I was asked to read a page off of a Cree book by Solomon Ratt. The Cree 10 class from my school, Sally Ross School, asked me because I speak the Woodland (TH) dialect, and more importantly, I have an awesome Woodland Cree accent.

(Page 5)

II. POLITE CONVERSATION

A. tānisi? Hi! How are you?

B. namōtha nānitaw, kītha māka? Fine, and you?

A. piyakwan, tāpwī mitho-kīsikāw. The same, it is really a nice day.

B. īhī, awīnā awa kā-wīcīwat? Yes, who is this that you are with?

A. iyaw, nitōtīm awa. Oops, this is my friend.

B. (to C) tānisi, Hi!
tānisi ī-isithihkāsoyin? How are you called? (What is your name?)

C. Charlie nitisithihkāson.  Charlie is my name.

B. tānitī ohci kītha? Where are you from?

C. mōsosākahikanisīsihk nitohcān. I am from Hall Lake

B. wahwā, tāpwī wahthaw Wow, that’s far.

kikiskīthimāw cī Heebul. Do you know Abel

ikotī ohci? from there?

C. namwāc. No.

B. kiyām. That’s okay.

nitōtīm ana iyako. He is my friend.

A. ikosi, ī-wī-mīcisoyahk ōma. There, we are going to eat.

sāsay cī kītha kikī-mīcison? Have you eaten yet?

B. namīskwa. Not yet.

A. āstam māka, wīcīwinān. Come then, come with us.

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The dialogue I was asked to read, was from a book I was familiar with: How to Say it in Cree, by Solomon Ratt. The book has been in the LLRIB CRU catalogue for ages and has been around since 1990. I tried using my natural voice, but as many of you know, reading Cree and speaking Cree are not always the same.

If you want to order a copy of the book, you can follow the link and take a look at the many Cree resources available from LLRIB CRU:

Click to access CRU_Catalogue_Jul_2022_forWeb.pdf

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