Lakota Keyboard – Mobile is a free app that lets you type correct Lakota into any text area by simply switching to the Lakota Keyboard on your phone or mobile device.
The Lakota Keyboard – Mobile is available now on iTunes and Google Play.
With the Lakota Keyboard – Mobile installed you can switch between Lakota and English as you type emails, texts, web content, and any other text-input field! You can use your new keyboard as a companion to your NLD – Mobile (iTunes or Google Play) or maybe text a friend using the new words that you learned listening to your Lakota Audio Series.
If you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to register here for the 2015 Lakota Summer Institute. The fun is just around the corner! Also, don’t forget about our many other new products available at the LLC bookstore.
Back in 2013, LLC released an optimized Web link that allows your phone browser to tap into the New Lakota Dictionary-Online (NLD-O). It’s still up, and still free, but of course it only works when your cell phone has internet access.
How simple it was! Easy to make, easy to use … and now we know it was just the beginning.
Today there is a true app, the NLD-Mobile, which does far more than just access the online dictionary.
Three years in the making, the NLD-Mobile is the full NLD-Pro, the downloadable interactive dictionary with audio files that LLC released in December.
The NLD-Mobile really is a talking dictionary in your pocket! It is now
Priced at $19.95, NLD-Mobile works with Android smartphones and iOS iPhones. It downloads all of the same features as the desktop NLD-Pro:
26,000 verified words – 3,000 more than the NLD-O or Print Dictionary
Example sentences
More than 40,000 Audio files for each word and example sentence
Male and Female voices
Search-and-translate function
“Close” spelling recognition – correct spelling not needed
Mac (iPhone) and PC (Android) compatibility
Can be downloaded to iPads and other tablets as well as phones
No Internet connection needed to use NLD-Mobile
No cell reception needed to use NLD-Mobile
The only limitation we can think of is that you have to download it directly from GooglePlay or the iTunes AppStore, because mobile devices work somewhat differently from computers. We can’t just email you a link.
For an app, $19.95 is a steep price – but consider these facts:
It is the most inexpensive version of the New Lakota Dictionary. The print book and the DVD NLD-Pro are both $50. The NLD-Pro streaming download is $40. This app is $20.
The NLD-Online hasn’t been updated since 2011. The NLD-Mobile will be updated at least twice a year – at no cost to its users.
The NLD-Mobile has 3,000 more words than the NLD-O or print book, plus example sentences.
The NLD-Mobile has more than 40,000 audio files for every word and example sentence.
Overall, the NLD-Mobile is a fantastic investment for self-study.
We put our products through rigorous testing, but once they are in use, you are the reviewers other users will trust. GooglePlay and the iTunes AppStore have product review pages, so please drop by there and talk about your experience. Also, please pass the news of NLD-Mobile on to product-review bloggers you may follow.
Knowing the technopshere, there will soon be other devices and programs to carry the NLD. We intend to see the Lakota language on all of them!
“The Compassionate Bear Family,” aka the Berenstain Bears
Everyone’s favorite Lakota-speaking Bear Family, Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe, will be back on public television starting Saturday, March 7th — this time bringing the Lakota language to the Los Angeles area.
LLC is proud to announce that Southern California stations KVCR and FNX will broadcast the show every Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 am (PST) and 10:30 am (EST). Once again, the series begins airing on Saturday, March 7th.
KVCR is a PBS-affiliate station in San Bernardino, California. Its sister station is the cable channel FNX (First Nations Experience), a project of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in partnership with KVCR. FNX presents Native American stories and content across all media platforms.
Twenty episodes of the Berenstain Bears cartoons were dubbed into Lakota in 2011 and first broadcast on Prairie Public Television in September of that year. Since 2011, the Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe series has been available free online, and comes with the option to download vocabulary lists and full scripts for each episode.
Produced and distributed with the permission of Berenstain Enterprises, Inc., Nelvana Limited and PBS (Public Broadcasting System), this 20-episode Lakota language edition of the Berenstain Bears is the first Lakota-language cartoon ever created.
Voices of the characters are all from the Lakota-speaking Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud communities of North and South Dakota, and reflect all local dialects of the language.
Equally as important, the original Berenstain Bears series lines up very well to Lakota values, which was very important in the making of this series. Lakota values such as bravery, respect, generosity, and fortitude all play significant roles throughout the 20-episode series. Lots of different family interactions reflecting day-to-day life, as well as many idiomatic expressions help keep the langauge use real and relevant in every episode.
Immersion education is recognized as the most effective way to learn and teach a language – especially for very young children. It has become the preferred pre-school model for Native American tribes trying to rebuild a generation of fluent first-language speakers.
One immersion preschool – the Lakȟól’iyapi Wahóȟpi, a Lakota Language Immersion Nest preschool, faces closure unless it can raise more than $200,000 in the next three months.
Tom Red Bird reads in Lakota to the Immersion Nest children, filmed by a documentary cameraman.
