Lakota · Lakȟótiyapi
Directory 8 resource listings · revitalization focus. A short orientation and a solid starting list.
For Lakota, prioritize official community or tribal programs in the list before commercial apps. Community authority comes first. Last reviewed 2026-08-01
About Lakota
- Language family
-
Siouan Source: Glottolog
- Where it's spoken
- The northern Great Plains, chiefly South Dakota and North Dakota
- Speakers
-
a few thousand speakers, an endangered language Estimate source: Ethnologue (SIL International)
- Vitality
- Severely endangered — tribal colleges and LLC materials lead.
- Writing
- Latin
Lakota is one of three closely related Dakotan dialects, along with Dakota and Nakota, that together form part of the wider Siouan family spread across the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley. It was never written traditionally, and standardized writing systems are a 20th-century development built mainly for teaching. Language-nest immersion programs on Lakota reservations are the main effort keeping fluent speakers coming up behind the elder generation.
Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.
How to start
- Start with an official community or tribal program from the list below before commercial apps.
- Treat the community as the authority on how the language is taught and shared — support their materials first.
- Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — prefer community media when available.
Practice on this site
Deep links into trainers and drills that already cover Lakota.
Community-governed language
Official tribal or community programs are listed first. Commercial tools appear only when they genuinely offer Lakota. See our disclosure and contribute corrections via Contribute.
About the word-roots method here
These languages are not well served by Indo-European cognate bridging. Prioritize community programs, script/syllabary literacy, and immersion materials from the list below.
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| Resource | Type | Levels | Cost | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New Lakota Dictionary Online
Searchable New Lakota Dictionary.
|
reference | A1-C2 | free | — |
|
About Lakota (English Wikipedia)
English-language overview of Lakota (history, status, writing system). Not reading practice in the language itself. There is currently no native-language Wikipedia edition for this language; this English article is background reading only.
|
reference | A2-C2 | free | 2026-08-03 |
|
English Wiktionary — Lakota category
English Wiktionary’s category of Lakota entries (glosses in English). Useful reference; not a monolingual learner dictionary.
|
reference | A1-C1 | free | 2026-08-03 |
Know a better classroom-friendly resource for Lakota? Suggest it with attribution.