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First Words: Larry Grant speaks hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓

In this episode of First Words, Musqueam Elder Larry Grant teaches you a word for “I really love you,” and one for “pal.”
CBC Radio ·
Elder Larry Grant is from Musqueam, he speaks hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. (Zoe Tennant)

First Words is a weekly podcast focused on Indigenous languages. Each week, we welcome a new guest into the hosting chair to teach us three words in their language. ​

Unreserved6:39FIRST WORDS: Larry Grant speaks hən’q’əmin’əm’
In this episode of First Words, elder Larry Grant teaches you how to say buddy in hən’q’əmin’əm’?, and the phrase for I love you.

Elder Larry Grant was in his 60s and, after working for four decades, he had plans to retire. But then his younger brother suggested he enroll in a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ class, a language Grant hadn't spoken since he was a child.

Today, Grant teaches hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ in the First Nations Languages Program at the University of British Columbia, is an Elder-in-Residence at UBC's First Nations House of Learning, and works with the  Musqueam Language and Culture Department.

​"You're never too old to learn the value of language to be able to help pass it on," said Grant who was born and raised in Musqueam territory.

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