The Lakȟól’iyapi Wahóȟpi is featured in the upcoming documentary film, Rising Voices/ Hótȟaŋiŋpi. The Nest’s Director, Thipiziwin Young, speaks in the film about the importance of the Nest for families, children and elders. Elder Tom Red Bird rides a bus down from Bismarck every day to help out as a fluent speaker.
A crowdfunding campaign has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/LakotaNest, but sustaining donors are also sought for long-term support.
The Lakȟól’iyapi Wahóȟpi is housed on the Sitting Bull College campus, located on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation in North Dakota. It opened its doors in September 2012 with seven 3 year olds as students. Since that time, four more students have entered. The initial cohort are now six years old and in their third year of the immersion program.
The children in this immersion school are 100% immersed in the Lakota language for 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. All instruction is conducted in Lakota with lessons mixing traditional Lakota seasonal and cultural knowledge with best practices in early childhood education.
The students are not only learning the Lakota language and helping to save the language and culture, they are also learning the same early childhood lessons as students in other preschools, just in a different language. Research from other immersion schools across the world show that students who attend immersion schools often test better than their peers on standardized assessments that are given in English.
Parents, teachers, and community members want to expand the immersion school into kindergarten and 1st grade for the 2015-2016 school year. However, an initial ANA grant to establish the Nest preschool ran out in June of 2014.
“We have been just barely getting by on tuitions and other small grants,” said Thipiziwin Young, Director, “but if the Nest does not locate a funding source their doors will officially close on June 30th. We desperately need allies to bring the Lakota Language back to a healthy state for our children.”
“the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage … and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.”
We’re calling out to Lakota speakers, learners and supporters to claim this day for your own, and call it “Lakota Language Day.”
Some reasons to honor Lakota with tweets and words on February 21st could inspire you, and help you inspire others:
Remember the elders who kept Lakota songs, traditions and ceremonies alive;
Remember the generations silenced in the boarding schools;
Remember the Code Talker soldiers of World War II, who had to keep their service a secret for so long;
Remember the civil rights activists of the 1960s and ’70s who fought for Native cultures’ and languages’ right to exist;
Honor the speakers who have brought their understanding of the language into classrooms and have done their best to find a way to teach it;
Honor yourself and your fellow students for your commitment to learning.
Even if it’s just one word or phrase, sharing the Lakota language with the world around you will support your “Lakota thinking.”
To make it a worldwide party, several language-preservation organizations have set up a social media campaign, asking speakers and learners to Tweet in your language, however much you can.
They suggest:
Step One – Tweet in Your Mother Language
Throughout the day, tweet using your mother language. Please share “why is it important to use your language on the Internet?” or tweet greetings or your favorite words/phrases in your language. You might also choose to tweet a translation in order to encourage speakers of other indigenous and minority language communities.
Step Two – Add Hashtags
Add the hashtag #MotherLanguage
Add the hashtag of the language (i.e. #Lakota, #Yoruba)
Step Three – Join the Conversation!
Find others using the #MotherLanguage hashtag and retweet them
Follow others tweeting in your mother language. Search for the hashtag of your language.
Connect with other people celebrating language diversity 🙂
Have fun!
(We think that last step – Have fun! – is the most important step of all.)
“My experience with the series so far has been that I am now learning the language in a natural way.”
“What is really wonderful is that my children, who are playing around the house, have started to respond to the audio without any prompting from me!”
That’s the kind of learning experience we hope to inspire!
If you’d rather not tote a 10-CD set around, the Lakota Audio Series has also become available as a .mp3 digital download at CDBaby.com, suitable for desktop, tablet or mobile device. The 10-hour lesson sequence is divided into two parts (1a and 1b), sold separately – so you can use the first half of the course (CDs 1-5) until you feel ready for the second half (CDs 6-10).
The Lakota Audio Series’ supporting booklets and Glossary are also available as an eBook for download. Look for L.A.S.: A Practical Conversation Course, Volume 1 at BookBaby.com.
If you’ve been using the Audio Series, can we hear about your experience? Please consider writing a review at the NLD-O web site or at the CDBaby.com page.
There’s no end to the interest in the standalone digital version of the New Lakota Dictionary – the NLD-Pro – as both a download and DVDs for both Windows and Mac.
There’s even one rabbit still left in the magic hat: very soon LLC will release the standalone digital New Lakota Dictionary (NLD-Pro) as a true phone app – an entire interactive language archive in your pocket, no wi-fi or cell service necessary.
News! Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe will be broadcast on KVCR / FNX (First Nations Experience) television on Saturdays and Sundays starting on March 7, 2015. Times are 10:30 am EST or 7:30 am PST. Channels are VerizonFios (channel 471), DirecTV (channel 24.2), and in the greater Los Angeles area on channel 24.2.
What’s your talent? Do you let it out to play? Let Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe (the Compassionate Bear Family, a.k.a. the Berenstain Bears) help you with your Lakota language study.
Convinced that he doesn’t have any talent to offer for the upcoming school talent show, Brother is recruited to be the talent scout. Guided by Teacher Bob’s conviction that everyone has talent, Brother helps the other cubs discover their own special talents, and in so doing, discovers he also has a talent just as Teacher Bob suspected – a talent for finding talent.
