Thornton Media
American Indian children will soon be able to learn their Native languages through an avenue that they know. Thornton Media is working to launch Rezworld, an interactive video game that will allow players to travel through virtual worlds and only be able to speak their Native language.
Immersive video game aims to revitalize American Indian languages
By
Rob Capriccioso
Story Published:
Sep 24, 2008
Story Updated:
Sep 23, 2008
WASHINGTON – Indian kids will soon have a Super Mario-like character of their own to guide through an array of digital puzzles and game landscapes. But instead of a character who looks like the mustached Italian plumber, made popular from appearances in dozens of Nintendo offerings, a new video game created by a Native-owned company will feature tribal characters speaking a variety of Indian languages.
The game, called RezWorld, is billed as the first fully immersive 3-D interactive video game that can help young Indians learn to speak their own languages via a unique speech recognition component.
“We’re all about teaching Native language in a context that really engages our young people,” said Don Thornton, the Cherokee owner of the California-based Thornton Media, which has led the way in creating the game’s prototype.
“One of the main reasons we’ve made RezWorld is because we see the connection between the survival of tribal languages and the protection of tribal sovereignty.”
Much like the popular mainstream Sims virtual-world computer games, the high-tech product allows players to interact with “intelligent virtual humans” that recognize players’ gestures and social behavior as they navigate their own Indian-looking characters through the game.
But beyond the Sims-like experience, players must also interact with virtual characters by talking into a microphone so that the characters can respond and provide cultural tidbits to help human players proceed through levels of the game – all in a Native tongue. The words the characters speak can also be displayed on the screen in English as an aid to players.
The speech recognition technology used in RezWorld was developed by Alelo Inc., a company that has worked for years with the U.S. military to help American soldiers learn Arabic languages. Alelo’s “Tactical Iraqi Language & Culture Training System” won top recognition at the 2007 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge competition.
“It’s a proven methodology of teaching language learning – it’s not an experimental methodology,” Thornton said. He added that the Alelo technology has been tested on more than 25,000 users, many of whom are in the military.
RezWorld is pre-programmed with introductory lesson plans that teach players basic pronunciation’s grammar and sentence structure. The lessons are meant to help players improve their language proficiency so they can complete increasingly rigorous challenges as the game progresses.
One elementary challenge in the game involves verbally asking virtual characters how to find a family member who has knowledge about how to get to the next level of the game. If a player just comes up to one of the virtual characters and rudely asks a question in a non-culturally appropriate manner, the character might respond with a big shrug, or give a gentle admonishment.
“It’s really a way to teach cultural protocol,” said Thornton, who added that his favorite part of the development process so far has been learning to interact with a trickster-like coyote character.
“Coyote is a little bit of a wise guy, so you always have to watch yourself with him,” Thornton said with a laugh.
Already, third-party academic scientists and researchers have found that RezWorld promotes positive learning results. Plus, many users rated the game as more effective than traditional computer language courses.
Thornton said he believes the main reason behind the effective results centers on his company’s push for the game to actually be fun to play. Several young people who have tested the game said they especially enjoyed its Indian humor elements, such as inclusion of a car driven by the main character, which tends to break down.
In another section of the game, if the player forgets to thank a certain character for his advice, the character responds by saying, “Hey, who do you work for anyway, the feds?”
“We tried really hard to make it funny and interesting,” Thornton said. “No one wants to feel like playing a game is a chore.”
He said that the game is intended to help players of any age become proficient on a novice level at speaking in their own Indian languages. The game is meant to be played on computers equipped with a CD-ROM drive.
To date, only one level of the 12-level game has been produced in a pilot form, using Thornton’s Cherokee language for the testing phase.
The first level is being used as a marketing device to help tribes understand how the speech recognition and game play components of the technology works.
Thornton Media is now at the point of trying to partner with a first tribe to provide funds to develop a complete 12-level game. If a tribe signs on, a finished game would likely be ready within eight months. The price tag for development of the complete game would be approximately $1 million. The company has already invested more than six figures into the development of the game thus far.
Thornton said it’s important for interested tribes to know that the game is completely customizable in terms of language, culture and landscapes. The faces of the virtual members can even be modified to look like individual tribal members. And the locations portrayed in the game can be modified to look like real tribal buildings or landmarks.
After the creation of the first complete version of RezWorld, Thornton Media plans to turn that prototype into a standardized game, which could be easily customizable with different languages and digitized landscapes.
“We see this as a natural next progression in language learning,” Thornton said. “And, yes, it costs a lot to get started, but we think it’s worth every penny.”
For more information, visit http://ndnlanguage.com.
