Language Weekend Breathes New Life into the Lakota Language
NewsCenter1 | October 29, 2017
Lakota language speakers and enthusiasts gathered Saturday in Rapid City to advance their understanding and fluency in the language.
The Lakota Language Weekend, an event held by the Lakota Language Consortium, was an opportunity for speakers of Lakota to improve their skills in the endangered language, which is spoken fluently by only about 2,000 people in the world.
Roughly 100 attendees had an opportunity to learn from experts and improve their proficiency in conversation, grammar, and pronunciation of Lakota. Lakota gave many of the place names on the High Plains.
For many of Lakota ancestry this language holds deep, personal meaning as a connection to their culture and the others who share it.
“Lakota is the language of the land,” said Bino Garcia, an instructor with the Lakota Language Consortium. “There is a connection between the land and the language. Of course, it’s a big part of culture and knowing your identity and who you are, conversing in a language that was used here, on this land, years previous.”
Like all languages, though, learning Lakota is a challenge that deepens your connection to the culture, and is very rewarding to master.
“Studying the Lakota language is almost like a puzzle,” said Lora Catches, an elementary school teacher in Pine Ridge. “Once you get a little piece of the puzzle, you start putting it together, and it just gets bigger and bigger. The more you learn, then the more you can teach, [and you become] a part of the revitalization of the Lakota language,” she continued.
For information on future Lakota Language Weekends across the region, as well as Lakota language resources, visit the Lakota Language Consortium online, or on Facebook.
