First Language - The Race to Save Cherokee

This Emmy Award-winning documentary chronicles the efforts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to preserve and revitalize the endangered Cherokee language.
a film by Danica Cullinan and Neal Hutcheson
executive producer Walt Wolfram
associate producers Hartwell Francis and Tom Belt
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[@jacquelynjohnson9489]

Have PRIDE in being able to read, write & speak Cherokee language!!! The teachers I truly admire!!!

[@nikiyotov7321]

The Cherokee spoken here is of the North Carolina (tsa-la-gi u-we-ti) dialect. I am of the Oklahoma Cherokee but am still able to understand most of what has been said in Cherokee dialogue in these videos!!

[@nelsendonna]

me too

[@oldschoolplanet5896]

@H S yes

[@DredPiratNil]

I am from Claremore oklahoma and am trying to learn my native tongue I have no more elders in my family that can teach me how to read my Cherokee to english dictionary it's hard to understand how to pronounce the syllables can you please help so our language doesn't die I know I am only a quarter Cherokee but one drop of blood and pride is all it takes spread our seed

[@badgergirl3303]

Do you know of the mercers in adia ok

[@Concetta20]

Great! Keep learning and pass it on.

[@williamwarren9360]

please do not give up the Cherokee language keep it going. thank you very much

[@sesjfisoejlongcompton3357]

it sounds like its a sing song language i bet the japanese would have an easier time learning

[@rolfolsen3236]

@@sesjfisoejlongcompton3357 Cherokee sounds so tremedously beautiful, its soft and beautiful sounds touch my heart in sincerity! Saami from the north of Norway Rolf Olsen

[@cassidygalaviz54]

@@rolfolsen3236 I love the way the older generation talks it does have a beautiful flow to it. I also like to hear the songs

[@brandonweatherford2843]

I have never looked into my heritage and I know that I have cherokee on both sides of my mom's family and same as on my dad's . The way the music is and the speech is almost understandable to me but the sound of it is not what I know to be proper lol going to be involved in the heritage and definitely research it

[@jamestheredenginenumber5645]

I was from Cherokee NC and my family speaks Cherokee and i went to Cherokee Elementary and middle and high school.

[@markrigsby2107]

James George You save your people.

[@kratos1541]

i glad it is not lost my family look more white so i was told we hid the fact we were cherokee and understand for the time when they were attack for no reason but wish we would have keep it up in secret so it would not be lost to me and any kids i have to where we have to find a different way to learn it

[@lorihightowersanderssander5501]

Hi, I'm trying to learn my Cherokee language! I am Cherokee woman and Irish, but I am grateful to be Cherokee! My great grandmother was full blood Cherokee Indian! I remember her but vaguely, because I was only around 5 years old when I talked to her! I can't even remember my grandmothers name! My mom and dad both Cherokee Indian and Irish! I don't know how much Cherokee I have but I'm going to try my best to learn my Cherokee language! Thank you for being there my Cherokee brother! Lori Hightower, my maiden name! Lori Sanders is my married name! I always keep my maiden name because I am very proud of it! Thanks for reading my massage, Lori Hightower Sanders. 'Ye Ho Waa' Am I saying the Creators name right?

[@lorihightowersanderssander5501]

Hi, I'm trying to learn my Cherokee language! I am Cherokee woman and Irish, but I am grateful to be Cherokee! My great grandmother was full blood Cherokee Indian! I remember her but vaguely, because I was only around 5 years old when I talked to her! I can't even remember my grandmothers name! My mom and dad both Cherokee Indian and Irish! I don't know how much Cherokee I have but I'm going to try my best to learn my Cherokee language! Thank you for being there my Cherokee brother! Lori Hightower, my maiden name! Lori Sanders is my married name! I always keep my maiden name because I am very proud of it! Thanks for reading my message, Lori Hightower Sanders. 'Ye Ho Waa' Am I saying the Creators name right?

[@HannahHappyHomemaker]

Lori Hightower Sanders Sanders !! I'm searching KZbin as I just found out that my husband is Cherokee, Irish and German! I love learning and think it would be amazing to bring some of the Cherokee tongue and culture into my kids lives!

[@bigfootbillunknown9511]

All my life, my native tounge had been denied me. Now too old to learn. Still, it's sound haunts my spirit. Like a dying man on a desert craves water. Yet, water upon touching his lips are too parched to receive. Still he guzzles it down. Knowing the fleeting moments won't last. Like the broken child's heart. The Spirit cries for more. It's been a long time coming.

[@Siqaiyuk]

Ilisimallarutin, aasii utuqqaŋitchutin kiŋuġautchimik. You can learn, and you are never too old.

