Native American
"American Indian," "Native American,"
"First Nations," or "indigenous people"?
Which term is
appropriate?
 "American
Indians," "Native Americans," and "First Nations
people" are synonyms. These terms all refer to the same people.
"Indigenous people" is a broader term that refers to any culture that
lived in a place first. So Native Americans are all indigenous people, but not
all indigenous people are Native Americans. For example, native African cultures
are also indigenous.
Most indigenous people in the United States use "American Indian,"
and most indigenous people in Canada use "First Nations." "Native
Americans" or "indigenous Americans" are frequently used to refer
to people in both countries. Some native people have a preference for one term
or the other, but none of them are offensive. Most identify themselves primarily
by their tribe (such as Cherokee) anyway.
It is better to avoid using "Red Indian," for two reasons:
first, this name originally referred to a specific tribe, the Beothuks, who
painted their bodies and faces with red ochre. So it may cause confusion if you
use it to refer to all tribes. Second, the term "Red Indians" has been
used by racists in the United States, so using it may hurt somebody's feelings
or give them the wrong impression.
There are about 150 Native American languages in Canada and the United
States, and another 600-700 languages in Central and South America. We
don't know exactly how many languages there are because not everyone
agrees on which languages are unique. If two languages are similar enough
that speakers can usually understand each other, they are called dialects
of the same language. For example, English spoken in the United States and
British English are dialects. On the other hand, English and German are
different languages, because even though they are related, an English
speaker can't necessarily understand a German speaker. However, sometimes
there are borderline cases. For example, Spanish and Italian speakers can
often understand each other. And sometimes speakers of two dialects of
English can hardly understand each other at all (especially when they're
talking quickly!) So although most linguists consider East Cree and Plains
Cree to be dialects of the same Cree language, some people believe they
should count as two languages because Cree speakers can't always
understand each other. So depending on how you count them, there are
between 750-850 indigenous languages spoken in North, Central, and South
America. There are about half a million speakers of indigenous languages
in Canada and the US.
If children stop learning their native language, the languages can die out
just like endangered species. Some communities are bilingual, but in most places
parents have stopped teaching children their native language. In the past, the
United States and Canadian governments used to take Indian children away from
non-English-speaking homes, without their parents' permission, and put them into
boarding schools. This was extremely traumatic for the children, so many parents
stopped using their native languages to try and protect them. This bad policy
was eliminated, but now many children have grown up without their traditional
language, and it is difficult to try to learn a new language as an adult. Some
communities are trying to recruit elders to teach the youngest generation the
language before it is too late.
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