Stepping through a course - Lesson 4

In this lesson, the notes I found in the forum http://anishinabemowin.21.forumer.com/ made little sense, considering the order in which the dialog was presented. I had to do a bit of digging for vocabulary. There's a great Ojibwe dictionary at Freelang that I have been using. They also have a downloadable dictionary, too.

I also took the liberty of rearranging some of the dialog from the original notes. They seemed to be out of order. There may even be dialog that's missing. I don't have the audio, so I can't be sure.

On with the dialog for Lesson Four.

Dialog -

M: Imbakade.
F: Ninisidotam. Ginisidotam na?
M: Henh. Ninisidotam.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Giin na ginisidotam?
F: Henyanh. Ninisidotam niin.
M: Gaawiin niin. Ninisidotanziin.
F: Zhaaganaashi aawi.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Anishinaabe-inini na a'aw?
F: Gaawiin. Anishinaabe-inini aawisii. Zhaaganaashi-inini a'aw.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Zhaaganaashiikwe na a'aw?
M: Gaawiin. Zhaaganaashiikwe aawisii. Anishinaabe aawi.
F: Zhaaganaashi na gidaaw?
M: Gaawiin. Anishinaabe indaaw.
F: Giga-waabamin miinawaa.

Line by line breakdown:

M: Imbakade.

• This is a new word, a verb. The root form of the verb is "bakade", meaning "to be hungry". The "Im" attached to the beginning of the wor is "I". Remebber that because bakade begins with a "b", "in" becomes "im".

• So he's saying "I'm hungry."

F: Ginisidotam na?

• "isidotam" is the verb "to understand". "Gi" attached at the beginning is "you" and we also know that "na" is a question marker.

• So she is asking "Do you understand?"

M: Henh. Ninisidotam.

• We already know "henh" is how a man says "yes". We can also deduce from the above sentence that "Ninisidotam" means "I understand", since the "ni" attached at the beginning means "I".

• So he says 'Yes, I understand."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Giin na ginisidotam?

• This is another way to ask "Do you understand?" It is considered more formal and usually used before the question is even asked.

F: Henyanh. Ninisidotam niin.

• And this would be the more formal response - "Yes (female). I understand."

M: Gaawiin niin. Ninisidotanziin.

• We already know that "gaawiin" is "no". We emphasize it with "niin" - "I" or "me". When we add "ziin" to the end of "ninisodotam".

• So his complete phrase is "No (not me). I don't understand."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Zhaaganaashi aawi.

• This new word "zhaaganaashi" means "English" or "Anglo", but colloquially is used to mean any non-native or a white person. So she is saying "He/she is white (not of the people."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Anishinaabe-inini na a'aw?

• We remember that "inini" attached to Anishinaabe makes the person male. The "a'aw" signifies "that one".

• So she is asking "Is that man Anishinaabe?"

F: Gaawiin. Anishinaabe-inini aawisii. Zhaaganaashi-inini a'aw.

• Further up we learned that by attaching "ziin" to a noun makes it negative. this is changed to "sii" when attached to a word that doesn't end in a hard consonant.

• So her answer is "No. That man isn't Anishinaabe. That man is white (not of the people)."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Here's the conversation in reverse, and asking about a woman:

F: Zhaaganaashiikwe na a'aw?

• "Is that woman white (not of the people)?"

M: Gaawiin. Zhaaganaashiikwe aawisii. Anishinaabe aawi.

• "No. That woman isn't white (not of the people). That woman is Anishinaabe."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
To ask and answer in second and first persons, we use the words "gidaaw" and "indaaw" which we learned in Lesson One.

F: Zhaaganaashi na gidaaw?

• "Are you white (not of the people?"

M: Gaawiin. Anishinaabe indaaw.

• "No. I'm Anishinaabe."

So the new words we learned are:

• Bakade (imbakade) - To be hungry (I'm hungry)
• nisidotan (ninisidotam, ninisidotanziin, ginisidotam) - To understand (I understand, I don't understand, you understand)
• Zhaaganaashi (-inini, ikwe) - White, Anglo person (man, woman)
• a'aw - that one

Stepping through a course - Lesson 3

Here is the dialog for Lesson Three. As with all these lessons new vocabulary is introduced.