[@kravenfoxbodies2479]

@@Siqaiyuk kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnLKn316f7NnjKM = Highway 22 = Franklinville = Frankenstein = King of the Dead = Copper Head = Safe Passage = Dead Woods = Wake Forest = Mount Pilot = kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYiZnneLorWNZrs = All Pine = Land of Rattlers = Moving Land Marker = Mound Builders = kzbin.info/www/bejne/foSmapadq9meiNU = Billy the Kid = Covid = kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4e7g2WCjsp5eKs = To share a name = John's Dirty Lennon = 3Rd White Raven = Grey Wolf = kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5ypZKKur86If5Y = Will .i. am Son of David = Full Wool Worth = February Seventh = Winter Solider = Under Taker = Raven and Dolphin = Randolph County = Devil's Stomping Ground = Cider Square

[@jacquelynejohnson9127]

Learn it anyway, you are never too old, I plan on walking the trail of tears and the AT I'm 60 next month, I'll be using a rollater if I have to

[@doninfamy]

Too old to learn is a lame excuse

[@daithig8257]

The same happened in my country Ireland our native language and religion was outlawed hundreds of year's ago by the English..

[@niccolom4556]

Irish sounds 100% more beautiful than boring English. They're revitalizing Irish/Gaelic! Go Ireland!

[@janetwalmsley-heron]

This was the very best and most positive Documentary I have seen to date of the Cherokee Native American Indian people and I would wish this type of development upon all the many different Native American Indian Tribes in America if that was at all possible. Where there is a will there is a way and this is admirable. The most positive thing being the family units schooling together with the very small children learning from and with the elders. I also admired the School set up and the dedicated staff and using the best of both worlds with technology, Tablets and computers and what struck me was the Language is what the Cherokee people are about and it is who they are. This was brilliant and I was so pleased and so happy to see that 12,000 years of heritage is not being lost and there is a hope to preserve it and push forward with the children to maintain it and develop and grow so they have bi-lingual children who's first love is their own mother tongue. I wish the parents who do not know it could learn it too by returning to school that would ensure saving the language from extinction . This was amazing, well done and I wish you all great joy and happiness and success

[@aborigineone2377]

we all been lied to here is the truth kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpyvYoF5gr2Me7M kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2eqap1jdpqqi9U kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2a6fmmllLVgaZY

[@threedegreespunk9600]

Just stop it you probably know exactly what I know and know these people aren't indigenous to america

[@wildsouth2471]

My grandmother took the trail you seen on the map that goes to Iuka, Mississippi in the northeastern part of the state and escaped the trail of tears. My family is still here in northeast Mississippi. She was the last person in my family to speak the language.

[@charleskristiansson1296]

This is so tragic yet inspirational. Nothing can break the Native American Indian Spirit. Bless you all. May Cherokee flourish

[@gailhandschuh1138]

Heritage is so important to all people of the world.

[@TheAuntieBa]

This is an excellent video on the Cherokee language. I’m so relieved to hear about the immersion schools; they are a sure way to increase native speakers. I’m not American Indian, but value their histories, languages and cultures. I’m sure there are tribes that are entirely gone, and that’s a tragedy. Bless all who work to the preserve and restore their richness. Can you record your elders? It wouldn’t be enough, but it might help.

[@honeys.9579]

Definitely helps, of course with their permission and a nice outfit many of them would like to share some history.

[@blackcitroenlove]

Anyone is welcome to learn Cherokee. You can too.

[@meredithahern-tamilio4667]

I don't want to loose your language!! It is very important to me and I am Half Italian and Irish× English ,my grandfather told me as a child that on his fathers side of the family that we have Indian, native American mixed into us & I was just 7or8 years of age and I jumped for joy ,no grandfather spoke no words ,he was a yound toddler when his father went home to our Creator ,I cryed right soon as I got out of grandfather's site,then my Grammy came into my bedding area to see why I was crying, I beg add n to tell her why ...can understand and speak Italian ,not fluently ,I definitely understand what my Nona is saying lol she got her point across ,belive me ,she spoke broken English they called it..I hope that they keep speaking your language full time ...Thank you very much for sharing your video and knowledge with me ,I do appreciate it !

[@williampounds9180]

Shirley, please keep teaching the Cherokee language.

[@leakanaau]

It hurts my heart to know your people have suffered so much by the Caucasians as my people have. I also know many other peoples have suffered as your people. But I am also happy to learn that you’re teaching your children to speak the language. I am Hawaiian mixed with some Chinese. My father was a Native Hawaiian whose first language was hawaiian and lived when it was still outlawed to speak our native tongue. So he and our elders would speak it in the privacy of homes and private meetings. He would not speak to us his children in Hawaiian at all. Only words here and there. When I finally learned why my father did not teach or raise us speaking tHawaiian, it hurt my heart. We now have Hawaiian Immersion charter schools too, which I’m grateful for. Preservation of your culture and language is so important because to lose it completely is to say they win. Their purpose was to assimilate your and my people into their culture and language to get rid of anything that was part of our lives. It’s history repeating itself over and over.

[@boomchakrachakra9827]

I’m definitely not Cherokee but I’ve spoke broken Cherokee since I was 12 since my grandma wanted me to speak it and I was just humoring her. Now I’m 23 and I speak it to my children and learn more everyday. It’s kept them safe from strangers before or saved them from embarrassment. Now it’s more of a time capsule and a story for my grandma as shes gotten much older since then. Now my husband, adopted from Korea and into a totally white family, wants me to teach him lately. It makes families closer, I believe.

