Navajo Greeting

Stanmiller

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How would a Navajo man greet a White woman of obviously high status? (His potential boss, in fact.)

I have the words hello, Ya’at eeh, Asdzání, but Hello, Woman doesn't seem enough, somehow.

Thanks,
Stan
 

Canotila

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When is your story set? Is she fluent in Navajo? I'd think that as his potential boss, he'd greet her in whatever language she could understand him in.
 

Stanmiller

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When is your story set? Is she fluent in Navajo? I'd think that as his potential boss, he'd greet her in whatever language she could understand him in.

Thanks, C and K. Many Indians will use their native language when meeting white people for the first time. I'm looking for the formal greeting (in Navajo) a Navajo male would use in when first meeting a White woman.
Stan
 

kuwisdelu

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Many Indians will use their native language when meeting white people for the first time.

No we won't. Not unless we don't speak English.

I'm looking for the formal greeting (in Navajo) a Navajo male would use in when first meeting a White woman.

"Hello."

An Indian isn't going to bother greeting a white person in his native language unless he doesn't speak English.

Especially if you're meeting a potential boss, and it's a white person, you're going to act white.

I suppose there is a possible exception for when you want to seem "more native." It could be useful if you're selling native jewelry, or giving an intro/talk/explanation at cultural event or cultural center. If the fact that you're native is a primary reason for the conversation, then I suppose you might.

ETA: Alternatively, you could always go with "Greetings, Pale Face."
 
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Canotila

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No we won't. Not unless we don't speak English.



"Hello."

An Indian isn't going to bother greeting a white person in his native language unless he doesn't speak English.

Especially if you're meeting a potential boss, and it's a white person, you're going to act white.

I suppose there is a possible exception for when you want to seem "more native." It could be useful if you're selling native jewelry, or giving an intro/talk/explanation at cultural event or cultural center. If the fact that you're native is a primary reason for the conversation, then I suppose you might.

ETA: Alternatively, you could always go with "Greetings, Pale Face."

All of this. ^

The majority of American Indians today don't even know their aboriginal language, much less speak it to people outside the culture. I assumed from your question that your story was set in a much earlier era.

The only ones I have ever met that weren't fluent in English were a handful of really old Navajo and Tohono O'odham. And even then, they knew enough English to have the lyrics of many Beatles songs memorized. UMC in Tucson does have interpreters on hand for folks like them when they come in, but it's extremely uncommon, and unlikely they'd be looking for a job at their age (think 90+).

Other than that, I do know people who speak Chinook jargon. But that's a trade language with just bits of Salish woven in, it's not a primary language, and they only speak it to each other. Definitely not to potential employers unless they're interviewing for a position at a living history museum.
 

kuwisdelu

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The majority of American Indians today don't even know their aboriginal language, much less speak it to people outside the culture. I assumed from your question that your story was set in a much earlier era.

On the rez, at least, Navajo is still reasonably widely spoken in the household.

Zuni is too. Not sure about the other pueblo tribes.

(I'm Zuni, and you can't throw a rock without hitting a Navajo.)

The only ones I have ever met that weren't fluent in English were a handful of really old Navajo and Tohono O'odham. And even then, they knew enough English to have the lyrics of many Beatles songs memorized. UMC in Tucson does have interpreters on hand for folks like them when they come in, but it's extremely uncommon, and unlikely they'd be looking for a job at their age (think 90+).

It's not too uncommon on the rez.

My mother didn't learn English until I think her teen years.
 

Canotila

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I'm glad to hear it's more widespread in the SW. Here in the NW it's pretty rare. Isabel Ides was the last really fluent speaker of the Makah language and she passed away over ten years ago. She was over 100 when she died. Even then, she told me she was fluent in English by the time she was 5 years old. I don't know anybody fluent in the Blackfoot languages either.

My daughter even attended a native school and they only spoke some Salishan during prayers and sometimes read books in it during story time. Sadly, she doesn't remember much of it.
 

kuwisdelu

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I'm glad to hear it's more widespread in the SW. Here in the NW it's pretty rare. Isabel Ides was the last really fluent speaker of the Makah language and she passed away over ten years ago. She was over 100 when she died. Even then, she told me she was fluent in English by the time she was 5 years old. I don't know anybody fluent in the Blackfoot languages either.

Yeah, it varies a lot from tribe to tribe, and lots of them got off far worse than we did. I know there's only one fluent Mandan speaker still alive.
 

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As a non-Navajo, not raised on the res, mostly "white" person with an Algonquin Iroquois bloodline and married to a man whose dad was half Apache, I asked how his dad (a NASA engineer at the top of his career) would have greeted a white person. The answer pretty much as expected was "hello Ms. *Name*."

Personally I'd find the authorial suggestion that he speak in Navajo rather insulting (not from the character but from the author) UNLESS he did so for some spiritual reason because he recognized some sort of Native spirituality or lesson for that person.

Here's the deal. Natives don't usually speak our language to the white folk (why? they won't get it anyhow) unless it's in a spiritual situation. Most natives are atm perfectly fluent in English so why would they use anything that wouldn't be understood?

In this day we save native language for those who can actually follow it and that's becoming rarer all the time.