This Secret Language Helped Win World War II | Navajo Code Language

The Navajo Code is the ONE wartime code that was never ever broken. Why was it so effective? And who were the Code Talkers? Watch to find out!
Special thanks to Gina A. Johnson from Navajo Language Tutoring for recording Navajo language samples for us. 👉🏼 www.ginaannejohnson.com/navaj...
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⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - The Code Talkers
0:22 - What’s a Code Talker?
1:20 - World War II
2:20 - A Unique Language
3:43 - How Navajo Works
5:50 - Recruitment
6:36 - Creating the Code
8:27 - The Code
12:03 - Secret Messages
13:17 - Living Code Machines
14:28 - Winning the War
15:06 - War Heroes
📜 SOURCES & ATTRIBUTIONS:
Gina A. Johnson, Navajo Language Tutoring
www.ginaannejohnson.com/navaj...
Interview with Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez
www.azcentral.com/videos/news...
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“THIEL 619.jpg” by Darrell Dodds (license held by Appaloosas) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Navajo Code Talkers
• Navajo Code Talkers

[@storylearning]

See how modern U.S. military men & women learn languages fast 👉🏼kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpqYpZSIZp2okJo

[@blacksnake061977]

Code talking started in WWI. Wish you would have really looked in to all this over 20 bands and tribes used there language during WWI WWII. guess that's where navajo get their name from.

[@KSLAMB-uz4it]

I was working in New Mexico in 2020. We stoped at a resturant and waited behind a caucasian woman who was speaking Navajo to the cashier. When she was done my friend asked her how she spoke Navajo and the lady said that she had lived there her entire life. It is certianly an interesting lanuguage to hear.

[@nastycowby1]

My grandpa fought in the war. He was a Code Talker and he shared his stories of sailing across the ocean for the very first time. Landing on the beach and doing his duty as a Code Talker. He brought back a Japanese rifle with a bayonet and the Japanese flag. We still have them in the house. His name was George B. Willie Sr. He's been layed to rest in a millary memorial cemetery in Williams AZ. 1925 to 2017

[@tcdirtybirds79]

This is so cool my grandfather was original 29 Navajo Code Talker.

[@juliusking3419]

Im a navajo...my first language..when i heard the words thy used for code..it was so simple..but it makes me so proud when i hear that my language was used as a code during WW2..👍👍👏👏

[@francegamble1]

I would love to see an entire video on Navajo. My children are learning a native language from their Uncle who's reservation is up on the Canadian border in the Boundary Waters. The kids use it when we talk in public about family matters.

[@jaykaufman9782]

The reason three decades passed before the Navajo Code Talkers were honored was because they were such a success, their service was so invaluable, the government thought they might be used again! They remained a secret weapon. They would not have served in the field again, not when the men were in their forties and fifties, but they would have trained a new generation of code talkers. But no one thought of reviving the Code Talkers during Vietnam -- likely they were so secret, no one in the Pentagon with any authority even knew about their WWII service -- and the decision was made to reveal their secret. The men had remained true to their vows of secrecy in the intervening decades, and only after the Marines relieved them of their vow and they received the Congressional Gold Medal and other honors did the Code Talkers tell their stories. I didn't know about the Choctaw and Creek details from WWI; thank you! Great video!

[@quinnbloodmoon1112]

Mr. Olly Richards great video. Thank you for doing a video about my people's language. One thing I'd like to add is that several non-code talking Navajo soldiers were captured, tortured and murdered.

[@MySkillfulmeans]

I'm very sorry to hear that. Thank you for sharing more of the story.

[@phoenixcoleman3256]

Bro your name is Quinn Bloodmoon. That's dope as hell.

[@blath]

Growing up on the boarder of the Navajo Nation, I always enjoy exposés of the Dińe language.

[@skathwoelya2935]

Gosh, this is fantastic! I'd love to hear more about this language - and any Native American language.

[@storylearning]

Thanks!

[@JonVanOast]

ditto. i would love a video on navajo or maybe one of salish languages like lushootseed or keres, believed to be a language isolate right next door to navajo in new mexico. please!

[@PresidentDylan]

Just so people know how hard Navajo is... I'm Navajo. I grew up around it all 33 years of my life. I can't speak one sentence. I know hundreds of words but I cant put it in a sentence.

