By Justin Neely, CPN Language Department Director
Bozho Jayek, (Hello everyone),
Ni je na ginwa? (How are you all?)
We are wrapping up our Beginner Language course. It meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings for an hour. We had a nice core group of around 12 people in person and another 15-20 online. Cole and Josey did a great job with their first adult class. The students were engaged and had lots of great feedback. We appreciate our students who took the time out of their own busy schedules to learn a little of our language and culture. When you take the opportunity to learn our language you will also be learning more about our culture. If you weren’t able to be a part of this class, we archived the classes on YouTube. Search for “Justin Neely” and “Potawatomi language,” and you should find our two channels. We also have an online course at learning.potawatomi.org as well as other tools to help you with your language learning journey. Also, a dictionary is available at potawatomidictionary.com.
We will be getting ready soon for our next big event, our annual Winter Story telling event. We will be hosting it in February, so pay attention to updates. We will also begin a second beginner class in the spring. We also will be starting up an intermediate/advanced class in the spring.
Remember the language is currently available to be taught in any district in Oklahoma for world language credit towards graduation. You just need to reach out to the Language Department and your local district to get it set up.
We will be hosting the second year of our eight-week master apprentice summer program. We will have two paid internships and the ability for others to audit if they have the time and means to be with us. This summer program is a great opportunity to really pick up a ton of the language in a relatively short amount of time.
We also recently wrapped up our world premiere of House on Haunted Hill in Potawatomi. This was a re-dub of the classic black and white horror film with Vincent Price. We had a nice turnout of about 45-50 people. It was a fun time watching a film in Potawatomi and enjoying some popcorn and snacks. We have done a number of public domain films in the language. Our next film will be the 1970’s stop motion film Santa Claus is Coming to Town. We hope to have it out before Christmas. Whenever we do a film, we do three versions: one version with captions in Potawatomi, one with captions in English and one version with no captions.
I had the opportunity to network and present at the 2nd Annual Algonquian Language and Cultural Convention hosted at the First Americans Museum. I talked about using technology to teach language. I networked with several different language departments to find out about their projects and share things we are doing.
Dgwaget Kedwnen — fall words
(Listen to the words at potawatomidictionary.com)
Zawboyga — leaves turning yellow/brown
Mashdoshk’egé — he/she is raking
Datbek — leaf
Datbegon/datbekwen — leaves
Dgwaget — fall
Giwse — he/she is hunting
Yabe — buck
Watébgya — the leaves are changing color
Bnakwi — leaves falling
Tkéyamget — It is cool
Bonimget — It is snowing.
Gonnene — snowman
Gon pkwakwet — snowball
Boniswen — light snow