Each Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe episode comes with free extras for download: a complete script in Lakota, a vocabulary sheet with English translations, and comprehension questions (in Lakota) to check your understanding of the action.
L-R: Thipiziwin Young, Intern Simon Gertler, SRST Education Manager Sunshine Carlow, at 2013 LSI
The Lakota Summer Institute needs an Intern! This is a full-time, on-site position for the length of the Institute: June 1-19, 2015, in Ft. Yates ND. Accommodations at the Prairie Knights Casino Lodge are provided.
Duties are mostly administrative, as assigned by LSI Staff. Interns need excellent personal communication skills, customer service orientation, grasp of the administrative needs of a large educational event, computer skills with Microsoft Office programs and a strong interest in Native American culture and language, especially Lakota.
For a taste of the LSI Intern experience, here’s what UC-Berkeley student Simon Gertler wrote about his stint at the 2013 LSI.
And here’s what we wrote about his service:
Simon first helped build the 2013 LSI web site, and then he dove into the realities of the Institute, helping with registration, serving meals and coffee, and the hundreds of little administrative tasks that put LSI together.
As for his communication skills:
Simon proved he is good at establishing relationships – always asking how he could help, talking to people and making solid friendships.
If this sounds like you, please send a cover letter and resume to help@lakhota.org by February 15.
Sunshine Archambault Carlow, Education Manager for SRST
We’re Bringing Another Advance …
LSI leaps forward again with the introduction of the Lakota Language Handbook – a comprehensive grammar reference that makes the formidable Lakota system accessible and above all, learnable by anyone – it’s not just for teachers or linguists.
The Handbook is the final reference text in the language education infrastructure envisioned by the Lakota Language Consortium’s founders in 2004. What the New Lakota Dictionary began, the Handbook completes. Material from the Handbook was incorporated into a 2014 LSI course, “Teaching Lakota Grammar,” which consolidated earlier courses in Morphology and Syntax. In 2015, “Teaching Lakota Grammar” will be based entirely on the information and exercises in the Lakota Language Handbook, which will be the course textbook for all participants.
… Lakota Language Tech …
LSI is a co-venture of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Sitting Bull College and the Lakota Language Consortium – and in this past year, the Consortium has wired technology to handle the power of Lakota.
Lakota language learners who want to go the tech route to support their study can attend an LSI class about online study and resources for creating your own learning path. That class doesn’t have a name yet, so keep an eye on this news feed for updates.
Kim Campbell and Waniya Locke, LSI 2014
… and Lakota Human Connection
It’s no secret that LSI has blossomed into an important community-focused event. Families and individuals arrive, hungry for a sense of who else out there is doing this crazy thing called learning Lakota. There’s a palpable sense that something important is happening when strangers play silly games and speak complicated words together.
Young students at LSI 2014 play the flashcard game
You can support your “Lakota thinking” with these sequenced classes:
Intensive Lakota for Beginners 1-3
Intensive Lakota for Upper-Beginners 1-3
Teaching Lakota 1-5 Methods
Intensive Lakota for Pre-Intermediates I-III
Intensive Lakota for Intermediates I-III
Reading I-II
Traditional Lakota Flute
Northern Plains Sign Language
Neologism Development 1-2
Intensive Lakota for Beginners I – III will be offered in the evenings as well, for non-teachers and families. Thus this course series will be much more user-friendly because the examples and activities are geared towards the interests of a student in Lakota, rather than a linguist.
Once again, Ben Black Bear, Jr. will lead a class in Neologism Development, tracking ways Lakota has changed over time and how it can be consciously adapted to new situations like going to a hospital or playing basketball. Kevin Locke returns with Teaching Traditional Lakota Flute , now with a finished song/lesson book so participants who build and play their own Plains-style flute can practice at home. Dr. Lanny Real Bird will return with the Northern Plains Sign Language course he has taught for the past two LSIs.
Sitting Bull College will open up its student housing again to provide inexpensive accommodations right on the SBC campus – the site of LSI. Other lodging is available at Prairie Knights Casino or area campgrounds.
Let Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe (the Compassionate Bear Family, a.k.a. the Berenstain Bears) help you with your Lakota language study while warming your heart.
Ensured by Sister that she knows the meaning of responsibility, Mama and Papa allow her to go to a sleepover at Lizzy’s house. However, Mama and Papa are totally unaware that the Bruins have gone out and left a babysitter in charge. When practically every cub in town shows up at the party it gets so out of hand that when the Bruins return they call all the parents to come and take their cubs home. Although Mama and Papa agree that Sister is partially to blame, they also realize that if they had been a little more responsible themselves, they would have found out about the baby sitter early enough to nip it in the bud.
Each Matȟó Waúŋšila Thiwáhe episode comes with free extras for download: a complete script in Lakota, a vocabulary sheet with English translations, and comprehension questions (in Lakota) to check your understanding of the action.
