I am a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma which is located in 14 counties of northeastern Oklahoma. I am a certified Language Instructor and I am proud to offer our readers who are interested in learning the Cherokee language or at least get familiar with it and the Cherokee syllabary. This section of the on-line newspaper is dedicated to the memory of Sequoyah, a true Cherokee genius. This section will have the Cherokee language lessons and The Cherokee Observer on-line newspaper will also reprint historic pieces from our past and I will seek out present day Cherokee authors ask them to contribute their written material. I have chosen not to translate a few of my articles, whether historic or modern, into English.
Reasons are quite simple.
Speakers and readers of the Cherokee language are special. They constitute an alarmingly small portion of our Nation. But many of the Cherokee stories will have English translations for our new online readers. The first step in learning to read and write Cherokee is to learn the Cherokee Syllabary which was created by Sequoyah, a Cherokee genius, in the early 1800's. Sequoyah taught it using the sight and sound method, we have found it to be the best method also.