My New Cherokee Language Project
I am translating (transposing) a book of Cherokee phrases from English and phonetic Cherokee to the Cherokee syllabary.
I'm a member of the Cherokee Nation, and I've been wanting to learn the Cherokee language. The Cherokee language is written in a 81 character syllabary which means that each symbol is a syllable rather than in an alphabet where each symbol is one sound. In Cherokee, you have different symbols for the sounds "ga" Ꭶ and "gi" Ꭹ and so on. My first project was to learn it. There are 81 characters that often look alike and sound alike, so it was difficult. Once I did that, I needed to continue practicing it. That's what I do now.
I wanted to learn more Cherokee phrases, and I bought a book of Cherokee phrases called Osiyo Tohitsu by Prentice Robinson. This has a ton of common phrases that you might use. There are also YouTube videos that the Cherokee Nation language office posts of common words and phrases. The problem with Osiyo was that it was written in phonetic spelling and not in the syllabary. Which means I couldn't keep up my Cherokee syllabary at the same time I use this phrase book. I've decided to go through this book and translate it into the Cherokee syllabary. I'll also be adding another phrases and words that I wanted to learn.n
Phrase by phrase is the method that missionaries and spies use to learn languages. It's also the method that the company Talkbox.mom uses for their languages.
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