Ojibwe Language coming soon to rlnn.com

One of the goals for Red Lake Net News in early 2004 is to incorporate the Ojibwe Language into rlnn.com. Not being a fluent speaker or instructor of the language, I am going to need a lot of help and guidance in accomplishing this task.

But I have this vison that it can be done, and that it should be done, and for now I am asking for ideas on ‘how’ it should be done.

The following are some links to Ojibwe Language sites already on the Web. Some are very good, although no one site is a complete site for learning the language. I have not included sites that charge a fee to learn the language, or who have tapes and language instruction materials available for purchase.

Do you have $325.00 to purchase some language tapes? That was the cost to purchase the thirty, 30-minute Pimsleur tapes, which advertises, “For your ears only: learn like a spy, pass for a Native.” They also guarantee you will start speaking Ojibwe in ten days or they’ll give you a courteous refund.

Not all of us have that kind of money to purchase the tapes or CDs, let alone the time it takes to learn a new language. But I think if we each set aside about 30 minutes a day to listen to the words, some conversations and explanations–when we can–we will begin to understand it easier.

I will admit I have listened to the Pimsleur tapes and they were actually quite good. It was easy to learn the basic principles involved in understanding and speaking the language, and everything you learned, seemed to stick with you even when you took a break from the learning process.

Then I thought, why Pimsleur tapes and not Red Lake Ojibwe tapes instead, or in this case, a learning process developed by Red Lake members to help teach each other the language? If more people learn the language and network with one another, and speak it more, and teach it more, I think it has a chance of coming back strong.

Below are some sites that contain the Ojibwe language within them, including English to Ojibwe translations, as well as some audio files which allow a viewer to hear the words being spoken. Hearing the language is actually much easier than trying to understand it in the form of written words.

http://www.first-ojibwe.net/index.html

http://www.ojibwemowin.com/

http://www.native-languages.org/chippewa.htm

http://www.css.edu/students/pfarell/Ojibwe.html

http://www.geocities.com/anishnaabemowin/

http://www.msu.edu/user/dearhous/misc.html

http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ks/5010_e.html

http://www.tribalfires.com/language/language.shtml

If you have any ideas on how Red Lake Net News should try to accomplish incorporating the Ojibwe language into rlnn.com, I’d like to hear about them. Please email me at mbarrett@rlnn.com with your ideas.

Also, if you know of any other sites dealing with the Ojibwe language, please let me know so I may take a look at them.