PHASE II OF THE ROSETTA STONE OJIBWE LANGUAGE LEARNING SYSTEM LAUNCHED

Aazhowaanakwadookwe, Bella Nayquonabe, is one of the actors in the Rosetta Stone videos. She is one of the many Mille Lacs Band members who have been part of the Rosetta Stone project since the beginning.

Partnership with the Mille Lacs Band and Rosetta Stone continues

STAFF REPORT

Across the country, Native American tribes face potentially losing the languages that bond them together. In fact, nearly 70 percent of Indigenous languages in the United States are at risk of disappearing, according to the Administration for Native Americans.

However, an ongoing partnership between the Mille Lacs Band and language learning company Rosetta Stone is a powerful example of how Indigenous languages will be preserved for future generations.

Last year, the Mille Lacs Band and Rosetta Stone teamed up to record and preserve the Ojibwe language and Mille Lacs dialect by creating a comprehensive set of Rosetta Stone lessons. Since then, more than 39,000 hours have been spent learning by tribal and non-tribal members alike — including by many people in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Additionally, 44 jobs were created as a result of this project, including roles for editors, prop experts, and others.

On April 26, the next phase of lessons were released, which draw from tribal members' knowledge, authentic cultural resources, and winter themes to teach Ojibwe.

“When you watch young children learning to speak, you see how language is traditionally passed down from parent to child. You can watch children learning through repetition and through exposure and connection of the words they hear and speak to real-world, everyday experiences,” said Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin. “In this same way, the authentic subject matter of the Ojibwe lessons through Rosetta Stone makes it easier to learn the language, and we are excited to launch the next phase of Ojibwe language training.”