Hi. I thought I needed some break from all the science/math courses in the second term and so I am considering taking a language course instead.
Pretty much, all the languages except Mohawk seem to be a 6 unit course so I don't really have much choice but I'm fine with it.
I was just wondering if someone can tell me something about this course. I looked everywhere for any info related to this course but couldn't find anything! I couldn't find a single person who took it either.
So I was just going to attend one of the lectures in the first term to see what it is like but it's only being offered in the 2nd term. Maybe Ojiwe's similar? I don't know.
Does anyone know anything about this course? Would it be too hard for a person who has no background knowledge of the language (by no knowledge, I mean NO knowledge whatsoever). Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Talk to Lorend, send her a PM. She's taking Ojibwe now.

All that I know is that Indigenous languages tend to be more verb based than English, at least I think thats what my classmate said. You can also email Rick Monture, he's a Mohawk speaking Prof. His email is [email protected].

Are you good at learning languages? While you might you want drift away from science/math for a couple of hours a week it might not be the best to take a random language course that you have no idea about at all. Speak to the contacts that Sabrina recommended. However, keep in mind that McMaster offers several courses that aren't science or math related. You may also want to consider English, Philosophy, religious studies, Theatre and Film or even a labour studies course. Good luck!

I wouldn't take Ojibwe or Mohawk if I were you. If you aren't majoring in anything that has to do with them, you're definitely wasting your time. Both languages have less than 500 native speakers, and virtually anybody that still speaks it, also speaks English or French. So you won't really benefit in being able to communicate with more people. They're also very difficult since they are very old, meaning you're definitely not walking into a "bird" course.

Its unfortunate, but Europeans basically destroyed any chances of any of those languages ever being used on a large scale. Sort of like how the English basically eliminated Gaelic from Scotland and Ireland. :p

If I were you, I would look into Russian or Polish. Both of those languages are only one semester courses, and there are a lot of both ethnic groups all over the place, meaning it might actually be useful someday.

As kokosas has said, I am currently taking Ojibwe.

The Ojibwe language is completely different than any of the languages I've learned, and because of that it's really, really hard.

I don't know a lot about Mohawk, unfortunately, so I can't compare. I have a feeling it is dialectal just like Ojibwe, which likely means there will be contradictions between your texts.

Thank you all for your advice. Maybe I'll attend the Ojibwe class this coming Monday and sit there for like an hour to see what it is like. Thanks again!

Ojibwe is on Thursdays. And we had our last class this week.

Also, you can't sit in on a language class without permission from the instructor. They're too small.

Oh I see. I just thought I'm allowed to attend lectures to see what the courses are like because there are profs that recommend students to attend some of the upper year courses to get the taste of the course beforehand. I guess it depends on how big/small the classes are, which makes sense.
I talked with some upper year students today about this and after doing so, I've changed my mind and decided that taking other humanities courese like anthro or women's studies would be a better choice.
Thanks again for everything

pssst anthro is soc sci. but you're welcome.