Dialog -

M: Aaniish ezhi-ayaayan?
F: Miigwech. Nimaazhi-ayaa.
M: Nimaanzhi-ayaa.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Anishinaabekwe na gidaaw?
F: Henyanh. Anishinaabekwe indaaw.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Anishinaabe-inini na gidaaw?
M: Henh. Anishinaabe-inini indaaw.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Gaawiin. Ninisidotanziin.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Anishinaabe na aawi?
M: Anishinaabe indaaw.
F: Giga-waabamin miinawaa.

And now the line by line breakdown:

M: Aaniish ezhi-ayaayan?

• Remember from lesson two we learned that this means "How are you?"

F: Miigwech. Nimaazhi-ayaa.

• Again, from lesson two we know that "miigwech" means "Thank you." "Maazhi" means "not well" or "ill". So she is telling him "Thank you. I'm not feeling well." The "Ni" preceding "maazhi" is the pronoun "I" and "-ayaa" as well learned in lesson two is a verb form for "to be".

M: Nimaanzhi-ayaa.

• Notice the difference in spelling of "nimaanzhi-ayaa". This is simply a dialectal variation of "nimaazhi-ayaa".

* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Anishinaabekwe na gidaaw?

• Notice a difference from "Anishinaabe na gidaaw" learned in lesson one? The difference is subtle, but significant. the "kwe" (ikwe) tacked on the end of "Anishinaabe" means that we are adressing a woman.

• So we're literally asking "Are you an Anishinaabe woman?"

F: Henyanh. Anishinaabekwe indaaw.

• We learned in lesson two that "henyanh" is "yes" spoken by a female. And she is also specifying that she is an Anishinaabe woman.

• So she's saying "Yes, I'm an Anishinaabe woman."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Anishinaabe-inini na gidaaw?

• Here we see she is asking if he is an Anishinaabe man, by tacking "inini" onto Anishinaabe. Note that this can either be attached with a hyphen "-" or without.

M: Henh. Anishinaabe-inini indaaw.

• And as we learned in lesson one, "henh" is how a male says "yes".

• So his answer is "Yes, I am an Anishinaabe man."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Gaawiin. Ninisidotanziin.

• We learned that "Gaawiin" means "no". Let's take a closer look at the next word, "Ninisidotanziin". If we drop the first "ni" (pronoun "I") and the ending "ziin" (more in a moment on that), we have "nisidotam", which means "understand". When we tack on "siin" to ending, we are changing it to negative. Because "nisidotam" ends in a "m", "siin" will become "ziin". We need to add the beginning "ni" to make sure we know that it is "I' doing the speaking.

• So the complete phrase is "No, I don't understand."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Anishinaabe na aawi?

• The new word here is "aawi" and is the pronoun for "he", "she" or "it".

• So she is asking "Is s/he Anishinaabe?". She keeps Anishinaabe without the endings because we don't know if she is asking about a man or a woman.

M: Anishinaabe indaaw.

• And here he is answering "S/he is Anishinaabe." Again, no male or female notation.

F: Giga-waabamin miinawaa.

• And we also learned in lesson one that this is "I'll see you again."

Little by little, new vocabulary and concepts are being introduced. These are reinforced at the beginning of each new lesson.

Stepping through a course - Lesson 2

Here is the dialog and break-down of Lesson Two.

Dialog -

F: Aaniin!
M: Aaniin! Anishinaabe na gidaaw?
F: Henyanh. Giin dash?
M: Henh, Anishinaabe indaaw. Gidoojibwem na?
F: Indoojibwem. Giin dash?
M: Gaawiin. Bangii eta go.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Boozhoo. Aaniish ezhi-ayaayan?
M: Miigwech. Nimino-ayaa.
F: Giga-waabamin, miinawaa.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Mino-giizhigad.

- Now let's break it down line by line.

F: Aaniin!

• We learned in Lesson One that this is "Hello".

M: Aaniin! Anishinaabe na gidaaw?

• We also learned that this means "Hello! Are you Anishinaabe?" from Lesson One.

F: Henyanh. Giin dash?

• "Henyanh" is the way a female says "Yes".
• "Giin" is a pronoun for "you", "your" or "yours" and finctions as the subject.
  
• "dash" can mean many things, really, but here it means "and" in an interrogatory form.

• So the sentence is "And you?"

M: Henh, Anishinaabe indaaw. Gidoojibwem na?

• We learned all of this in Lesson One: It means "Yes (spoken by a man), I'm Anishinaabe. Do you speak Ojibwe?"

