Michigan has 12 federally recognized tribes, which share an ancestral language. Right now they’re working hard to keep that language from dying out.

Tribal leaders say only a handful of Native Americans still have Anishinaabemowin as their native tongue. Bridge Michigan reports that there are only a few pockets of speakers in the U.S., and the language is considered endangered.

There is a language immersion class at a tribal community college in the Upper Peninsula, but keeping the language alive is an uphill battle, given that the majority of students learning Anishinaabemowin are over the age of 50. The effort is also hampered by different dialects, pronunciations, and spellings among the tribes.

Generations of Native American children in Michigan were sent to boarding schools in the northern part of the state, where they weren’t allowed to speak the language.