Watching the ancient Navajo language develop in a modern culture

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

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FARMINGTON — “Ya’at eeh,” George Werito says, greeting thousands of radio listeners across the Navajo reservation in their native language, Diné.

He has callers on the line, waiting. People want to tell him about road conditions, chapter meetings, and church functions.

If you tell him your bit of news, he will report it, but in a fun way. He throws in trivia, games and that sort of thing.

Werito, a radio personality at KNDN AM radio in Farmington, is considered the Jay Leno of the Navajo Nation, according to some of his listeners.

The news is hardly news that Leno himself would share: lost turtles, funeral announcements, and pow wow updates. However, when Werito speaks, his audience listens.

And the Navajo language needs the peoples’ attention more than ever, according to those trying to preserve it.

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