Do you recognize that phrase? It’s from the Disney film Finding Nemo. Kids quote it all the time. But have you ever heard a kid quote it in the Navajo language? Probably not!
The Navajo are an American Indian tribe. A little more than half of Navajos still speak their native tongue. Old people are especially good with the language. But kids aren’t. That’s why Disney is making a Navajo translation of Finding Nemo.
At the tower of Babel, God confused languages. He didn’t want people to unite and rebel against Him. (You can read the story in Genesis 11.) People have been struggling with languages ever since.
Navajo is no exception! Its words don’t look very much like English. They are hard to say. Imagine you are a kid learning Navajo. Your grandma and grandpa might be able to rattle Navajo words off their tongues. But it wouldn’t be so easy for you. Every time you wanted to say hello to them, you would have to say “yá'át'ééh.” That’s pronounced something like, “yah-ah-t-ay.” That would take some getting used to!
But kids love Nemo, Dory, and Marlin the fish! Maybe they could learn the language from them. What do you think? Will watching Finding Nemo in Navajo help?