[@larenzowesley30]

Howd your grandmother come about speaking it?

[@2016Hannah]

That's my grandma Mary brown ❤️

[@TheAuntieBa]

Bless her!

[@studypartner9643]

Do they accept white Cherokee? I know someone who is white but his DNA test I seen he is 49 percent but looks white. He was born in the mountains

[@JK360noscope]

@@mossyoak5169 that 64x64 resolution image gotchu hot huh

[@aaa587]

@@studypartner9643 white means nothing. Being able to prove your ancestry is what's important. At least to the Cherokee nation in Oklahoma

[@sandmtnirishred]

I meet her once many years ago thru my uncle Red Crow

[@bimmjim]

"I am a person of this place." I understand that as a feeling. I feel that I belong to the land where I live. I eat the wild berries from the forest . I eat the fish from the creek. I build my home from the trees.

[@katikawoniNTV]

this is really sad but true the government doesn't help they don't offer any language classes for cherokee and they also don't really teach much about anything native american in schools today its like they wanna get rid of our whole race but they forget that we were here first .

[@denepride2910]

Katie Cook yet they shove slavery history down everyone's throat... And leave out Native History.... Its unreal....

[@JaneDoe-ti9fr]

@@denepride2910 ♥👍

[@orangehillcomics7830]

Dene Pride sad but true.

[@JK360noscope]

Look, you're gonna have to fight for it. Everyone takes care of their own and not much more beyond. Be the leader others need you to be.

[@howardrodgers3015]

Katie Cook they are not teaching history of any people correctly. I have Cherokee on my Mama’s side of our family and what I know is what I learned from her just not the language

[@thedeadscientist]

I wish you so much luck and success with your project. Greetings from Germany:-)

[@whytepapricka6586]

When the children go home, they need to teach their parents' the Cherokee language. Just a few words at a time. Possibily as a homework assignment. That way the children will feel extra smart. And it could end up helping their parents learn too. Plus, this will help reinforce and ingrain the language into their souls.

[@yvonnelunsford1238]

Fantastic idea! I would love it.

[@robertmyers6865]

That is good.

[@stevemua1088]

Some things to do at home for the kids to retain what they learn is to put labels around the house in the language like table ,bed plates cups these little things help them retain what they have learnt .As a Maori you see a lot of this in maori homes for both the parents to learn and children to retain.Hope this helps

[@jackd9382]

Preserve your native language, I think it is mystical and resonates the connection to nature and balance. This world doesn't need a unified language because heritage and tradition becomes washed.

[@Concetta20]

It’s beautiful language. What a wonderful film! I learned a lot.

[@rhondalambert7318]

Thank you for preserving the Cherokee language. I'm sixty and this is the first time I've heard it spoken. I have family in Oklahoma that I've never met. I'm proud to be Cherokee.

[@judyduduks7022]

ditto, I missed so much. was adopted.

[@anawkwardsweetpotato4728]

Y'all should reach out to them and try to reconnect yourselves! Your heritage is calling you~

[@notmyworld44]

The Cherokee dialect of Oklahoma is quite different from what these people in this video speak.

[@NinjaCorps]

Wayne Warmack there are two dialects Eastern Band and Western Band being OK I believe I’m studying

[@rhondaprice5202]

I need to learn the eastern band. Anyone?

[@Pheonixfuri]

I just learned about my Cherokee lineage two years ago by my 92 year old Grandmother at the time. My Grandmother has been completely assimilated into the white way. She can not teach me anything. I believe that I am the only one she confided to about our bloodline. When I asked my Aunt she had no idea what I was talking about. I am so saddened by this.

[@marialalasmith9562]

Probably not all the way Cherokee, most native people can't pass for white. It's only the very mixed one that are able to, so that's why you guys are not aware of that ancestry. Still you are white with a small amount of cherokee so please do things for other natives. Being Native is more than just a "bloodline" it's about protecting native culture and its people.

[@theresakriz1938]

U might have to find other ways to connect to your Native side

[@badgergirl3303]

That sounds like my family

[@og-greenmachine8623]

Get your $5.00 back

[@og-greenmachine8623]

CHIA PALA, TOHBI, OKLUSHINLA OFI!!!!! Pia “LUSA”, pia->Ne’ohklillica!!!!!!! NANAPALO! Chia NE Issish CHEROKEE OFI! “HOPIA”, Ne’ohklillica! “CHIA”? Charokee? NE! FUCK’IN FUGASI!🖕🏽

[@townsend5321]

My Father was raised in Cowee, I in Nikwasi (Franklin)... my great grandmother was full Cherokee and it made me so happy to hear these places named in this documentary, we will keep this place alive. Cherokee language is still taught at Cherokee (NC) schools... so there is hope. I know it sucks to have to claim a relative for this, but it can and should matter to us to keep it alive.

[@agentbond1435]

I think my Cherokee blood is the reason I feel a strong will to live off the land.

