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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Fyi.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Thanks<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Carolyn<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color="#121212" face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#121212;font-weight:bold'>Modern
tool is utilized in the rebuilding of languages</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>August 02, 2006</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>by: <a
href="http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=365"><font color=black><span
style='color:black'>Konnie LeMay</span></font></a> / Indian Country Today</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>KAHNAWAKE, <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Quebec</st1:place></st1:State> - The creators
of a popular immersion language-learning software program called Rosetta
Stone are marketing their services under an endangered language program
geared toward revitalizing languages. <br>
<br>
Under the program, indigenous communities contract with Fairfield Language
Technologies Inc. of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Harrisonburg</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Va.</st1:State></st1:place>, to develop language
learning software. The communities provide the language expertise and images
to use. The voices on the programs are those of fluent local speakers. <br>
<br>
Currently, four programs are under development: for the Kahnawake Mohawk
community near <st1:City w:st="on">Montreal</st1:City>, (a recently completed
program), the NANA Regional Corporation in <st1:State w:st="on">Alaska</st1:State>
and its Inupiat shareholders, the Labrador Inuit Association and the Seminole
Tribe in Miccosukee, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fla.</st1:place></st1:State>
<br>
<br>
''The way that we teach languages through our software has been very
successful,'' said Marion Bittinger of Fairfield Language Technologies.
Communities contacted the company for help, and the Endangered Language
Program was born. <br>
<br>
Rather than simply a grammar- or writing-based teaching tool, the Rosetta
Stone system harkens to how children first learn to speak: associating new
words with images of situations or objects. The program uses thousands of
images and interactive lessons to prompt students to understand spoken and
written words and phrases. A demonstration of how the immersion concept works
can be found at www.rosettastone.com. <br>
<br>
The name Rosetta Stone was inspired by the stone tablet found in the northern
Egyptian city formerly called Rosetta. The tablet, inscribed with three
writing systems, including hieroglyphics, unlocked the meaning of those
ancient Egyptian inscriptions. <br>
<br>
Unlike some teaching methods, Rosetta Stone does not translate from one
language to another, so English, for example, is not used to teach
Kanien'keha, the language of the Kanien'kehaka (Mohawk, or ''People of the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Flint</st1:place></st1:City>''). Thus
Kanien'keha words don't lose possible aspects of their meaning in the
learning process. <br>
<br>
''The language that you're learning stands on its own feet,'' Bittinger said.
<br>
<br>
This particular Rosetta Stone software, released this past spring, was the
first completed under the Endangered Language Program. <br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place> once had about 300 indigenous
languages, according to the company. Today, with only about 25 of those
languages spoken fluently by children and others already lost, an additional
150 languages may disappear with the current generation of elders. The loss
of many languages can be traced to the polices of both the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> to eliminate languages for
First Nations children forced into boarding or residential schools. <br>
<br>
Once the programs are developed and Rosetta Stone assists with training in
the use of the software, the language program is sold and distributed by the community.
<br>
<br>
The visual images in the computer programs are of people and places from the
communities themselves. <br>
<br>
This is a particularly pleasing element of the system, said Kaherakwas Donna
Goodleaf, executive director of the Kanien'kehaka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa
Language and Cultural Centre and manager of the Rosetta Stone program for the
Kahnawake community. <br>
<br>
Incorporating pictures and images from the community make it more culturally
relevant, Goodleaf said. ''What is helpful is that you're using images,
you're using pictures of our own people.'' <br>
<br>
Of the about 8,000 people from the Kahnawake community, some 10 percent are
fluent speakers of Kanien'keha. <br>
<br>
''Language is such a direct link to who we are as a people - language plays a
very vital role. It informs our world view of who we are and connects us to
our land and all the history that comes with it,'' Goodleaf said. <br>
<br>
''To ensure that we continue to survive as distinct indigenous nations, the
Kanien'kehaka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa is taking an aggressive approach in
developing and promoting new language immersion programs for our community.''
<br>
<br>
Rosetta Stone is just one of the language tools the community has chosen. In
1999, at the encouragement of local elders, the community council passed a language
law that requires use of Kanien'keha in all educational, work and business
and community settings. The cultural center produces two local cable network
shows aired in the language and 90 percent of the community has this cable
network, Goodleaf said. In fact, the children's puppet show program, ''Tota
Tanon Ohkwa:ri,'' has been so popular that the cultural center is putting it
on DVDs for the community and schools to use and for other Mohawk communities
to access. <br>
<br>
For the fifth year, the cultural center is about to offer a nine-month adult
language-immersion program, Ratiwennahni:rats. Former students who are
parents were encouraged to set up their own parent language nest group. <br>
<br>
The cultural center is setting up a computer lab so community members can
access a language-learning experience designed to meet individual or group
needs. ''This is where the Rosetta Stone plays in,'' she added. <br>
<br>
Hope for the future of this voice of the people runs high for Goodleaf, who
sees a strong shift in language preservation and usage in the community
thanks to the efforts of parents, schools, leadership and businesses. <br>
<br>
''In 20 years, we'll have the majority of our community members communicating
in our language, whereby Kahnahwakero:non will be speaking, reading and
writing in our language.'' <br>
<br>
Those efforts are succeeding and shined through at the cultural center's
annual language variety-night show in which schools from the Kahnawake and
other Kanien'kehaka communities do skits or entertainment in Kanien'keha. It
was so beautiful and hopeful that evening to hear and see preschool children
in the audience talking to one another in Kanien'keha, Goodleaf remembered. <br>
<br>
The joy was especially felt by community elders, she said. ''They were so
happy to see these children walking around and talking to each other in our
language.'' </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><strong><b><font size=3
color=maroon face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Arial Narrow";color:maroon'>Carolyn Hepburn</span></font></b></strong></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Director, Native Education and Training</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Sault</span></font></st1:PlaceName><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></span></font></st1:place><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> of Applied
Arts and Technology</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>443 Northern Avenue</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Sault Ste. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Marie</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">ON</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">P6A 5L3</st1:PostalCode></st1:place></span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Phone: (705) 759-2554 ext. 2499</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Fax: (705) 759-0175</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Web: </span></font><a
href="http://www.saultcollege.ca/NativeEducation"><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>www.saultcollege.ca/NativeEducation</span></font></a><font
face="Arial Narrow"><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow"'> </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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