Diné Bizaad is now the official language of the Navajo Nation.
President Buu Nygren signed the legislation on Christmas Eve, which ensures Navajo is used, taught and supported with the necessary funding. He says today's leaders need to safeguard the opportunity for future generations to learn the language of their grandparents and great-grandparents.
"One of my priorities coming in as President has always been to make sure that we make Navajo cool again,” Nygren added in a statement announcing the change.
With this, Diné words will be incorporated more into day-to-day life on things like stop signs and police cars. The president's office plans to offer weekly language modules on social media to help people become more fluent.
Nygren says he wants a program that trains lawyers and judges to speak Navajo in court. He also hopes to partner with the Diné Language Teachers Association to make it more prevalent in schools.
Diné Bizaad is the most commonly spoken Native American language in the country. The most recent count by the U.S. Census Bureau showed more than 170,000 people spoke the Navajo language at home in 2019, up from approximately 132,000 in 2000.