Lakota Language for the Home 1: Kitchen and Food

This course is meant for families to use to speak together at home. The vast majority of the language used here is specfic to families in their homes, rather than in a school setting or other location.

For families working with AAC, remember to use AAC when you’re saying these sentences and phrases, and allow AAC users plenty of time to respond before you offer assistance. In general, Lakota/Dakota speakers offer a lot more wait time than most English speakers before expecting a response from someone – wait longer than that.

Each day except the first day, you will spend a few minutes reviewing the previous day’s phrases, and then the family will learn the day’s new phrases together. Listen to them several times, then practice saying them out loud. After you’ve got the hang of them, practice using them together, along with other words and phrases you already know, to have a conversation. Remember to have fun – make things silly, pretend to have different emotions about the sentence, and so on.