Reclaiming Domains and Language Nesting Explainer

By Carson Viles, Oct 2025, based on the methods and materials of Zalmai Zahir

I learned the Reclaiming Domains and Language Nesting method from Zalmai Zahir, a friend and mentor. Zahir is an extremely proficient Lushootseed speaker and linguist who has dedicated much of his life to language revitalization. He developed a method to increase his daily use of Lushootseed, which is now being applied by other Native languages on the West Coast. In his own words, Zahir describes his method having four main parts: reclaiming domains, creating language nests, maintaining a language journal, and promoting conversations in one’s target language (you can read more of Zahir’s explanation in The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization, 1st edition, 2018, pages 156-166). At Nuu-da’ Mv-ne’, we have adapted Zalmai’s method, and are offering templates for domains and conversations for learners. 

What are Reclaiming domains and Language Nesting? They are a one-two step for increasing your daily language use. First, you commit to reclaiming a new domain each week. To reclaim a domain, you 1) prepare a worksheet with a list of sentences you’ll say when doing that activity, 2) pin that sheet up in the room where you do the activity, 3) set your expectation to self-narrate in your language every time you do that activity in that room, and 4) do the self-narration! At first, you may need to look at your worksheet and read as you self-narrate. Eventually, you’ll use the language enough to do the domain without looking at the worksheet. You may also begin to add additional sentences and new vocabulary. The core idea is that you are committing to replace English with Nuu-wee-ya’ while doing that activity. At first, you’ll rely heavily on scripts, but eventually you’ll be able to speak off-the-cuff while doing each domain. 

Once you have converted all your daily activities into domains in a room, you do the second step: transitioning into a Language Nest. You’re creating a nest for your language to live in your home by committing to only speaking Nuu-wee-ya’ in that room, and asking others to participate with you. Once you’ve made a Nest, you can still self-narrate your domains, but in addition you stop speaking any English at all in the space. Language Nesting brings together all the domains you’ve done, the habit you’ve built, and the conversation skills you’ve been practicing (see Conversation Templates page in the Learner’s Library for more on that). 

For the first five years I was learning Nuu-wee-ya’, I remember feeling guilty that I wasn’t doing enough and that I was learning southern dialect first instead of the way my grandma heard the language. I believe it is common in revitalization for many different pieces of our family experience to collide with our daily life stresses. When you also stop and consider educational aspects like learning styles, classroom anxiety, etc., it can be a challenge to start the journey of speaking your heritage language. The Language Nesting method gives a simple focus which I found helpful especially when feeling overwhelmed. Practicing domains builds a habit which gives a clear objective: speak your language. This is accompanied by the perspective that revitalization is a marathon, not a sprint. 

Picking areas to learn and speak where we are highly motivated to use the language makes it easier to carve out time. At the same time, recognizing that we will have “hills and valleys” as learners and speakers can be liberating! Instead of focusing on how successful we should be, this method focuses on finding areas of your life where you are motivated to speak the language, and then gradually committing yourself to using the language in those areas. This method also invites us to take activities that we already do every day, like showering and cooking, and use them as a space to speak our language. In doing so, it takes the burden off the speaker to “find” time to speak the language and, instead, makes the most of the time we already set aside for chores and other habits. Zahir’s method encourages us to balance passion with being kind to ourselves during our hills and valleys, so that we can encourage long-term growth in our speech and avoid burning out.

Click the links below to access domains for different areas of daily life:

Bathroom

Kitchen