[@willnichols6470]

I think my Irish blood is the reason I feel a strong will to eat potatoes and be an alcoholic.

[@CheeseDBD]

i think my american blood is the reason i feel proud, strong, and independent.

[@minniemouska4320]

I think my English blood makes me drink tea.

[@annnee6409]

@@CheeseDBD And what exactly is "American blood"? LOL

[@rons-topic1067]

I am waiting for the day when America will have Indian president either from Lakota Onondaga Cherokee navazzo Cheyenne or whosoever. But it must be an Indian that's it. I cry for Lakota. Perhaps you all know the situation of Dakota county.

[@LoriWolfcat]

I really hope Cherokee becomes worldwide one day. I don't know if I can learn it, but I'll definitely try!!

[@paulhampton6408]

Osiyo, Dohitsu ? Hello, how are you ? My Cherokee great great grandma was owned by a black northern lights family & severely beaten like a wild beast ! But she survived & was rescued by a sweet southern Carolina man who married her & became free to speak & think & live her life ! Oddly, even those who claimed we were a lesser then slaves not even considered smart enough of able enough to do anything right, we proved them all wrong & did so many incredibly amazing life changing things ! Thank you for this video ! Sincerely Pawl-Wadw / Paul~.

[@jimfowler5930]

NEVER let these languages die!

[@humanbeing2009]

Thank you for this beautiful film. I am so hopeful for the Cherokee people to keep their language spoken.

[@bullzdawguk]

Exceptional documentary. In the UK, the Welsh have fought hard to keep their language. I believe the best solution is to start teaching a child both English and Cherokee from the youngest age possible. Ages 1 - 4 are the ideal window. We lose half of our lifetime amount of brain cells by the time we turn 5. This early overabundance of brain cells is designed to give their mind the ability to absorb as much knowledge as possible. My niece speaks both English and Italian fluently because my mother-in-law has only spoken Italian to her from the day she was born. The rest of her world is English. So, just one person taught her fluent Italian by the time she was 5. This shows how easily a child can learn multiple languages at this vital age I mention. Good Cherokee people, teach them young! Save your heritage.

[@aliciaarellano19]

My grandmother's grandfather was Cherokee I wish I knew more of my great grandfather, when I hear the language or music I feel my heart & soul is saddened, maybe because my heart & soul remembers something that my conscience doesn't. Or I have a deep desire to know my ancestry & feel lost.

[@badgergirl3303]

I feel lost. Like part of me is missing. Not knowing my true heritage

[@williambarr3119]

Our Aunt was the only one to apply for and receive tribal recognition within the Eastern Band of Cherokee, I did all the research and my wife helped to get the documentation prepared. I sent it to all my mothers family members, all Cherokee on the mothers side, Grandfather full-blooded Cherokee but not on the dowels rolls!!! Grandmothers people were though. All Born and raised in Eastern United States. It is sad that many of us never learned about our Native culture and the Language and will soon be lost, you may only have one drop left, but when you have no culture and no language one drop makes only the smallest contribution!!! Yet it still give us hope!!! Dennison and Nicholson were my connection to the Tribes of Cherokee. I remember one set of Names were George and Martha Dennison, wink wink!!!

[@geronimo957]

Tom Belt,Loud and clear.Love You and gUrls,Save the language, Haida Gwai stands with You

[@stinkeye460]

They used to teach that Hebrew was a dead language when I was in school. After the Six Day War they found out it wasn't. Don't let your language, traditions and beliefs die.

[@jonathanstudentkit]

The US state has committed so many crimes and needs to start standing up for it!

[@waltergravette6924]

I had a vision where this was happening. I lived it for a few months then I was knocked out and ended up in a low place. The graves were being given proper burial. The industry age had ended. I hope I can make it back...

[@BaraJFDA]

Watching this in 2021. We have witnessed a full year of this SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic... Hearing fluent Cherokee (or Tsalagi Gawonihisdi) for the first time brought me to tears. 2021 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Cherokee written syllabary. I dread to ask these questions now... How many Cherokee people have they lost? How many of their elders died because of this pandemic? I hope the Cherokee Nations will recover and heal. I hope all Indigenous peoples and their cultures will flourish again.

[@nicholaslindblad7918]

Native tounge is dangerous to the enemies because so few people can understand it

[@echelon2k8]

Not these days, not with the internet at our fingertips.

[@chasf4371]

My 3x grandmother was full blood Cherokee and her last name was Mantooth. I glad to see you are working to keep the Cherokee language alive. I am working on learning more about this side of my family.

[@cyndibee2289]

This was wonderful! It's very inspiring and I learned a lot.

[@rickkeifer3472]

Keep up the great work,keep teaching the children the Cherokee language and way of life.my grandmother was fcherokee.i don't know if she spoke the language or not I wish I did.i'am almost 70 year's old.

