Rosetta Stone preserving Chitimacha language (fwd link)

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Rosetta Stone preserving Chitimacha language

By RICHARD BURGESS
Advocate Acadiana bureau
Published: Mar 16, 2010
USA

CHARENTON — A computer course used by millions of people to learn new
languages could help revive an ancient tribal tongue that lost its
last fluent speaker 70 years ago.

The Chitimacha Tribe first began teaching the tribal language at its
school in the late 1990s, trying to breath new life into the old words
with a curriculum based on studies done by a linguist in the 1930s,
said Kimberly Walden, the tribe’s cultural director.

That effort got a big boost this year when Rosetta Stone — a company
known for its interactive, computer-based language courses — completed
a course for Chitimacha as part of the company’s Endangered Language
Program.

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