“Hᵾkk’aaghneestaatlno se’ooze’. Hᵾt’odlee Kkaakk’et hᵾts’enh ts’aadaansdlet, eenhde Fairbanks lesdo. Bedzeyh te Hᵾt’aane esdlaanh. My name is Lorraine David. I come from Hughes, Alaska, but I live in Fairbanks. I am of the Caribou Clan.”

Lorraine has been a Denaakk’e language educator for many years. She taught Denaakk’e to college students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and high school students Effie Kokrine Charter School before she began teaching the Fairbanks Native Association Head Start. At this program, she teaches Denaak’e to 1 to 5 year olds, and sometimes to their parents, who like to get involved in their children’s language learning. Outside of her work as an educator, Hᵾkk’aaghneestaatlno is the Denaakk'e translator for the Molly of Denali series as well as the Life Below Zero show with Tig Strassburg. She is also an AKPIRG language panelist, and has participated in several translation projects. 

During the pandemic, Lorraine worked to translate important messages about community wellness into Denaakk’e. Visit our website to see the messages and artwork that the AKPIRG Denaakk’e Language Panelists created, and to see a video of Lorraine speaking about getting vaccinated in Denaakk’e!

Lorraine’s teachings of the Denaakk’e language are helping to preserve this vital culture for generations to come. We thank Lorraine for doing this work, and for her work as an AKPIRG Language Panelist. Baasee’!

To learn more, visit akpirg.org/language-access.

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