[@theclanplus1]

Then please teach us! Don't send us away! My 2nd great grandmother was Southwestern SC reservation, a Wolfe and the government shrank the territory so she married a scots-irish. Now I'm beggining to find a way to learn tsalagi and when I contacted the eastern band council the receptionist laughed at me and told me I was lied to! No.. my ancestor is cherokee! I have almost black hair and dark eyes and I tan like nobody's business! Someone up there please give me the time of day and understand your old territory went right to Columbia SC.. well past my location range! I was once in your reservation land and I'm DYING to know "my" original language!! But laughing at those who are no longer in your reservation territory is not the way to go if you want to preserve the language! I learn fast, and want to know my ancestors' language way of life! Give us "mixed breeds" a chance here!

[@billymorman6049]

theclanplus1 i know your struggle. many of us mix bloods aren't accepted by indigenous communities. its a shame bc you have young children growing up on rez lands not interested in learning more about the language as they are graphed into this colonize world. then u have us mix blood who want to learn and preserve the history and culture and language but we are turned away and called lyers and wannabe. to save this language and culture minds do need to be more open to mix blooded ppls. if you can PROVE your ancestral tides through DNA then i would like to the tribal communities become more open to at least teaching language and cultural aspects of the tribe.... im not askinh to move to the rez... im happy here where i am living because i know its historically original Aniyunwiya land. i would just like to learn the language so i can speak to creator in the language.

[@LilRaisinAcres]

theclanplus1 the Dobbs are on the Baker Rolls, but because my direct ancestor was in KY as early as 1902 when my grandma's mom was born in a mountainside mining camp, and there's no birth certificate or SSN, I'm in the same boat. The traditions and language will die without us descendants that want to learn and carry on. Less than 2% of all the people in the whole US can legally prove tribal membership to colonists, an unfortunately, tribes have abandoned traditional oral history

[@LilRaisinAcres]

@Morningstar My paternal Great Grandma's maiden name is Dobbs, yes!

[@toby-jeanne_almy]

Same!! My granny was Cherokee Irish!

[@marialalasmith9562]

You're not really "mixed breed" you're at most 12 % Native American, thats not being mixed LOL. You are like 80 % White European, but if you do want to honor your ancestors, help the community, do more things for native people, give money, help elders etc.

[@stephaniecarolyn]

I hope that one day, when this program has not failed but PERSEVERED, to take my own children to the summer school to learn this beautiful language and keep it going. I would recommend a program for parents as well... at least basics to keep it living and refreshing until the continuing years for our children. Beautiful, informative video. Thank you!

[@cassidygalaviz54]

persevered is good but revitalized is better and you are right about getting parents involved it is hard for the children to continue speaking when the people around you don't speak

[@williamsporing1500]

Yes! Keep the language. It is part of your heritage. My father was Wyandot. Our language is basically dead, only maybe 9 speakers left.

[@tippy550storm]

@wiilliamssporing1500 Aren't the Wyandot doing anything about teaching the language to the young? Your tribe is going to be like the Wichita Indians, whose last speaker died last year. She said she heard it spoken all the time when she was young but when she got old, she was the only one could speak it and she was half white and half Wichita.

[@williamsporing1500]

@@tippy550storm yes, they are reviving the language. The Wyandot are all out west in Oklahoma and Kansas. I live in Kentucky, so I’m pretty much on my own. I am slowly picking some things up.

[@NavajoGrandma]

Language is a vital link to our culture. I teach my grandchildren because it is the voice of their ancestors.

[@jckim9554]

50 second, you said lost everything. I feel same heart. The scene. Same. We say soc-dae, 솟대. The first sound of Society and daddy, soc + da.. im korean, your ancient relative,

[@chrisjarvis955]

my Dad went looking up our family tree, as one gets older ancestry becomes important and the stories his grandparents told, he was a young child during the depression. but one of the stories was that one of our relatives was a Cherokee. we found out that she was not a blood relative of the Roberts family but they had found her abandoned on the trail of tears and raised her as their own. she grew up and married a man and had 2 sons one of her sons was the father of my grandmother. so in fact i am not a Blood relative of the Roberts family but an descendant of one was adopted by them.

[@SassyUnicorn86]

Chris Jarvis my great grandma wouldn’t admit to being Cherokee cause in her time it wasn’t something to be proud of. So I didn’t know for sure until she died in 2006.

[@missmaya906]

our language was beaten out of us it was forbidden to speak Cherokee especially in the Christian boarding prisons

[@SuperKaren1953]

There is nothing Christian about treating Cherokee or any tribe that way.

[@heyborttheeditor1608]

Karen Partin actually it's very characteristic of Christianity. The entire history of Christianity has been that way. Christianity is a patriarchal religion and has always attacked and destroyed matrilineal cultures

[@heyborttheeditor1608]

TheHikarianz k u tell me the people because everywhere Christians go turns out worse especially for women and homosexuals

[@heyborttheeditor1608]

TheHikarianz u kno also, it seems like u more than me insulting your people.. you are saying your people's own ways (whatever they were -remains unclear) were abhorrent, the only thing that redeems your people is the other ways forced upon them. So essentially your people were inherently abhorrent? Anyways obviously I don't know anything about the situation. But that's how it sounds to me. I'd be interested in your follow up

[@TheHikarianz]

If you think I insult my own people I don't wanna waste my precious time to argue with you. I try my best to live christian values and I don't want to spend much time to argue on internet. Christian haters are everywhere on internet as if cursing christian is their own permanent job although statistically they might be fewer than christians. However I respect your choice to live in deep hatred toward christians. You may hate me but I don't hate you.

