By Justin Neely, CPN Language Director

It’s been a very busy summer in the language department. We have started doing live beginner classes in the Potawatomi Language Facebook group Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays around 9 a.m. CST. We have also been doing weekly intermediate classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Staff are working on a series of children’s books we hope to have available at the beginning of 2022.

If you haven’t checked out the online dictionary recently, please do. We are constantly adding content, including audio files, videos, cultural information and example sentences. This is an ongoing project, but folks really seem to be enjoying it. By the time this newspaper arrives in August, we will be a couple of classes into our beginner on-site class. We are pleased to be able to once again offer in-person classes at the Cultural Heritage Center. The weekly class is on Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. We will be live streaming the classes. If you are just getting this, you should be able to jump on with us still. Email me at jneely@potawatomi.org if you are interested.

Our men’s drum group has been drumming on Thursday afternoons at 3 p.m., so if this is something you are interested in, come join us at the CHC. Also make sure to check out our two YouTube channels at cpn.news/langyt and cpn.news/childrenyt. One is more geared toward youth and the other for adults. We are constantly making and uploading new video content.

We just finished up a couple of different public domain cartoons and providing two versions: one with Potawatomi subtitles and one with English subtitles. The most recent one we finished was a Superman vs. Arctic Giant from the 1940s. We also have done two Popeye the Sailor cartoons, a Woody the Woodpecker, Robin Hood, Guilliver’s Travels as well as many others. If you search “Justin Neely” and “Potawatomi language” you should find the two channels.

Bodéwadmimwen kenomagewen

  • Wégni je I? – What is that?
  • Dopwen yawen. – It’s a table.
  • Dopwnen yawnon. – Those are tables.
  • Table zhenkade. – It’s called a table.
  • Wé ni je o? – Who is that?
  • Wé ni je o kwe? – Who is that woman?
  • Wé ni je o nene? – Who is that man?
  • Wé ni je o gigyago? – Who is that girl?
  • Wé ni je o gigabe? – Who is that boy?
  • Ni je ezhnekasot? – What is his/her name?
  • Cindy zhenkazo. – Her name is Cindy.
  • Ni jetso pongesyen? – How old are you? (Literally how many snows old are you)
  • Nishwabtek shech nish nponges. – I am 22 years old.
  • Ni jetso pongezet o penojes? – How old is that baby?
  • Nyew gisesgeze. – Four months old.
  • Mteno nyanen gongeze. – Only five days old.
  • Ngot: 1
  • Nish: 2
  • Nswé: 3
  • Neyew: 4
  • Nyanen: 5
  • Ngot watso: 6
  • Noék: 7
  • Shwatso: 8
  • Shak: 9
  • Mdatso: 10
  • Mdatso shech ngot: 11
  • Mdatso shech nish: 12
  • Mdatso shech nyanen: 15
  • Nishwabtek: 20
  • Nswabtek: 30
  • Nyewwabtek: 40
  • Nyanomtene: 50
  • Ngotwatsomtene: 60
  • Shaksomtene shech ngot: 71
  • Ngot wak: 100