Baby Talk

Aaniin!!! For the past week I have been reflecting on the term "Baby Talk". What I mean by that is when I say (Ni)bakade or (Ni)odaapinaa as opposed to the correct and linguistically (Nim)bakade or (Nindo)odaapinaa. For a beginner like myself, hearing it "termed" baby talk and being told that it's alright to talk baby talk because I will still be understood by a more fluent speaker, and if the fluent speaker is nice and knows the struggles of a beginner like myself, will even teach me how to say it properly without discouraging me or making me feel ashamed. This is such a big relief for me and takes all the pressure that I put on myself to get everything right "Right Now". It also puts into perspective for me that even though I am an adult, I am still a baby when it comes to learning Ojibwe. I didn't come right out the womb saying "feed me I'm hungry" or "I need my diaper changed now". So for other beginners like myself, If your getting discouraged and think its way to difficult. Remember, that as a one year old baby, one of our first words we spoke was "mama" or "dada". Miigwech Bizindiweyag.