[@mallyoshea4830]

I would definitely watch a video on the Navajo language! I spent three summers working in American national parks (Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon) and I remember hearing both the Navajo and Hopi languages spoken frequently. Lovely sounding languages.

[@Tehui1974]

Kei te tuku mihi ki ngā iwi taketake o Amerika me ō rātou reo. Sending a shout out of support to the indigenous communities and languages of the US & Canada.

[@TransPlantTransLate147]

A video all about Navajo would be really interesting!

[@jessecortez9449]

The Navajo code talkers are phenomenal to learn about. When I was enlisted in the Marine Corps nearly twenty years ago I got the chance to briefly meet one of them. Would love some more videos on Native American languages. I've been dabbling in learning Comanche since my grandmother was Comanche and I remember when I was a small child she would occasionally speak it. Also looking into Nahuatl since my other grandparents spoke that.

[@marshallmercedes2446]

A movie based on it "windtalkers" really good movie

[@marciewright9670]

I’ve listened to a lot reactions in KZbin, so far I’ve enjoyed your version. My uncle Hanes Dixon was one of original 30 code talkers. He was at Iwo Jima, Saipan and Peleieu (sp). I had the honor of holding his gold coin given to him. His son gave me a few of his memorabilia. One story about the Navajo recruits, is when they enlisted, the Marine recruiters ask him if he could swim. He replies “yes”, of course he couldn’t. When it came to the swimming portion of boot camp, all the Navajos quickly sank to the bottom of the pool. Eventually, they learned how to swim.

[@thinker646]

Learned about the Navajo code talkers in grade school :) but not this much detail.

[@khrischaris]

Proud to be navajo! #díne

[@ajsarabia]

Yes more videos on Native American language.

[@irinaspalve8356]

Another great video for a friday evening. I heard some information about Navaho language before, also about its usage for coding during WWII. But it was interesting to get a hint of how it was used. One should be a genius to create something like this. It would be very interesting to get to know more about Navaho language. 😊

[@Adrian13rams]

Loved this video! Always been fasniated with the navajo coders, so i got my feet wet in navajo. Dear lord though, its a complex language! All the native languages in usa are beautiful and have some connection to the land versus any colonization language. They hold a different weight of meaning it seems.

[@storylearning]

Thanks for watching!

[@phoenixmassey]

Olly, I am so glad you made this video! It’s such a fantastic story!

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Wow! Enlightening. What a fascinating video.

[@MichaelPhillipsatGreyOwlStudio]

This is one of my favorite language related stories!

[@Greentrees60]

Yes, a whole video on Navajo would be great!

[@k10batmama]

You do the best videos on language!!! Thankyou

[@jonathangamble]

olly this was fascinating, more videos with stories like this! Maybe conlangs, dead languages, dying languages, growing languages that are small… all interesting!

[@nottechytutorials]

The language is like the ones in Canada, the words are changed by adding affixes for verbs. One website called it a "poly-synthetic language". An interesting way you (or someone else I forgot) said it was that there are no words for what a thing is, but what it is doing (like the word origin word for caribou is a verb that means it pushes snow). I just read the dictionary for Tlicho, and there's more than one section for verbs, and it explains how the word depends on who is speaking, who or what its about, whether there's one or more, whether the who/what is an animate or inanimate object, whether its moving or stationary, and whether its a big or small object. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, but that was a lot. So I think the most useful way to learn is through context and seeing how the word is used. I think reading the bible in Tlicho, hearing it be read and reading it out myself, would work. But it was interesting to see how Navajo was similar, even though they're quite far geographically.

[@auntisthenes2754]

Not a bible ! Are you kidding me? You need things you can relate with. A ca(ibou pushes snow but how many words in the snow world? Probably a lot.How is the bible connected to their everyday life ?For that matter it's a shitty idea already to learn french ! How is it connected to ours?(the method grammar-translationis used for dead languages but it's way more lively than the bible) just the basics, be glad that your Ticho explains things. Each language analyses differently, but only with so much parameters. or Invariants in french .Which we should call variants, actually. And you need to understand them first and foremost to understand that each language shapes its reality. you can learn enough to travel (knowing that you can rely on english) or really commit. Either way if you don't want to settle there, it is a mind game. Some people are sponges, like kids, suck every language and connect with people. Some are average tourists.

