By Jami Custer

Staff Writer

 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Native languages – including the Cherokee language – are being spoken less and less. A 2000 survey discovered that about 8,000 fluent Cherokee speakers remained.

 

This information inspired Cherokee citizen Don Thornton, who is also CEO of Thornton Media Inc. in Banning, Calif., to help keep the Cherokee language alive via a three-dimension fully immersive video game called RezWorld, which can be adapted to teach any Native language.

 

In 2007, TMI produced a pilot version of the video language game in the Cherokee language.

 

“The reason I am so aggressive about saving indigenous languages is because I am a Cherokee Nation member, and the Cherokee language is in worse shape than ever.” Thornton said. “A Cherokee language department staff member recently remarked, ‘Some weeks we lose 100 speakers.’ Think about the language situation in 10 years.”

 

He said traditional methods such as language classes, tapes and CDs have been largely ineffective in producing speakers and that immersion programs don’t produce speakers quickly enough to offset the loss of elders.

 

“Across the country Indian Nations are working to revitalize their languages,” he said. “If young people don’t learn now, the language will be gone forever.”

 

According to the TMI Web site, the video game technology has been tested on more than 25,000 students learning Arabic and it proved to be more effective that traditional methods. The game is similar to popular interactive games such as The Sims and Grand Theft Auto where the player controls the game’s main character.

 

“Imagine a world inhabited by intelligent virtual humans that speak only your indigenous language,” Thornton said.

 

It is a series of technologies created by a company out Los Angeles, Calif. called Alelo Inc. TMI began working with them in 2007 to produce the pilot version of the three-dimensional video game. The pilot version was created in the Cherokee language but the game is adaptable to any language.

 

Since then TMI has become what Thornton calls “the recognized leader in the industry,” serving more than 100 tribal clients in the U.S. and Canada.

 

He said his game pays quick dividends as opposed to slow language programs. For example, he said the Cherokee Nation’s Immersion Program has produced about 60 conversational speakers in four years. His game, he said, can produce speakers at novice to high levels in one week.

 

“We have talked with Native language programs that say they have to invest 2,000 hours into a student for them to achieve a level of novice to high,” Thornton said.

 

He said he wasn’t sure how many hours CN puts into each immersion student it attempts to teach the language to, but he thinks the game could save the tribe money.

 

“The Nation holds the language to be a pretty high priority, and they are spending money on language now, and I think this is a good opportunity for the CN to improve the number of speakers,” he said. “It’s (the game) actually a revolutionary new technology, and it’s one of those rare times where Indian Country can get a technology of this quality before the mainstream even has it.”

 

Thornton presented the idea to Principal Chief Chad Smith earlier this year. He said in the presentation he estimated the game would cost $1 million to produce. Since then cost has been lowered to $800,000 to produce a “fully blown” 12-level game.

 

If CN chose to be a part of this virtual language tool, he said, TMI would work with the tribe on getting the language correct.

 

“In all our interaction with tribes, the tribe themselves provides the language services or language skills, because they are the experts in the language,” Thornton said.