Mother tongue is a right.
21st Feb is the . The United Nations (UN) stated that though there are around 6000 Indigenous languages in the world, over 40% are endangered and those survive have no place or little chance in the education system. The UN's wants to ensure that native languages are not marginalized but be inclusive, and be preserved as well as be revival and made it a right.
History of Phahauh alphabet.
Yang Shong Lue had created Hmong Phahauh in 1959 and it has become the most popular written language for the Hmong.
The former Vietnamese and Lao authorities see this written system as a threat and accusing him of agent. Therefore Mr. Shong Lue had to flee from Vietnam to resettle in Laos. But then while he resided in Laos, the then Lao government had ordered soldiers to him in February at Nam Chia, Laos when he was just 41 years old.
Mr. Shong Lue was regarded by Hmong as "The Mother or Writing" and a powerful messiah who could predict how the future would unfold.
Listen and read more about Timothy Brookes' mission to save the world's endangered alphabets here: https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/services/embeds/audioplayer/12ae3ce0-7d61-4399-b42c-9d4ba8130b81
How does Phahauh alphabet come into its existence in Australia.
Then Christina Eirra a Ph.D student who study linguistics in Melbourne University has decided that she wants to study Hmong Phahauj and planned to study with Hmong community in Meadow Heights, Northern Melbourne, Victoria. She then registered this Phahauh system with her Professor at Melbourne University after her graduation.
Again there is an Australian woman who wants every language in Australia to be imprinted into national memorial stones at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
Ntex she contacted , Hmong Anthropologist in Australia Mr. Chai said, then Dr. Lee presented the Roman Popular Alphabet (RPA) written system which Ives Bertrais created to this woman which she then declined.
After some attempt, She has reached out to Mr. Chai Vue who eventually wrote the word "Darwin" in Phahauh and sent it off to her, so she can imprint into the National Memorial stone plate in Darwin, Northern Territory.
''Hmong Phahauh Resource Centre (Hmoob Moj Kuab Phaj Fai)'s main purpose is to use Phahauh Alphabets to create resources i.e, poster, alphabets books, textbook, and keyboard as well as planning to open a school to teach this written system,''said Mr. Vue. It has carried out all of these duties for a while before it came to a halt as not enough human resource and financial resource to sustain this project further.
International has already recognized Phahauh alphabets as Hmong written system, should we teach and learn?
Mr. Chai Vue said that one reason is that we don't have enough people who have time to help run this organization or teach Phahauh, that is why we stop.
Though there are some Hmong people might also think that we rarely use Phahauh, therefore, we will not study because the Romanized Popular Alphabets (RPA) Yves Bertrais (Txiv Plig Nyiaj Pov) had created is much more convenient and popular.
"I think that Hmong does not appreciate their own language but praise others more than their own, due to other languages has long been developed and it is easier to use and ready to use, so why bother studying our own. But in reality, during 1996-1997 while I still work with Hmong Australia Society, Victoria branch, I have asked Yves Betrais (Txiv Plig Nyiaj Pov) if the RPA can be registered as Hmong national language in Australia with Australian government because we are a small communities and our kids know and speak less and less Hmong, and so we can teach it in Australia. But he sent me two books instead. One is in English while the other is in Hmong, explaining about the main mission of the APR, that is, it is only for delivering God's message for Christianity, therefore, we cannot make the RPA Hmong national language," said Mr. Chai Vue Co-founder of Phahauh Resource Centre.
If recognizes Phahauh alphabet as Hmong written system why doesn't Hmong encourage Hmong to teach and learn?
I can see the importance of the Phahauh alphabet, but as I have previously mentioned, Hmong may not value what's belong to them or might not dignify Hmong's heritage. This written system can help us speak Hmong fluently, we can either use one single letter or two letters combination to make a word, so it is quite convenient. One big drawback though is that there are many factors why we don't study or create more resource to teach. It might be that other languages are well designed and they are ready and easy to use, whereas Phahauh, we may not have a country of our own, so we cannot officially use it as our official language as other nations do, which is quite a daunting task. There is still no consensus to which written system should be adopted, thus those who want to promote learning or teaching are a bit discouraging to carry on. Besides, some have also changed the written system into new forms which creating further confusion. Last but not least, also there is no respectful Hmong leader who would proactively pioneer and announce that this is the Hmong written system and we all should adopt it, added Chai Vue.
Phahauh to be registered with the UNESCO
Two British officials had contacted me during 2003-2004 discussing if they can register Phahauh alphabets with UNESCO as the Hmong language, which I provided this written system to them, but I didn't follow up how did they go with the registration.
There are more and more Hmong who have learned and knew this written system pretty well, just that we haven't done research about how many percentages of Hmong who actually know this system. It is still a very challenging task to bring this Phahauh alphabet to Hmong community's attention. Hence we cannot teach and learn it seriously.
One critical point is that if we can come to a consensus and draw the same conclusion that, this is our Hmong written system and stick to just one, this written system can be our language like other nations have theirs. It could channel a prosperous future for the Hmong communities.
Should we as Hmong communities in Australia and Hmong Australian Society's harness our leadership to empower and to encourage this Hmong written system?
Mr. Chai Vue, the co-founder of the Phahauh Resource Centre agreed that it is a very significant point.
However, the Hmong community in Australia is still a very small community, and those who know, love and have the will to sacrifice their energy and time to teach and develop this written resource are still limits.
In the old days we used to have some Hmong language schools but until now we don't have many. Besides, we don't have a lot of people who really love to and want to manage the time to handle this duty.
If Hmong want to live a life as Hmong life in Australia, we should pay attention to this written system, teach it to our children so they know how to speak and write Hmong. I can see a lot of young Hmong who have graduated from universities who don't understand or cannot write or read Hmong. So if we teach them Hmong, even they are not good at writing, at least they can still speak Hmong. The most significant part is that, if we introduce Hmong language to them, they will know and recognize that this Hmong language. But if Hmong leaders see that Hmong language is important to Hmong and it is part of Hmong's identity, then they should take actions to preserve and reivive it, saide Mr. Vue.