[@nottechytutorials]

@@auntisthenes2754 There's nothing wrong with learning from the Bible. Olly says we can learn a language through story, and the Bible is a story, I can listen to the audio and read along with it. I read one article on how a woman learned Tlicho using the Bible and a dictionary, and I thought that was really inspiring so that's what I want to do. You probably won't learn practical words using certain stories either, but you'll gain good insights into the patterns of the language. And like what the Tlicho dictionary says, there are so many verbs that the dictionary could not record them all, but we can follow the patterns to make new words. And "how is the bible connected to their everyday life?" Well, they made a translation of the Bible into Tlicho, you can guess how much of a connection the Bible has in our lives.

[@auntisthenes2754]

@@nottechytutorials Not much as a answer to your last question. But mine, you asked them yourself. Practical words ???? Patterns ??? old patterns aren't quite the same . I admit : Tu ne tueras point, remplace point par "pas" pour ne pas avoir l'air d'un illuminé dans une conversatiion normale. C'est presque normal. le fait est, ça ne l'est pas. même les témoins de jehovah ne parlent pas comme ça. Quant à l'apprentissage d'une langue, pour avancer faut un plan, être méthodique. Tu peux apprendre à lire avec la bible ou le journal. Apprendre une langue comme ça, si tu veux y Passer 15 ans vas-y. Mais tu le sais déjà, sans ordre ni grammaire, t'affrontes des moulins à vent. Si t'investis dans de bons supports, ça va vite, mais tu ne commences pas le vocabulaire de la bible. Le vocabulaire de la génèse est très simple, élémentaire. Je te mets au défi en tant que débutant d'essayer la méthode antique grammaire-traduction. Une heure. tu vas comprendre ta douleur. Rien que la compréhension, sans s'arracher les cheveux, ce sera bien. Tu connais le texte, donc vas-y.

[@auntisthenes2754]

@@nottechytutorials Consider children's stories on TV first. that how you get everything right. even if the french accent is said to be simple, the natural way to ask a question is just like an affirmative sentence, only the accent changes, and that's tthe first difficulty. Cartoons really make you get it; the language is simple, common, never too fast, well articulated, the accents are obvious. You're free to go to Mass, of course. We all need time to repent. if only we'd paid more attention in class, we might understand more than three words by sentence...Holy word counts triple ! Scrabble ! Oops. nope, I won't ever be able to listen in whatever language. i Found mass way better with the Anglicans. Still not my cup of tea.

[@nottechytutorials]

@@auntisthenes2754 I don't know french, so yeah. Good luck with that.

[@sammondaw]

Definitely good info. Read a book on this. Enjoyed it. Would love to see a more indepth video on this/ Navajo language.

[@shannongrande2248]

Yes video about Navajo language please!

[@run2fire]

Great job Ollie in the research and presentation of this unique story! I Iearned some new things as a history student!

[@heartwoodbows5661]

Very interesting video and topic. Keep up the good work Olly and team!

[@storylearning]

Thank you!

[@UnheroicStudio]

This is why all other nations study and learn our language now. It's crazy hearing about people in Europe knowing about us and other nations.

[@manosbaroulakis9446]

make a video about navajo

[@whenisdinner2137]

Why did they declassify this? No one was ever going to figure this out. Like this shit was literally unbreakable

[@bryanjames7528]

With new technologies, no need for code talkers. Satellites, sonar and radars made it obsolete by 1960s so no reason to use it anymore. Internet, KZbin and social media can be used to translate the language. So another reason why it's not used for the military no more

[@jmwild22]

Beautiful video Olly.

[@kaneinkansas]

First I stumbled upon your book for "hacking" French verbs and I liked it a great deal. I am bad at languages - very bad. I lived in Korea for several years. I found out several things - I didn't learn anything until I had to use it in real life - and repeatedly. And in a sentence. So that meant learning nouns and verbs. If I got on a bus I could ask the bus driver "does this bus go to Assan?" by simplying asking Assam go? That meant I needed to know the verb "go" which in Korean is gah-dah, but conjugated to gah-yho: Assam gah-yho? So I believe learning nouns and verbs is key, because then you can begin to construct sentences. And Verbs are the hardest thing to learn because of the conjugations. So I believe that the "hacking" of French verbs is extremely valuable. When I was in school we studied French by reading stories. Our text book was a tiny llittle book called "langue et langage" - I recall the story of the tailor of Berberich which has a surprising plot that you discover as you go. I bought the audible of C.S. Lewis' "Surprised by Joy" to listen to on my way to work and I learned that his breakthrough in his education came from a tutor who taught him classical languages by reading the classics. And if you watch the movie "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (Peter O'Toole version) you'll see he was teaching latin the same way. Recently I saw a class online taught by a librarian in Iowa which uses the Gospel of John to teach ancient Greek. I didn't learn much French but I still retain the little that I learned and I understand French better than Korean. So I think your basic approaches are very good. It's also fun & helps to think one is pulling a fast one by hacking the language.

