Resending Roseta Stone Article

[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.