Chitimacha announcement

Wed Oct 3 17:13:42 UTC 2007

Hi All,

We have happy news to share, below.  It's exciting also because it's the
first of endangered language projects subsidized by Rosetta Stone.

~ ilse

Ilse Ackerman
Editor-in-chief
Rosetta Stone

Chitimacha Tribe to Develop Rosetta Stone Software

    ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- 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(R) 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 and 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 Immersion(TM) 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.

    Communities interested in learning more about the Rosetta Stone
Endangered Language Program should visit the program's Web site, at:
http://www.RosettaStone.com/global/endangered, or call 1-800-788-0822,
ext.5331.

    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 Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa to
develop Mohawk software for the community of Kahnawake in 2006, and the
NANA Corporation of Alaska to develop Inupiaq 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 Immersion(TM) 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(TM). 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 http://www.RosettaStone.com.

    Rosetta Stone, Dynamic Immersion, and Language Learning Success are
trademarks of Rosetta Stone Ltd.

     For More Information:

     Peggy Lohmann                               Grete Krohn

     Rosetta Stone                                  Carmichael Lynch
Spong

     (703) 387-5835                              (612) 375-8535

     plohmann at RosettaStone.com         grete.krohn at clynch.com

Denise Dixon

Carmichael Lynch Spong

(612) 375-8523

denise.dixon at clynch.com

SOURCE Rosetta Stone Inc.

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