One of the first phrases a student of Chechen or Ingush encounters is vai naax (Ingush: vai nax), which translates to our people. Vai nax—we will use the Ingush version—is a term that reflects a fascinating sociolinguistic phenomenon: that Chechen and Ingush are, as Johanna Nichols wrote, “distinct languages and not mutually intelligible, but because of widespread passive bilingualism they form a single speech community.” As a non-native speaker of both Chechen (