Residents who opened FEMA paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for storm recovery aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup’ik or Inupiaq instead were reading nonsensical phrases.
Flooding in Hooper Bay on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. A powerful storm that hit a wide swath of Western Alaska forced some Hooper Bay residents to evacuate. caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska’s western coast
FEMA fired the California company hired to translate the documents once the errors became known, but the incident was an ugly reminder for Alaska Natives of the suppression of their culture and languages from decades past. Sweeney called for a congressional oversight hearing to uncover how long and widespread the practice has been used throughout government.
U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who is Yup’ik and last year became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, said it was disappointing FEMA missed the mark with these translations but didn’t call for hearings. A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak aircrew flies over Golovin, Alaska, to assess damage to houses and facilities, Sept. 18, 2022. After the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage along Alaska's western coast last fall, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents, largely Alaska Natives, recover financially.
It appears the words and phrases used in the translated documents were taken from Nikolai Vakhtin’s 2011 edition of “Yupik Eskimo Texts from the 1940s,” said John DiCandeloro, the language center’s archivist.
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