About the Dakota Translator

Tamara Tacan was raised in Brandon, Manitoba and has lived in her home community of Wipazoka Wakpa aka Sioux Valley Dakota Nation for the past 23 years. She has been in the education field for 25 years in various capacities. With experience working as a classroom teacher, an educational assistant, language teacher, assistant to language teachers, etc. In her youth growing up she had heard and participated in the Dakota language. Coming from a long line of fluent speakers, and being mentored by many treasured elders, Tamara found a passion for the language and educating. 

In all her years working in education, she found there was very minimal resources to teach on the Dakota language. In fact, in all the fields and organizations her and her fellow language teachers worked with, they found there was hardly space for Dakotas at all much less our language. Instead of waiting for the time there would be more available, she decided it was time to create her own.