[@pgtmg624]

Please do a video on Navajo

[@jonatasmendonca2079]

Such a beautiful story about how the most ancient men helped shaping the future of Western society!!

[@KarenChungIvy]

Excellent presentation.

[@CultureJourney]

That was amazing! I love how something such as a language that came from America was so instrumental in WWII. I wish more about Native Americans history and languages were taught. Thanks for sharing this with us!

[@kb_9880]

Philip Johnston knew and spoke Navajo fluently. He played with the little Navajo children on the reservation and lived among the Navajo for 24 years!

[@Rosi_in_space]

Excellent video!

[@DrustZapat]

Yes! Do a whole video about Navajo, please!

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

My college started offering courses in Ojbiwe. I might take an introduction course in the near future.

[@poisonappleantiques5710]

My university offers six levels of Oneida- I'm taking level one in the fall. Good luck to you if you decide to pursue it.

[@josecarlosbayoncueto4689]

I recommend to watch the film " Windtalkers " with Nicholas Cage is about this topic , the Navajo code during WW2.

[@daybreakwarrior]

Saad: Word(s) Bita': Between them Józhíigo: One saying/voicing them Doo nanitł'ahgóó: Not being difficult Zatł'ah: Consonants Dóó: And Za'áán: Vowels Dadiits'a'ígíí: Them being heard Bee yájíłti': One uses them to talk Doo: (They) will (future tense word)

[@deninmontgomery4391]

Absolutely, you should make a video about Navajo!

[@foreverlearningfrench]

Très intéressant ! J'adore la lumière rose en arrière-plan.

[@CuDoesThings]

Navajo video coming soon? Also nice vid

[@MDobri-sy1ce]

It’s kind like what Professor Farnsworth said, “It will translate the code in Beta Crypt 3. A language so complex there is even less chance of understanding it!”

[@DustinSchermaul]

Wow crazy. Yes please an entire video in Navajo :-)!

[@mxarturo]

Lo que me encanta de este canal. es que no solo aprendes . Hace que te emociones . What i love in this channel is that . Not only You learn .it makes You get excited

[@storylearning]

Mission accomplished!

[@RezboyDesignz]

FYI... Yes there were 30 men recruited into the USMC as the first group. Only 29 actually showed up to be sworn in the USMC. One decided to join the US Army and was killed in action in Europe. HE DID NOT QUIT! Also, Phillp Johnson ONLY knew trading post navajo, he wasn't fluent in Navajo.

[@auntie_Slayer]

29 didn't "show up" to be sworn in. They were ORDERED. Also hundreds tried joining but a majority were disqualified for a host of reasons.

[@maharencall3219]

You'd have thought the US government would have worked to support and preserve these languages after the help they got from them

[@storylearning]

Indeed

[@maharencall3219]

@@storylearning I'm about to buy your Irish stories book btw Olly. Looks awesome and excited to have the audio available as well. Love your work!

[@zaccaryjohn]

My grandfather was sent away from his home in New Mexico after high school to go to College in Oklahoma rather than join the military during Vietnam like all his older brothers. He ended up meeting my grandmother a Cherokee from Northeast Oklahoma while at school and they married and he stayed in Oklahoma. So I was never constantly around the language and although I know a lot of the basics the pronunciation is horrible. There are so many uncommon sounds in the language that make it hard to pronounce a lot properly. My grandfather swears it’s in my DNA and I can do it, but I can’t lol.

[@Chipito2005]

There were Comanche code talkers on D-Day at Utah Beach

[@Carla-vh6lz]

This is fascinating! I would love to hear about the San languages.

[@lisanarramore222]

For sure! "World's most difficult language" would be cool. That might require staying with the San for a bit! These days, I think you'd only be able to find ǃXóõ speakers, and I wouldn't trust meagre reports made by outsiders. Probably true for any highly endangered language though. Not enough solid info on the web.

