i18n for a cultural platform

Ahnii! Series context: This is part 8 of the Waaseyaa series. The previous post covered replacing the database layer. This post covers internationalization — the subsystem that makes Minoo a multilingual platform, with full Ojibwe translation at minoo.live/oj/. Most frameworks treat i18n as a UI concern. You have English strings and French strings. The user picks a locale. Labels change. The content stays the same. That model doesn't work for Minoo. Why i18n matters differently here Minoo is a platform for indigenous language and culture. A teaching exists in Ojibwe. It might also exist in English. Those aren't two translations of the same content — they're two expressions of the same knowledge, each with its own structure, nuance, and community context. The language isn't a UI preference. It's a property of the knowledge itself. This distinction drives every design decision in waaseyaa's i18n package. Language negotiation isn't about swapping label files. It's about resolving which la