[@bigfanshope9415]

Blessing for all your hard work, for what you do for these Children. Studies show all children who learn a two languages gain a peak advantage in learning.

[@AbbyBane.]

I heard very little Cherokee from my fathers parents as a child. I know of stories about Cherokee life through family stories. My only "documented" relative that I have been able to confirm is Okanamelts "Shallow Brook". One day I hope to learn more, since I have lost many of my relatives, and estranged from the rest, I am trying to learn as much as I can and pass the info to my child. Thank you for preserving our history!

[@jackwood1621]

Great, the young has the opportunity to learn original language, very fortunate!

[@raajeweler6569]

2019 May 5, Cherakee is Still Relavent........ HAYA HAYA

[@grlwthgrniis]

My heritage is Cherokee and I've taught myself words and phrases and trying to teach my daughter. ❤

[@williamwarren9360]

i love to learn the Cherokee language

[@davidnorton3139]

Yeah it's fair

[@mindgame81]

@@davidnorton3139 ya y your y y. areas will 6 ya. areas 7 h 6h y y.if your your included with this your. if a if 6 if y y.7 ya your. puppy. we you.y y y ya 😳 ya y 6x7 few y yo u r you. you. u know y.

[@grim5113]

My great grandmother is 90 and she refers to "the white man" a lot. She misses her Cherokee friends and family a lot but she has lost her memory so much over the last couple of months she has forgotten a lot about her life. She only remembers me and my sisters from 11 years ago and things from when she was a child. It's going to be sad seeing her, full Cherokee, lose the rest of her memory over 2021. My stepdad told me that we (me, my sisters, and everyone other than my moms sisters (and their husbands) don't know about her conditions and that this Christmas is probably her last. I just wish my Nana was still alive or I had been born sooner to learn this language. Now let me continue to watch this.. :I

[@megmills1697]

I teared up with the lady who teared up my friend is half Cherokee so I am trying to learn about the people thank you for what you are doing this is important

[@johnathangladden9419]

I'm Cherokee from SC my grandmother full blooded Cherokee I'm so proud of it

[@lovelycelticopera]

Ive been told my great great grandma escaped the trail of tears. Two sisters stayed with my great great grandpas family on their farm. I was told their parents told them to go back and stay with that family because they are good people. It's so cool to hear the language

[@zviolabach6014]

Beautiful so proud to see teaching the Language that for a very long time was forbidden this is amazing and made the great spirit continue to guild and mother earth continue to keep our people of all our Surviving Tribes thank you for this amazing opportunity🦅🪶🦅

[@joecochran6343]

I cried for an hour after watching this…my dad is getting close to his time and i wanted to do a ceromony in his language…i never learned…. Thank you for this sight ps…we had relatives walk the trail of tears…..i was told by an Uncle from West Va

[@Neferkit1]

Wado for this wonderful documentary.

[@lisalutterbach6843]

Ꮹ

[@marynichols5367]

Love our Cherokee, NC and it's people. So glad to hear they are teaching their young the language and culture. Cherokee was one of the most wonderful places to get to vacation when we were growing up. They shared their culture and earned a living doing it. Who wouldn't enjoy the outdoor drama "Unto These Hills " and the historical Indian village? If the younger generation isn't taught how is all that going to survive? I haven't been there in more than ten years. I truly hope all that is still there. The last time I was there it appeared the casinos had robbed the village of its uniqueness. Hopefully by now they have found a way to profit from their casinos and rebuild and continue to share their culture in the village. Love the documentary.

[@imfree8500]

My family is all Cherokee I'd love to learn to speak the language.

[@larrypearl9732]

You can take classes at the Cherokee Nation there is no cost. Mr. Fields teaches it and you can learn quite a bit.

[@kernjames]

My Mom and her brothers and sisters grew up in Oklahoma south of Tahlequah and as they become adults, they all moved to the Kansas City area. My Uncle Jim taught me 2 phrases in Cherokee when I was about 10 years old in 1960. He died at the age of 41 the next year. With his death in 1961, so went my last relative that spoke Cherokee fluently. As I watched this video, I wondered how many people are putting the Cherokee language into Pop songs and/or cartoons? Music and Art (especially cartoons) are an unconventional and yet enjoyable way to teach language.

[@joseignaciohileradorna5122]

@5:17 Hav3 you heard a more absurd concept than to Americanize Cherokee? That's like saying the the We have to Greekify the Spartans. The Cherokee are more American than apple pie.

[@annetteallen6521]

I have tried to find my great grandmother's history but it is lost. I know her name and have a picture. She was Cherokee. She married and never went back. She died when I was little. So did my grandmother of TB. I have missed these women that I have never known. Thank you for this video. It makes me think of them.

