The Corps of Discovery’s ability to communicate with their Hidatsa
hosts was problematic until they employed a sort of “chain of
translation.” It worked something like this: A native speaker
would ask Sakakawea a question in Hidatsa, she in turn would then repeat
the question to her husband Troussant Charbonneau. Charbonneau, in turn,
would ask a French speaker (perhaps fur trader Rene Jessaume) the same
question in French, who would then translate it to English for Lewis
and Clark. This understandably would result in confusion from time to
time, but on the whole provided enough information to engage in meaningful
conversation and transfer of knowledge.
