Han mitakuyapi, (Greetings my relatives)<br /><br />I have a question, or a few questions to ask.<br /><br />I consider our language program to be a grassroots program. We don't have any linguists or experts that help us and we can't afford to retain anyone. So I'm hoping that someone might be able to help us with this.<br /><br />Even though we don't feel that language phrases cds are the best way to learn, we have repeatedly over the last few years been asked by adults to make cds. We also think that if we create something in Dakotah, it will be available forever if all efforts to revitalize our languages fail. We also know that adults want to learn to speak complete phrases. And that if we create these cds it might make people more apt to try and learn more.<br /><br />Our questions are:<br /><br />How many phrases should we put on each cd without risking overwhelming the learner and creating the opposite effect of people giving up on learning because they think it's too difficult?<br /><br />How many times should be repeat each phrase in the native language?<br /><br />We were thinking of repeating each phrase four times. And we have been thinking about putting 64 phrases on each cd, which would be four times four times four. I think everyone who might either be native or work with natives would know that for most of our cultures, four is an important number.<br /><br />Nina pidamaya for any ideas you may have.<br />