By Justin Neely, CPN Language Department Director
Bozho jayek
(Hello everyone),
As we head into shke bbon, I thought I would write a little in Potawatomi and some in Chemokmanmowen. Then have a word list at the bottom. We have many projects we are working on. We are starting our second semester of language courses with our high school classes and also our Shawnee Middle School course. We also are still working on our penojeyek mzenegnen, which we hope to be out by niben. Also, we have scheduled our bbon yatsokagewen class. Nmebne gises nswe is when it will be. Anet yatsokagnen we can’t tell in the summer. Certain yatsokagnen we are supposed to mteno tell in the bbon. Kyetnam shena I like to write in our language. Kwetan next time nwi-nebyege only in Potawatomi. Megwa gme gishek, we teach in our Child Development Center. We will also be starting up a shke beginner class kwetan in Nmebne gises. We also are always making new videos and online content for our two YouYube channels mine gé she Facebook group.
Word List
Shke (shkuh) – new/fresh
Chemokmanmowen – English language.
Penoje (peno jay) – child, penojeyek (penojay yuck) – children
Mzenegen (muhzinuh gin) – book, mzenegnen (muh zinuh gin in) – books
Niben (neebin) – summer, literally “a time of plenty”
Bbon (buh bone) – winter/year
Yatsokagewen (yaht so kagay win) – storytelling
Nmebne gises (nuhmubnay geesus) – March, literally “when the sucker fish run”
Nswe (nSway, the n is almost silent) – 3 or third
Anet (an it) – some
Yatsokagnen (yaht so kahg nin) – stories, traditional stories
Mteno (muh tin o) – only
Kyetnam (key yetnam) – really
Shena (shinah) – emphatic
Kwetan (kwat than) – perhaps
Nwi-nebyége (nuh wee nay byah gae) – I will write
Megwa (meg wah) – still/more
Gme gishek (guhmay geesh uk) – every day
Mine (mean uh) – and/again
Gé – also