F: Indoojibwem. Giin dash?

• Again, "I speak Ojibwe. And you?"

M: Gaawiin. Bangii eta go.

• We also learned from Lesson One that this means "No. Just a little."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Boozhoo. Aaniish ezhi-ayaayan?

• We have a new word - "Boozhoo". It is another form of greeting. It's slightly more formal and would translate to "Greetings".
• "Aaniish ezhi-ayaayan?" is "How are you?", with "Aanish" being "How" and "Ezhi-ayayaan" being a form of the animate intransitive verb "to be".

M: Miigwech. Nimino-ayaa.

• "Miigwech" is "Thank you" (literally "Mii"=affirmative particle and "gwech" meaning "enough" or "sufficient".
• "Nimino-ayaa." - "Ni" we know means "I"or "me". Combine it with the preverb "mino", which means "good" or "fine" and include the animate transitive verb form of "ayaa" (to be) and we get "I'm good."

• So the complete phrase is "Thank you. I'm good."

F: Giga-waabamin, miinawaa.

• We learned in Lesson One that this means "I'll see you again."

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Mino-giizhigad.

• Remember that the preverb "mino" means "good". "Giizhigad" means "day". But why, you might ask, would you put a preverb in front of "day"? Well, "Giizhigad" is really a verb, meaning "to be day", so you are telling the person to "Have a good day."

That last sentence sounds complicated, but as we'll see further in the lessons, it's really not. It's the thought process involved, and it replaces some of our concepts of "have".

Double Vowel Writing System

I'm going to briefly cover the Double Vowel writing system, which is what is primarily used in Southwestern Ojibwe written material.

There is currently no single, unified written system used throughout the Anishinaabemowin speaking world, but the Double Vowel system is widely used. There are other writing systems in use; the Syllabary system used in Northern Manitoba and Ontario for example, among others. If you're interested in other writing systems, there's a great Wiki article located here.

The Double Vowel system is attributed to Charles Fiero and is sometimes referred to as the Fiero System. It's easily understood and I think that contributes to why it's in wide use.

The following is a list of all written sounds, an excample use and their approximate English equivalent. Note the the approximate English equivalent is just that - approximate.

Vowels	Ojibwe Sound	English Equivalent
a	asemaa (tobacco)	about
aa	omaa (here)	father
e	esiban (raccoon)	way
i	gimiwan (it's raining)	pin
ii	niiwin (four)	seen
o	opin (potato)	obey, book
oo	oodenaang (in/to town)	boat, boot
Consonants	Ojibwe Sound	English Equivalent
b	bakwezhigan (bread)	big
ch	chi-oginiig (tomatoes)	chin
d	doodooshaaboo (milk)	dog
g	gaag (porcupine)	go
h	hay' (oops)	hi
j	maajaan (go)	jello
k	mikinaak (turtle)	kite
m	mamoon (take it)	milk
n	bine (partridge)	name
p	baapiwag (they laugh)	pig
s	es (clam)	sun
sh	nishkaadizi (s/he's angry)	bush
t	anit (fish spear)	time
w	waawan (egg)	woman
y	babagiwayaan (shirt)	yell
z	mooz (moose)	zebra
zh	niizh (two)	measure
'	ma'iingan (wolf)	oh-oh (glottal stop)

Credit for this pronunciation guide goes to Rick Gresczyk (Ojibwe Word List. Eagle Works, Minneapolis, MN.) and to John Nichols and Earl Nyholm (A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe).

Stepping through a course - Lesson 1

My first steps into Ojibwemowin surprisingly started with Pimsleur and their first free half-hour lesson. It was pretty informative, not difficult and I came out of it feeling like I actually learned something.

The course is fairly expensive, and I'll probably spring for it eventually, but not right now (I say that as I'm making rabbit ears with my pants pockets). I generally like to start with audio-only courses when I'm completely unfamiliar with a language. And truth be told, there's nothing as good as hearing the language spoken by native speakers. It's the fastest way to get to solid understanding and also improving your own pronunciation by mimicking native speakers.

In the meantime, I found a forum dedicated to Anishinaabemowin at: http://anishinabemowin.21.forumer.com. A poster there had meticulously gone through all 30 of the Pimsleur lessons and transcribed the dialogs and provided grammar notes along the way. So what I plan on doing here is going through each lesson and commenting with my own notes, as the notes in the forum are very detailed - too detailed for a beginner like me. And I figure since I'm writing up my own notes, the better the language will stick in my mind.

