'This is how they see the world': Mille Lacs launches Rosetta Stone program to teach Ojibwe

Feb 04, 20220

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Shirley Boyd, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, is a fluent Ojibwe speaker. She participated in the band's project with Rosetta Stone to create a learning program to help teach the Ojibwe language to future generations. Courtesy of Rosetta Stone

Two decades ago, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in east-central Minnesota had 145 fluent speakers of the Ojibwe language.

By 2019, that number had dwindled to just 25. Then, COVID-19 took a deadly toll. Today, there are only about 20.

"That's incredibly devastating," said Baabiitaw Boyd, who is senior advisor to an effort by the Mille Lacs Band to revitalize the language of the Ojibwe, or Anishinaabe.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/02/03/mille-lacs-launches-rosetta-stone-program-to-teach-ojibwe