[@virginiaeasterling4347]

I'm watching from my camper home with my 2 dogs in Clanton Alabama

[@TRUMP-oo5uy]

I truly truly wish i could speak my cherokee langue..cherokee have suffer more then any other tribes in this world ..altho i LOVE being half cherokee no one will take that away from me

[@tiffanywest25]

Download the shiyo app It will help

[@barbaraduncan3126]

Keep going teaching the kids their heritage and their language it's so very important.

[@runningdoe6288]

blessings for sharing, wado

[@runningdoe6288]

we are still here

[@BeeWOWdbyAprilLee]

I think that school is an AMAZING thing you are doing. That really is the only was to preserve the Cherokee language and culture. I hope you can continue doing the good things you are doing with the children of your community. I've visited Cherokee nc. My ex husband is Cherokee and I felt so much at home there. It's such a spiritual place. One of my best friends was also Cherokee and she actually spoke the language a bit. Idk how much she did. We didn't have enough time on earth together. She passed away at 40 years old. She was teaching me all the ways of the culture and I continue to practice them and continue to learn.

[@336noviluminis6]

Proud people!

[@sallyannwheeler6327]

It is tragic for a language to die out. It is vital to keep it. As a Welsh woman from Wales UK. I see our welsh language disappearing. Such a lot of the people can’t speak it anymore as English has taken over. The huge difference with Welsh is the people choose not to speak it which is so sad. The differenc is the choice is theirs. Yours was not when the white man tried to destroy it like everything else in their path. I pray with all my heart for your language and traditions to carry on forever. The rest of the world could learn so much from you. Beautiful traditions. We are all Brothers and a Sisters. Love, Peace and Respect for what you are doing❤️❤️❤️

[@junkpilerbrett]

Very interesting series of videos

[@natlock7592]

My family is Choctaw Halito{hello}..OSiyo Wado for this Video. 🙏May the Great Creator Bless Our Children to Keep Our Languages Alive in the Future

[@tippy550storm]

I heard the Choctaw language being spoken by many Choctaw Indians when I visited their reservation in Mississippi, but I hear that they are having a problem with their young not wanting to speak it any longer.

[@robertmyers6865]

I am so glad I found this. VERY GOOD. I have a book of the Cherokee language. Please DO everything you can to keep the language ALIVE!

[@Walkslowlylooking]

Thinking and speaking in a unique dialect allows people to conceive and express things that cannot be expressed in any other way. What a fantastic, beautiful gift to own! The stories of Sequoyah's syllabary enabling people who had no awareness that there could be written language to become literate in a few weeks is miraculous and the world is lesser for being unaware of it. Oh, how I wish that when I grew up in Tahlequah, many of my classmates speaking Cherokee at home, the immeasurable gift our dialect offered was ignored, neglected, unappreciated by the powers that were. Our world now desperately needs ways to express more subtle values of everything, and we passed up the chance for my generation when it would have been much, much easier. So it goes.

[@studiomridge2491]

The language sounds Asian similar to Hmong and the other mountain Asian tribes all over Asia.

[@nikolaia7893]

Cherokee natives and people who learn from them and study and deeply research the remnants of spoken Cherokee and the written language can teach young ones who will keep the language alive. Language carries truth. True history should never be darkened. I wish my memories of my grandmother and her sisters and brothers included stories spoken with words others tried to drown.

[@e_hwhite6480]

This was an interesting video. It’s sad to even imagine that one’s language, culture, or family would no longer exist in one’s own lifetime. What you do if you could prevent that from happening? Are you Awake? 🗣🤔

[@papajeff5486]

Most important to preserve the language! It’s like bringing an animal back from near extinction, like the Bald Eagle, the elk, that thrives now. It can be done. Just do it. No excuses, take the time, pay the price. Do this! Keep your place, your culture alive. Start with the babies and teach them well. Your language is written by a genius and spoken still. Do not lose hope. This is a must do. I was raised in East Tennessee and live in coastal Texas now. I so miss my mountains. Please take advantage of this supreme time, opportunity. I have been all over the globe. Bilingual communities are all over the world and very successful. Here in south east Texas people go from English to Spanish, back to English, as easy as falling off a log, like it’s normal life. Make it that way with Cherokee, easy, normal. Texas

[@Lord_Baphomet_]

It is so refreshing to hear the tongue spoken fast unlike the movies where it’s slow (because the actor clearly has no idea what they are saying).

[@WOUTERJOYCOMPANYORG]

HALLO CHEROKE ZUSTERS EN BROEDERS DIT IS DE 2 DE KEER DAT IK ZO BESLISSING MAAK DIT VIND IK MOEILIJK GRAAG ZIE IK MORGEN NOG EEN KEER DEZE VIDEO WOUTER

[@junipertree3755]

Wonderful thanks for posting this my granddaughter is interested in her native culture.

[@cmur078]

Ha, your man in the Wānanga o Aotearoa tshirt. Kia kaha!

