Dine bizaad becomes official language of Navajo Nation

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—Diné bizaad is now the official language of the Navajo Nation after Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren signed long-awaited legislation to have the Navajo language used, taught and supported by appropriations.

"One of my priorities coming in as president has always been to make sure that we make Navajo cool again," he said. "It's exciting to see the work that's being done. And, so, I commend the Navajo Nation Council for doing that."

The legislation to make Navajo the official language of the Navajo Nation was sponsored by Navajo Nation Council Delegate Shawna Claw. It includes, "Since time immemorial, our people survived by maintaining our value system. . . . The core of our value system is embedded in the language. As Diné, we are the image of our ancestors, and we are created in connection with all creation. Upon our creation we are identified by: Our Diné name, our clan, our language, our life way, our shadow, our footprints."

President Nygren said leaders of today need to ensure that the generation of Navajos not yet born have the chance to learn the language of their grandparents and great-grandparents. He said he is grateful to all the teachers of the Navajo language who work hard across the Navajo Nation to teach this language to young ones.

Each day, he said he thinks about how the Nation could make a real dent in the use, perpetuation and preservation of the Navajo language. He said his office has a veterans' liaison, an MMIW representative, and a disabilities liaison to help when needed. He said he also wants to see a program created to train lawyers and judges to speak the language so that they can serve on the bench. And he wants to partner with the Diné Language Teachers Association to spread Navajo.

"Then I thought . . . why can't I have a Navajo language and cultural advisor?" he asked. He discovered longtime Navajo language teacher and translator Peter Thomas and hired him to implement strategies to make Diné bizaad, as Nygren said, "the heart of my administration."

"When you come to the Office of the President, you will see signage about Keshmish in Diné bizaad," Nygren noted. "These phrases are learned or reinforced in our office and taken home by the staff to share with their families this holiday season."

Nygren said one of the first executive branch projects will be to have the Navajo Division of Transportation design stop signs in the Navajo language, along with Navajo Police cars displaying the word for police, "Silao."

"All across the Navajo Nation, I want to say thank you to the Navajo Nation Council for championing this legislation and to the sponsors and everybody that's been involved and that voted to really make this happen," the president said. "I think that to really fulfill the intentions of the legislation, how do we put some dollars and resources behind it so that we can actually put a dent into teaching the language."