by and delivered in the Oneida community.

The College is now accepting applications for the September 2021 intake. Anyone interested can contact academic advisor Bev Antone-Collar at bantone-collar@fanshawec.ca for more information.

For more information about Fanshawe College, please visit Fanshawe's media contact page.