Salom Abdul worries that his 13-year-old daughter won’t be able to speak Somali anymore, which could lead to strained family relationships. “I have no problem understanding her daughter, but her parents do,” she said.
Abdul’s biggest worry is that the more his abilities deteriorate, daughter The more you know the language, the more isolated you become from other members of your family and community.
Thirty years after Somalis began immigrating to the United States in large numbers, many parents worry that their American-born children are losing their connection to the language. This has led to a growing number of programs teaching Somali language, including programs in Minneapolis and St. Cloud public schools and the University of Minnesota.
Last fall, St. Paul Public Schools launched the East African Elementary Magnet School to reverse the decline in families attending charter schools, where most students speak Somali. The K-5 school currently has over 200 students.
“As someone with a strong cultural background, one of my biggest concerns for my family and the entire Somali community is the loss of our language, traditions and culture,” Abdul said.
More than 86,000 people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, according to estimates by Minnesota Compass based on U.S. census data. The study found that Somali is the second most common non-English language spoken in Minnesota homes, after Spanish.
Irina Zaikovskaya, a lecturer at the University of Minnesota who specializes in second language acquisition, said that while some young Somalis may switch to English, that doesn’t mean they will completely lose their native language. However, multilingual children are usually encouraged to learn English in US schools in order to get good grades and prepare for job opportunities. As a result, their native language declines.
“Peer pressure is also a factor, with young people feeling the need to fit in and, as a result, placing more emphasis on using English to become part of mainstream culture,” Zaikovskaya said. “It will be.”
Sana Mohamed, a third-year computer science student studying Somali in college, said she was born and raised in Minnesota and struggles to speak, read and write fully in Somali. When her parents took her to Somalia on vacation, she said, she found herself among many people who didn’t speak a word of English.
“The relatives I met were very kind and conversational, but there was a big language barrier and I felt quite isolated,” she said.
Zaikovskaya said children in many immigrant communities are known as receptive bilinguals, meaning they understand but cannot speak their native language. Some multilingual people have developed a system called ethnorect, which combines their native language with a new language, she said.
However, many immigrant children return to learn their native language when they grow up. Muna Yusuf, 43, of Brooklyn Park, speaks Somali and her family immigrated to Germany from Somalia when she was 7 years old, she said. After she stayed in Germany for several years, she acquired fluent German on behalf of her Somalian. She learned English when she immigrated to the United States at the age of 17. However, she relearned Somali and she now speaks it fluently.
“I’m a mother now and my children don’t speak Somali, but I hope that one day they will learn the traditional language,” she said.
When Minneapolis Public Schools launched the Somali Heritage Language Program in 2021, approximately 4,000 of the district’s students identified as Somali. A former classroom teacher and one of the founders of the MPS program, Dekamhiddin has seen firsthand how Somali children struggle to maintain their native language.
So Muhyiddin proposed the program to his boss, Muhyiddin Warfa, the district’s executive director of multilingual and magnet programs. Wafa incorporated Somali into the school curriculum, and the language has since been approved for use in grades kindergarten through 12th grade.
The Somali Heritage Language Program was launched with approximately 70 kindergarten and first grade students. In the second year, 2nd and 3rd year students were added, bringing the number of students to approximately 162.
Some local residents worry that losing their language means losing their connection to Islamic spiritual practices. Mohamed Ali, executive director of the Abubakar As-Sadiq Islamic Center, said the mosque offers Quranic lessons, interpretation of Quranic verses, and Friday sermons in English and Somali.
“While we make it easier for young people to understand the Somali language and Quranic verses by providing interpreters, we strongly encourage them to pay close attention to their own language and cultural heritage. ,” Ali said.
Abdul said he makes a special effort to speak Somali with his daughter at home.
“I speak Somali with my daughter all the time, but she spends most of her waking hours with people who speak English, so it’s difficult to speak or retain the Somali that I speak with her at home.” “It makes things more difficult,” she said. “We love and welcome American culture, but we also want to make sure we don’t lose what we have.”
About partnerships
This story is brought to you below sahan journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to reporting on immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.Please sign up for free newsletter Get Sahan’s stories in your inbox.