The new Standing Rock Elementary School will open for the 2010-11 school year with bilingual signage in Lakota and English, courtesy of LLC’s “coining committee,” which includes Board Members Ben Black Bear and Kevin Locke, plus Linguistic Director Jan Ullrich, Executive Director Wil Meya, and Board Member David Rood. The Standing Rock Education Department asked LLC for Lakota translations of room designations like “Main Office,” “Nurse,” “Gymnasium,”, “Cafeteria,” “Library,” “Faculty Lounge,” and so forth.
In June, the LSI students and faculty took a tour of the recently-finished school at Fort Yates. Our photo tour of the bilingual building shows the state-of-the-art construction as well as the handsome signage. At the intersection of the two main hallways, the “heart” of the building, artwork on the floor spells out four of the Ten Lakota Virtues in brass letters: wačháŋtognake (generosity), wóksape (wisdom), wóohitike (courage), and wówačhiŋtȟaŋka (fortitude).
Another signage translation project was accomplished over the summer, this time for the new hospital being built in Eagle Butte on Cheyenne River. The “coining committee” used the LLC Lexical database to devise appropriate words and phrases for such places as “Counseling,” “Housekeeping,” “Hydrotherapy,” “Procedure Room,” “Ambulance Garage,” “Radiology,” and “Mammography.” More than 1200 words were needed. Like every language, Lakota has a variety of words for one kind of place, like a toilet, where usage depends on context and the individual speaker. The LLC team sought the most tasteful and representative words for each instance like this.
LLC was brought onto this translation project by a Lakota language teacher, Dewey Bad Warrior, who teaches at Cheyenne-Eagle Butte Upper Elementary. Bad Warrior’s son, is a project coordinator for the hospital construction. LLC looks forward to touring the results of this project next summer! |
