Roseta Stone

[Andre Cramblit]

Chitimacha Tribe to Develop Rosetta Stone Software

ARLINGTON, Va. (Oct. 3, 2007) — Rosetta Stone Inc., creator of the  
world’s No. 1 language-learning program, has formed a partnership  
with the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana to develop a unique edition of  
the award-winning software in the tribe’s language, Sitimaxa.

The tribe will own distribution and sales rights to the tribal  
language version created through the Rosetta Stone Endangered  
Language Program, which has developed culturally-relevant language- 
learning software with the Mohawk of Kahnawake, NANA Regional  
Corporation of Alaska, and other indigenous communities.

Through its new corporate grant program, the global language-learning  
software company will underwrite a substantial portion of development  
costs for the Sitimaxa software. Rosetta Stone has pledged to  
underwrite at least one project per year with endangered language  
speaking communities interested in developing editions of the cutting- 
edge immersion learning software.

"Our hope is that Sitimaxa Rosetta Stone® software will be a tool  
that will make a difference in the vitality of the language of the  
Chitimacha Tribe," said Marion Bittinger, manager of the Endangered  
Language Program. "We look forward to working with the tribe to help  
realize their vision for a living and growing language."

On Louisiana’s coast, the Chitimacha tribe endured for century after  
century ? surviving war, settlement, assimilation. This same  
determination to survive has allowed the Chitimacha to revitalize  
their language, which they almost lost.

"Language is really the heart of who you are. It’s not just about  
learning the words; it’s about learning your past. It’s that  
connection," said Kimberly S. Walden, M.Ed., cultural director of the  
1,000 member tribe.

The native tongue of the Chitimacha people almost disappeared when  
its last fluent speaker died in 1934 and its last semi-fluent speaker  
died in 1940. One generation, then another, grew up knowing no more  
than a few words of the rich language of their ancestors.

Then in 1986, the Library of Congress mailed the tribe copies of wax  
cylinder recordings made in the 1930s by Swedish linguist Morris  
Swadesh. Tribal members listened to over 200 hours of their language  
- sounds no one had heard in decades, a cultural treasure buried in  
archives for half a lifetime. The Chitimacha began rebuilding these  
fragments back into a fluently spoken language. They recovered field  
notes made by Swadesh and his wife to help decode what was recorded.

"The recordings were very hard to understand, especially if you’d  
never heard the language spoken before," Walden said. "You have to  
realize that, as long as I was growing up, all we had in Sitimaxa was  
a few words on a museum brochure that no one could pronounce."

In 1995, the Chitimacha tribe established a cultural department.  
Employees asked archeological contractors in Louisiana if they knew  
of anyone familiar with the Chitimacha’s language -- a long-shot  
request that, improbably, paid off. Contractors suggested the tribe  
contact Dr. Julian Granberry, a linguist and anthropologist living in  
Florida who had worked with Swadesh as a high school sophomore.

Granberry, now 80, had studied their language for decades, but had  
never visited the reservation. The tribe invited Granberry to share  
his findings. "When Dr. Granberry spoke Sitimaxa to a group of  
Chitimacha elders assembled at a meeting, some of the elders began to  
cry," said Walden. "Words started coming back. They remembered."

With Granberry’s help, the Chitimacha tackled the Sitimaxa challenge,  
using the returned resources to develop dictionaries, curriculum,  
primers and recordings. The tribe now offers Sitimaxa classes for  
students as young as six weeks old at its child development center.  
Students in kindergarten through the eighth grade learn the language  
at the Chitimacha Tribal School, and adults in night classes.

Rachel Vilcan was one of the first students in the adult class. Now  
she’s an aide in the K-8 Sitimaxa program. "The language sounds  
natural; it sounds like it fits me, like it fits the area," Vilcan  
said. "It was scary, at first, to be learning it as an adult, but the  
desire to learn was stronger. It’s our identity."

Like other tribes working to bring tribal language back into daily  
use, the Chitimacha’s goal is to develop conversational fluency. "We  
want to bring the language back to the point where we can use it  
conversationally when we gather as a tribe," said Walden.

Through its immersion-based software that can be customized to  
reflect unique linguistic and cultural features, Rosetta Stone will  
help the tribe solve this problem. The tribe will work with Rosetta  
Stone to translate and record lessons in Sitimaxa. The paired audio  
recordings of tribal speakers and images from the community will  
teach this endangered language in culturally relevant context using  
the company’s award-winning Dynamic ImmersionTM methodology.

"I think the chances are very great that they will succeed,"  
Granberry said. "There has been for the last decade a strong interest  
on the part of a large number of the tribal members."

Ilse Ackerman, editor-in-chief at Rosetta Stone, said this language  
teaching tool multiplies existing efforts. "If you have a small  
number of fluent speakers, student time with these teachers is  
valuable and limited. The software can give students access to their  
teaching around the clock, allowing communities to save valuable face- 
to-face instruction time for conversational practice," said Ackerman.

The Chitimacha Tribe will use the immersion-based software to enhance  
ongoing education programs for children and adults. Tribal members as  
far away as Guam and Germany will be able to learn Sitimaxa using CDs  
or through online access when the project finishes.

About the Rosetta Stone Endangered Language Program

The Rosetta Stone Endangered Language Program works with communities  
to develop unique immersion-learning software. The Endangered  
Language Program worked with the Kanien'kehaka Onkwawén:na  
Raotitiohkwa to develop Mohawk software for the community of  
Kahnawake in 2006, and the NANA Corporation of Alaska to develop  
Iñupiaq language learning software in 2007. The program and the  
Torngasok Cultural Centre in Labrador will produce a version in  
Inuttitut.

About Rosetta Stone Inc.

Rosetta Stone Inc. is a leading provider of language-learning  
software. Acclaimed for the speed, power and effectiveness of its  
Dynamic ImmersionTM method, Rosetta Stone is a revolutionary language- 
learning software program. While teaching 30 languages to millions of  
people in more than 150 countries throughout the world, Rosetta Stone  
software is the key to Language Learning Success™. Inc. Magazine has  
named Rosetta Stone Inc. one of the 500 fastest-growing companies in  
the United States, and for the fourth consecutive year Deloitte has  
named the company one of the fastest-growing technology companies in  
Virginia. Rosetta Stone was founded in 1992 on two core beliefs: that  
the natural way people learn languages as children remains the most  
successful method for learning new languages; and that interactive CD- 
ROM and online technology can recreate the immersion method  
powerfully for learners of any age. The company is based in  
Arlington, Va. For more information, visit www.RosettaStone.com.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/endangered-languages-l/attachments/20071010/0cc26b49/attachment.htm>