[@MinhNguyen-cn8kx]

Fantastico Navajo... With respect from Vietnam.... Allahu akhbar.

[@Ajas0810]

2002 movie windtalkers with Nicholas cage is about this.

[@JJadx]

i hope they did a bit more for them other than gifting them copper considering the natives history. very interesting video!

[@212CHt]

@ 5:10 Definition ----When speaking, words with consonants ( which contain glottal stops) and vowels must be expressed with correct pronounciation to project meaning and understanding to the listner and speaker. Thats my lose translation.

[@kayjones6498]

Une autre vidéo fascinante mais je pense que les guerres sont toujours horribles 😞 Merci Olly pour toutes ces vidéos 💞

[@stevend1420]

Yá'át'ééh from Colorado, I'm Diné. Trying to learn Diné Bizaad

[@dalubwikaan161]

Language is power

[@auntisthenes2754]

have they switched from the structuro-global ? if so, how are we going to rename "the army method" ? anyway i''ll keep an eye on you and may recommend your channel; as you are interested in linguistics, you might explain things, not just dictate rules

[@ivaxnog6157]

Reminded me of Hugh Nibley

[@dfdemt]

Ok I’m a WWII history buff and I’ve got a question. Each of the code talkers was assigned to a US radio operator and if they were captured, the radio operator was instructed to shoot the code talker so that the enemy couldn’t interrogate them and break the code. Is this true?

[@tertommy]

Couldn't other armies use code talkers? Britain could have employed click language speakers from South Africa, USSR Siberian language speakers, France Basque speakers. WW1 USA used several tribal nations as code talkers.

[@Slain42]

@OllyRichards When will you do a video about Romanian? 🇲🇩

[@Sherifsound.]

*The Egyptian military used Nubian language as a secret code in defeating israel in 1973* Nubian languages is used in Egypt and Susan and it's a Nilo-Saharan phylum... Hope you make a video about it. ❤️ Thanks!

[@Bananaaaa765]

They native Americans were American heroes in WWII

[@tubaljohn1]

How about the Irish?

[@darcyperkins7041]

You can learn Navajo on Duolingo.

[@theomich4602]

Ommanipadmehum

[@oldfarmshow]

👍

[@gijoe41688]

its kinda like cockney rhyme

[@dewaynehall6959]

February is baby eagles not sqeeky voice... I'm fluent Navajo... March is when the baby eagles cry out woozch iid.. .

[@zaccaryjohn]

There’s a lot of irony in the story of code talkers because less than 50 years before they were used by the US military, Natives speaking their language were severely punished as an attempt to eradicate the languages.

[@ivaxnog6157]

Now papers say America was first populsted by sea

[@tismoineau2646]

🐸

[@wesleygilmore7173]

Yes and stop exposing us

[@robertwolfe2971]

The indians save the day.

[@auntisthenes2754]

but the Germans couldn't be deciphered by linguists. Turing did. Great movie by the way; His thanks are just like the Navarros's. He did well, but differences can be accepted only so much. Turing could have lived in France.just miles away. Homosexuality was not a crime there. poorly perceived but it's not written on your face. We could have used a genius;makes me want to sing " God save tthe queen and the fascist regime !" The Sex Pixtols aren't so dumb.

[@haritchie3460]

May have over look term the action of reserving something. "the reservation of positions for non-Americans". Maybe wrong those heroes Went back to there homes For non-Americans 2023 reservations A people tested by time surviving from been wipe from the earth Piss poor way to deal with heros saving so many lives.

[@daritter]

You instantly stole this from the BBC, at least credit them 🤮🤮🤮

[@storylearning]

What are you talking about?

[@the_linguist_ll]

Buddy, they stole nothing. BBC did not invent the Navajo language.

[@jmwild22]

What nonsense.

[@RationallySkeptical]

Navajo wasn't "secret." You need to learn what that word means, obviously.

[@jmwild22]

Did you actually watch the video? Your comment makes no sense whatsoever. Nobody said Navajo was secret.

[@flabiandeflores5166]

The tittle is quite provoking. But unfortunately it was obviously Russian language that helped to end the fascism in Europe! The sacrifices of the 27 million red army and soviet people.

[@bryanjames7528]

Navajo Code was used in the Pacific Campaign not in Europe