The Vernon Journal

We’ve told many of you how great Abi’s language skills are in the 3+ languages that she is surrounded with. Her English and Akha are by far her strongest languages - and her Thai is not far behind. She also has about a dozen other words from other languages that she has picked up in [...]

The last few months I have been working with Aje on the publication of an Akha primer. Part of that work has meant that I have had the honor to listen in on the meetings of Akha leaders from Thailand, Myanmar, China and Laos as they discuss the newest Akha orthography.

Orthography: a method of representing [...]

In January, I had the honor of participating in the annual AOF Women’s Retreat. While any women’s retreat is a blessing and allows for the women to “get away from it all,” this is especially true for Akha women who labor from morning til night, working in the fields, carrying water and firewood, cooking the [...]

After learning Lessons 1 and 2, you are now able to politely greet, ask about general well-being, say where you are from and give your name in Akha. Now, with a few more phrases we will share how to ask about family and to say goodbye.
Learning Akha : How many children do you have?
To the [...]

In our last Akha language lesson we shared three simple greetings in Akha, with the third greeting being “How are you doing?” or “How’s life?“. This is a very polite question, and a great segway into further conversation.
Learning Akha : How are you?
All cultures have small talk, be it about the weather, family, food, business [...]