[@steveboy7302]

chur bro

[@SapphireBid]

@@steveboy7302 ...Ka kaha

[@SapphireBid]

kia kaha

[@sunnybeaches1331]

Your heritage is a good one. My family and I support this.

[@GrissomLovesSara]

to preserve the language anyone who wants to learn it (native or not) should be allowed to learn it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Just like science. Those who see the importance of it should be allowed to learn it FREE because it's something Christians and the religious are trying to take away

[@SuperKaren1953]

I don't want to see it taken away and I'm a child of God. I have Cherokee blood in me and I'm a Christian. I hate how the Cherokee and other tribes were treated.

[@willnichols6470]

What Christian and religious people are trying to take it away? Cherokee is spoken at several churches, don't be ignorant.

[@steveboy7302]

no thats why there are problems because the white man thinks he can do anything he wants

[@samarmajd3827]

I think it's just beautiful.

[@robertblack5524]

Tears came when I saw the sign saying:”We Are Still Here” Many communities have lost languages, cultures, political identities, and all they have is someone else’s language, culture, political identity, coupled with a strange empty feeling of loss, even sometimes denial. Please do not allow this to happen. We Are Still Here!

[@mmoon3172]

KEEP SPEAKING AND LEARNING CHEROKEE!!!!

[@john_trimble78]

Peace be upon the Cherokee people. That touched my heart. In this crazy world, preservation of our cultures is imperative. Globalism would not permit it. It's inverted. Stay strong.

[@tonywalker8030]

I can pick up bits and pieces cause it's similar to Japanese but the ones that are not I have trouble.

[@LilRaisinAcres]

Tony Walker　　 はい。そですよね。

[@Hyperion-5744]

I put my comparisons on this channel. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bJvMfGBrl6-VgcU I found similarities with cherokee mongolian korean chinese and japanese.

[@gailhandschuh1138]

I love that the children are learning through song, play, and reading and writing. With the base knowledge of the native languages these children are the future of the Indian nations.

[@punktlichmedia]

Great work.. all around.. Editing. Producing.. The whole package! Glad to see the world still has Warriors! God Bless -Jason

[@adambrooks2028]

Cherokee already lost their true complexion now resemble the invaders!

[@humanandanimalrightsviolat2025]

Yes. Not a lot of is look like Mr. Wes Studi who is full blooded. I am Cherokee Choctaw and black feet and gullah/geechee

[@williammckinney9288]

White man dug in every body women watering down the aboriginal Cherokee.

[@valq10]

Oh this makes me so happy to see the immersion programmes are going strong. I hope all my siblings in the family of nations flourish. There are those who want to divide the human family, but they will not succeed.

[@karenpalmer9104]

I love the Cherokee people. And I love the Cherokee language.Blessings

[@salomeydraws]

I hope you succeed. It's painful to lose your first language, I did and still I struggle to learn new languages and stick with them for long so I only speak English, but when I was a very young child I spoke my families language (Twi language from Ghana). I'm still unable to learn it but I put it down to my brain. To have such a deep connection to a first language is real, to lose it is to lose so, so much...

[@TwinParksBX]

Where are the Black cherokee Indians as described by the european explorers

[@TwinParksBX]

Colonal Copper Colonist I agree I’m Cherokee. My Family never left the Carolinas. The original Indians were Black.

[@reddrum1963]

All over. Cherokee peoples were sometimes referred to as black by white settlers because they were not white. There were also freed slaves adoptsd into the Cherokee tribe and other tribes who you may be asking about. You didn't provide enough information in your question about it. The freedmen also went to Oklahoma. Not sure if that is what you are asking?

[@IkceWicasa_7]

Bobby E Yeah that’s what I wanna know too. Where are these so called black Indians?

[@adambrooks2028]

$5 Dawes rolls!!!

[@DogLover-nh5sf]

@@reddrum1963 he's referring to the bizarre new conspiracy theory that real tsalagi are all making it up together and that dark dark skin Africans are the "original Cherokee." The theory is that every single land has a unique native population except for .... i guess Africa and parts of America ???? Which both had African people native to the land supposedly?????? It literally doesn't make any sense but seemingly gains traction because it capitalizes on a certain populations insecurities about being completely and permanently disconnected to their own original culture. In this guy's comment he almost seems to be alluding to De Sotos first-contact journal entries where he talks about how there was a wide range of skin types in the tribe, even though everyone had black hair. But the wide range of skin tones certainly doesn't scream everyone was a black person, nor does it even really insinuate that any pre-Christian contact tsalagi were African. The elders say that we originally were part of a mayan society and migrated North when the Aztec went nuts.... maybe we adopted some lost Vikings lol but other than that everyone was probably native to America, but being a beautiful mix of dark Mayan and light Iroquois........... These peoples conspiracy theory is nuts tho. They are always super violent/aggressive telling others they are making their ethnicity up while making up actual fairy tales about their own.... like it gets into them claiming they are the lost cherokee Hebrew tribe of the Christian bible ahahahah. So random and out there, yet these grown-ass adults are willing to parrot this nonsense. Hahahah 2019 is super weird