So here goes with Lesson One.

Dialog -

F: Aaniin. Anishinaabe na gidaaw?
M: Henh. Anishinaabe indaaw.
F: Gidoojibwem na?
M: Gaawiin. Bangii eta go. Gidoojibwem na?
F: Indoojibwem.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Giga-waabamin, miinawaa.
M: Giga-waabamin, miinawaa.

- Let's break the dialog down line by line.

F: Aaniin. Anishinaabe na gidaaw?

• Aaniin is a common greeting - "Hello".
• Anishinaabe* is the most common way to refer to an Ojibwe person.
• "na" is a question marker here. If we had no real question mark, this is what would tell us that this is a question.
• "gidaaw" means "you are". Broken down further, "gi" is "you" and "aaw(i)" is the verb "to be" (present tense).

• So this sentence means "Hello, are you Anishinaabe?"
  

M: Henh. Anishinaabe indaaw.

• "Henh" is how a male person says "yes"
• "indaaw" means "I am". Broken down further, "ind" (or "indo" before a consonant) means "I" and "aaw(i)" again means "to be" (present tense).
  

• So the sentence means "Yes, I'm Anishinaabe."
  

F: Gidoojibwem na?

• "Gi" we've already seen means "you" but because it precedes a vowel, we're adding a "d" to...
• "ojibwem" - the verb "to speak" and
• again, a question marker "na".

• So the sentence would be "Do you speak Ojibwe?"

• You'll notice that "Gidoojibwem" has two "o"s written. This lengthens the vowel when spoken. I will write up a separate post on the writing system used both here and in all my learning materials. For now, just remember that it is commonly referred to as the "double vowel system".
  

M: Gaawiin. Bangii eta go. Gidoojibwem na?

• "Gaawiin" means "no". Broken down further, "gaa" means "no" or "not" and "wiin" acts as as an intensifier.
• "Bangii eta go" would be "just a a bit". So "bangii" is "a few", "eta" is "just" or "only" and "go" acts to affirm "bangii eta".

• So the entire phrase is "No. just a little. Do you speak Ojibwe?"
  

F: Indoojibwem.

• We already know that "ind(o)" means "I"and "ojibwem" means "speak Ojibwe", so...

• "I speak Ojibwe" is the sentence.
  

* * * * * * * * * * * *
F: Giga-waabamin, miinawaa.

• When you see a word that starts with "gi" and ends with "in", such as "giga-waabamin", it translates as "I - [verb]... you". "Waabamin" here means "see" or "find". The "ga" following the "gi" marks it as future tense, so it would be "I will see you". "Miinawaa" means "again" or "too". A side note here is that "gi-waabamin" means "I see you", present tense.
  

• The complete phrase is then: "I'll see you again."

M: Giga-waabamin, miinawaa.

• See above.
  

*Anishinaabe can mean "first/native person"


I will try and do these lessons every few days, hopefully going through two lessons a week until I reach the end of the 30 lesson course. Honestly, I hope I'm not getting into any copyright issues by publishing the dialogs, but they really are quite useful.

If you want to hear native speakers, you may wish to take some of the sentences here and plug them into forvo.com. There are a few listed Ojibwe speakers there that may record them for you. Please do not publish them for general consumption - as much as I'd like to see them used generally, I feel that it may be breaking copyright law.

Please let me know if you find this at all useful or have suggestions for improvement. Language communication is a basic human instinct and I think it's important to freely share any and all information when it comes to learning our many languages.

For my first post...

I wanted to highlight a program that was originally aired on Twin Cities Public Television in November, 2010, called "First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language". The show follows educators' efforts to save the Ojibwe language and pass it on to the next generation. It can be viewed in its entirety here.



Here is an excerpt from the program page description:

"First Speakers takes viewers inside two Ojibwe immersion schools: Niigaane Ojibwemowin Immersion School on the Leech Lake Reservation near Bena, Minnesota and the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Immersion Charter School on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation near Hayward, Wisconsin. In both programs, students are taught their academic content from music to math entirely in the Ojibwe language and within the values and traditional practices of the Ojibwe culture. Unique to the schools is the collaboration between fluent speaking elders and the teachers who have learned Ojibwe as their second language."