Lakota should be spoken distinctly and unhurriedly, as is done by its native speakers. As a non-native, it is important to listen carefully to Lakota’s phonemes and reproduce them as accurately as possible, specifically, without Anglicization. The only dipthong in Lakota is au; in all other vowel combinations, the vowels are to be pronounced individually; for example, waáia (to slander) is pronounced wah-AH-ee-ah and oyáte (nation) is pronounced oh-YAH-tey--not oy-AH-tey! Similarly, consonants are pronounced individually; for example, mni (water) is pronounced mi-NEE. Three-fourths of all Lakota words are accented on the second syllable; the remaining are accented on the first. Unlike English, questions terminate with a descending tone.

In addition to the pronunciation guide, you may find it helpful to refer to these external pages: Lakota Letters and Sounds, Lakhota ( Lakota Sioux ) Computer Program and this sample of George Bushotter’s texts which includes stories in Lakota with audio clips, English translations, and an interactive dictionary. This list of animal names includes photos with written captions and audio clips. The same site also has a few numbers and other words with audio, colours and names of body parts (without audio). You can read and listen to a short greeting by David Little Elk. There is also a German site with some Lakota audio clips. You may find it interesting to compare Lakota with Dakota and Nakota at Fort Peck Community College, which has some Dakota and Nakota audio clips (Look under Dakota/"Nakona" language lessons). Indiana University provides a sizable online collection of Lakota language recordings spanning five lessons, including pronunciation drills, grammar drills, and conversations featuring male and female speakers so that you can hear the differences between men's and women's speech.