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First Nation Teen Keeps Language Alive by Dubbing Sailor Moon
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Westin Sutherland is hoping to inspire youngsters to learn indigenous languages by creating dubs of some of his favorite animated series, including Spongebob Square Pants, The Proud Family, and Sailor Moon. Sutherland is from Peguis First Nation in Manitoba and began learning the Anishinaabemowin and Cree languages four years ago.
While studying, Sutherland noticed the lack of television programming available in indigenous languages and, with no one else currently taking up the cause, decided to create the content he wanted himself. Sutherland gets additional assistance from native speakers and teachers to ensure the dubs have proper flow and context.
A few clips from his Sailor Moon dub are streaming on Facebook.
Sutherland hopes that dubs like these will inspire youth to learn and use their native languages. Canada has at least 70 spoken First Nation languages and approximately 250,000 Canadians are fluent in at least one indigenous language.
Source: CBC (Rhiannon Johnson)