You have indicated this comment should be removed.
The comment has been submitted for review. Thank you .
john brummett said on Sunday, Nov 2 at 9:17 PM
this is what must be done with every thing native so we will never just die and be sweep away with the dust of time
11747689oj.gourd said on Monday, Oct 27 at 4:13 PM
I'm from the Spirit lake Tribe (Dakota) of North Dakota how can you assist me in having a Sioux/Dakota language learning website?
11443279titamibo said on Thursday, Oct 16 at 9:26 PM
THIS IS AWESOME!!! I am a gamer, 25years old, and would LOVE to play something like this...I don't care what native tongue it would be in...I would wanna learn them all!!!
9335609ndnlanguage said on Monday, Oct 6 at 1:08 AM
Thank you for all of your comments. My company produced RezWorld. We are Native-owned and produced the Cherokee pilot version using friends and family as speakers. Our goal is to make language learning fun by utilizing the latest technology. The game also teaches proper behaviors. We work with more than 100 tribes and First Nations and this is the product that everyone asks for. We hope to bring the price down as much as possible. We also offer other less expensive products. Thank you.
8834829TXWolf said on Friday, Oct 3 at 1:19 PM
Bourzho Nikan! While I agree that our language and stories should be taught by our elders, I too am finding that the young ones of today are not receptive to their teachings. This may well be a needed tool to get them interested in learning more.
8773264Sagebrush Gurl said on Wednesday, Oct 1 at 9:21 AM
Still its up to the Tribe/families to teach. Of course it starts at home-respect, discipline, listen and do what is told or is this in "The Game too?" Now days kids have no respect for anyone even themselves. They are lost with no one to look up too and dress like the other ethic groups, lots of make-up, low shirts, tight pants, chonies showing, baggie shirts ACTING ALL IT-WHATS IT? When something comes up, they expect someone else to do it or talk for them, is that included in "The Game too??"
7525209David Velarde Jr said on Monday, Sep 29 at 7:03 PM
What a great idea, maybe this will engage students at the middle and high schools, some of our students can't even read. They don't have a chance in todays world but this might help, then they might be able to learn their language.
7466099tyson HCN said on Sunday, Sep 28 at 7:32 PM
not to dicredit navajo code talkers but did they not give the u.s. federal gov. their language. we must think about our youth, what gets them invovled, for us and the future of our languages
7434309tyson HCN said on Sunday, Sep 28 at 7:25 PM
this type of applicacation has great promise to todays youth. i hope tribal officials take notice and invest in one such product.
7434204Phil Stago, Jr. White Mountain Apache said on Sunday, Sep 28 at 4:01 AM
What separates real American Indians from "wana be" Amrican Indians is the cultural wisdom and ability to speak your traditonal language.You can have all the looks of an Am. Indain but if you can't speak the "Ndea' bea' yai' tea'(language) you are a generic Am.Indain. Without your knowledge of your language you really don't know who you are. I have heard this teaching of the traditional elders many times over the years.
7422689Denise Marie said on Sunday, Sep 28 at 1:55 AM
What a great idea and a good step forward at getting the young involved in learning and preserving their own languages....
7422229Ann said on Saturday, Sep 27 at 3:12 AM
I'm learning foreign language with software from www.valodas.com There are flash cards, memory games and other interesting things
7405074Black Feet Nation said on Friday, Sep 26 at 7:12 PM
I think its about time we had something for the childeren to learn, most of the elders are gone now and we are losing the language for the childeren, Great Job!
7397499Sagebrush Gurl said on Friday, Sep 26 at 1:23 PM
There are over 600 federally recognized Native Tribes through out "R" Native Country. Make sure you do get permission from the Tribal Elders and Leaders. My point of view, it should be the Tribes and its people to teach the youth of today/tomorrow. Member the "Code Talkers" we need to keep our language to "R" selves. Once this game is out, Non-Indians an other countries may use this to their advantage. Our Navajo Code Talkers was just recognized not long ago for saving "R" country. "Get-It?"
7386514Helma said on Friday, Sep 26 at 10:35 AM
Personally one-on-one conversational works best I think. It's good to have this available for a tribe who can afford the steep price. Has any Native won the lottery and be willing to share? Beware of ...those who come bearing gifts. Everything comes with a pricetag.
7379314Sola said on Thursday, Sep 25 at 12:39 AM
You can learn languages with free language learning software from www.valodas.com
7326299Mari Vega said on Wednesday, Sep 24 at 11:47 AM
How interesting! From their site you can watch a demo video that makes it look pretty neat. Hope some tribe will get this rollin'.
7295394Add a comment
Most Popular