Chief Gary Batton announced the app's launch Wednesday in a social video, sharing how the resource will make language learning more accessible, engaging and effective.
"Preserving our language is one of the most important ways we can honor our ancestors and strengthen our future," Batton said.
He teased the release of the resource during his State of the Nation address over the weekend at the tribe's annual Labor Day Festival, which will be featured in the app.
"When Choctaw citizens open Rosetta Stone, they'll hear the sounds of their own community—a grandmother's stories, the Labor Day Festival in Tvshka Homma, a family cooking wild onions together," Miranda Weinberg, curriculum designer for the Endangered Languages program at Rosetta Stone, said in a statement. "We built this course to make Chahta anumpa more accessible while maintaining the connection between language and culture."
Anjanette Williston, the tribe's language program director, said in a December interview that after the COVID-19 pandemic took a devastating toll on fluent language speakers, the time for more language learners is now.
"In order for our language to continue long-term, we're going to need anyone that is willing to learn the language to keep it spoken," Williston said. "Because our sovereignty is at risk without a language. … And so if it's not only our tribal members, but others that are willing to learn and keep it going for many generations to come."
Rosetta Stone recorded 90 Choctaw speakers, capturing about 24,000 language recordings and preserving authentic pronunciations and knowledge.
Batton said that families who speak Choctaw together will cultivate another generation of speakers.
"Our goal is not simply to preserve the language in books or archives," Batton said in a statement. "Our goal is to see Choctaw spoken, learned and lived," Batton said. "I would like to see 'Halito' become as widely recognized as 'Aloha,' reflecting the strength, visibility and enduring future of the Choctaw Nation."
Tribal members and non-members can access the resource at no cost by applying for a license through the tribe's online portal called Chahta Achvffa.
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