[HOME]

Youtube Hosted Exercises:

The following PDF files go with the following lessons on learning the Syllabary.

It is recommended to print out the PDF which shows how to draw each one: How to Draw Each One

If you don't have practice paper, you can print copies of this blank one: Blank Practice Paper

Each of the following playlist windows contains all of the exercises set to play in order. Select the appropriate one to start with based on where you left off.

It is recommended to play these videos in full screen mode so that the whiteboard, when used, is easier to see.

Set 1: Ꭰ Ꭱ Ꭲ Ꭳ Ꭴ Ꭵ Ꭶ

Set 2: Ꭷ Ꭸ Ꭹ Ꭺ Ꭻ Ꭼ Ꭽ

Set 3: Ꭾ Ꭿ Ꮀ Ꮁ Ꮂ Ꮃ Ꮄ

Set 4: Ꮅ Ꮆ Ꮇ Ꮈ Ꮉ Ꮊ Ꮋ

Set 5: Ꮌ Ꮍ Ꮎ Ꮏ Ꮐ Ꮑ Ꮒ

Set 6: Ꮓ Ꮔ Ꮕ Ꮖ Ꮗ Ꮘ Ꮙ

Set 7: Ꮚ Ꮛ Ꮝ Ꮜ Ꮞ Ꮟ Ꮠ

Set 8: Ꮡ Ꮢ Ꮣ Ꮤ Ꮥ Ꮦ Ꮧ

Set 9: Ꮨ Ꮩ Ꮪ Ꮫ Ꮬ Ꮭ Ꮮ

Set 10: Ꮯ Ꮰ Ꮱ Ꮲ Ꮳ Ꮴ Ꮵ

Set 11: Ꮶ Ꮷ Ꮸ Ꮹ Ꮺ Ꮻ Ꮼ

Set 12: Ꮽ Ꮾ Ꮿ Ᏸ Ᏹ Ᏺ Ᏻ

Set 13: Ᏼ Ꮗ Ꮚ Ꮿ Ꭶ Ꮥ Ꮪ

Set 14: Ꮆ Ꮐ Ꮯ Ꮳ Ꮸ Ꮹ Ᏻ

Set 15: Final Exam

Downloadable MP3 Exercises:

The following exercise files are for those individuals who want to create CDs or use an MP3 player.

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk01

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk02

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk03

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk04

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk05

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk06

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk07

Cherokee Language Syllabary Dictation Practice Disk08

Cherokee Syllabary Dictation - Voice Your Support!

Do you find this material useful? It is important to let us know!

If you find this material useful, it is important to voice your support so that the volunteers creating this material know they are both appreciated and are creating something useful. Click [HERE]!.

Cherokee Language Lessons - Writing the Cherokee Syllabary

The importance of learning the Cherokee Syllabary:

The majority of Cherokee Language documents are composed in the Cherokee Syllabary. [ᏣᎳᎩ Wikipedia for Example]. In addition, if you wish to communicate with someone via written or electronic means the majority of Cherokee Speakers will be expecting you to use the Cherokee Syllabary. And contrary to popular belief, learning the Cherokee Syllabary is not that difficult, if the right technique is used.

The importance in writing to learn the Cherokee Syllabary.

The best way to learn any writing system is by writing it. Not with flash cards. Now, don't get me wrong, flash cards can be very useful in learning to read the Cherokee Syllabary and is extremely important when learning Cherokee Language Vocabulary, but, you will not be very good at it, unless you learn to write it. The physical act of writing each Cherokee Syllabary Letter immediately after saying what letter you are going to write will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to learn the Cherokee Syllabary.

Dull repetition is not the answer.

With the need for the physical act of writing clearly stated for you to be able to properly learn the Cherokee Syllabary, simply starting out by writing 'Ꭰ', 'Ꭰ', 'Ꭰ, 'Ꭰ', 'Ꭱ', 'Ꭱ', 'Ꭱ' over and over will not work. Your brain and hand and arm will quickly become numb to the information you are trying to learn and you will encounter great difficulty going beyond 8 or so letters. Instead what we need to do is write the different letters out in such a pattern so that your brain does not quickly become numb to what we are trying to learn, giving us the ability to learn all 85 letters in very short order.

Graduated Interval Recall is the answer.

Paraphrased from Wikipedia :
Graduated-interval recall is a specific method of spaced repetition, published by Paul Pimsleur in 1967. It is particularly suited to programmed audio instruction due to the very short times (measured in seconds or minutes) between the first few repetitions, unlike other forms of spaced repetition which may not require such precise timings.

Graduated Interval Recall is a complex name for a very simple theory about memory. No aspect of learning a foreign language is more important than memory, yet before Dr. Pimsleur's work, no one had explored more effective ways for building language memory.

In his research, Dr. Pimsleur discovered how long students remembered new information and at what intervals they needed to be reminded of it. If reminded too soon or too late, they failed to retain the information.

How Graduated Interval Recall fits in.

After studying Dr. Pimsleur's Graduated Interval Recall methodology, I created special audio files for different groupings of the Cherokee Syllabary letters that dictate when I should write each letter.

I did this after failing miserably in trying to learn the Cherokee Syllabary in a timely fashion using simple repetition. After doing this, I was able to finish learning the Cherokee Syllabary in a day and a half. I also know from experience that if I don't exercise this knowledge, losing it, that I can redo a much briefer version of the initial exercise and regain the lost knowledge in very short order. This was not possible for me before creating these special audio sets.

The results of my efforts are posted here for use by others in the hopes that others who are also having difficulty will instead experience ease of learning and the joy that the writing as well as reading the Cherokee Syllabary will bring.

Each exercise set plays for about 22-25 minutes. This should be short enough to allow even a busy individual to do at least one exercise per day. There also is nothing dictating that you limit yourself to only one exercise per day.

Cherokee Language Lessons - Free to Copy and Use

All material here is free to copy and use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

  • Under the following conditions:
  • Attribution — You must maintain the list of authors and contributers intact.
  • You may not imply that any contributer or author endorses you or your use of the work.
  • Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/ .