Cherokee 1: Lesson 1 

My distant grandmother survived the trail the tears and I’m learning Cherokee in honor of her.

My grandparents never taught me Cherokee because I am half white. I live in the bottom of the Appalachian mountains in NC. I’ve learned a lot from your videos and now I can communicate fairly well with them. When I first spoke Cherokee to them they still refused to respond to me, they learned I can speak it fairly well and have hence begun speaking to me solely in Cherokee and no longer in English. I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

I’m Black and Cherokee, I’m very eager to learn the language of my ancestors! I know me finding this wasn’t a mistake!

I am Mexican, but my daughters were born in Oklahoma. We have learned to appreciate the Oklahoma culture and we believe learning Cherokee is very important.

This brought me to tears, my grandfather always spoke Cherokee to me and he is a fire keeper. I never thought of learning my heritages language but here I am

My grandma speaks to me in Cherokee and idk what she be saying to me I’m just tired of getting yelled at 💀💀💀

I’m simply a language enthusiast, and even in your first lesson it’s evident the work and care you put into this. Easy to follow, easy to grasp, thank you 🙏

I am Cherokee and Irish. I am proud to learn the language! I love the sound and accent.

I appreciate the insertion of sign language in this. I grew up basically deaf during my formative years in my childhood, and this addition is actually neat. For those who are distracted by the syllabus in these lessons, it might be helpful to go "old school" and print out each character of the Cherokee syllabus on a flash card (an 8 x 5 notecard) readily available on the web, and then print the corresponding phonetic on the other side.Thank you for these lessons. I grew up in OK but now live in NC so the dialect is much different (more fluid and not as "hard"), but still, the point can usually be made.

I am part Cherokee. My grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee.. I do not speak Cherokee but im wanting to learn,.

I am a fluent Cherokee speaker. I have been trying to teach myself to examine in Cherokee for about four years now after being a fluent speaker my whole life. I can examine (we use this word instead of "read" in Cherokee) to some extent. However, watching this video has helped me to learn to examine better because there is some one examining the written Cherokee Syllabary for me instead of me trying to examine it on my own. I really need more exposure to hearing some one examine in Cherokee while seeing the Cherokee Syllables myself. I think that this video does a really great job at this. The only suggestion for slight improvement I have is to highlight the Cherokee Syllable as it is examined by the presenter. This would allow for faster association of the sound with the Cherokee Syllable. This would allow syllable length differences to be shown visually, without the need to explain long and short syllable length to a general audience. I have also been teaching myself how to write in Cherokee. This video is pretty good. Some words are strange to me such as how the presenter uses "friend" without any pronominal prefixes. Some of the grammar is not how I would use it, but I am guessing that this comes down to personal differences in preferences for emphasis since Cherokee has pretty much a free word order. ᏩᏙ!

My mom came from Oklahoma. She is a mix of Cherokee and Irish with some German thrown in. This part of our heritage has been lost because it was not taught. It caused me to not have a culture and I’m trying to regain my heritage of culture. There are documents that have names in Cherokee that I wish I could pronounce them and reconnect with my great grandpa and my ancestors on that side of the family. Rediscovering this is the best thing anyone could give me! I’m speechless especially since it’s such a beautiful language! ❤ it also speaks to my heart very deeply too! It’s calling me to remember who I am!❤

Thank you for this! I am a visual and auditory learner, so this is a blessing.

I'm just having fun teaching my kids. The last elder that spoke cherokee passed It's been 6 yrs since I could speak to anyone in cherokee. That hurt not even hearing a single word in cherokee. I love all the old cherokee gospel songs God they're good. Now I'm the elder?? Oh weee my family is screwed I have my 1st grandgirl she's learning cherokee so fast I'm so proud. She's my beastie* thanks for doing these Wade and Goodluck everyone. You are officially something extra else!! Now u guys are so for real VIPs

Hey all, I’m starting to learn Cherokee probably for the weirdest reason. I’m from Portugal but I play World of Warcraft for over 17 years and I’ve always played a race called the Taurens which are based of native Americans. I got so into the whole history of this beautiful people that I’m learning yet another language. Even tho Portugal has an astonishing history. Cheers all ❤

Non-Cherokee American here, but the Cherokee Nation may be one of the most creative tribes in American history. Not only beautiful language, but the fact they created their own syllabary, Constitution, newspapers while retaining tribal culture prior to the Trail of Tears, and continued the tradition after the genocide. Just read recently the Cherokee Nation came out firmly to support Ukraine. Aboslutely amazing tribe.

Thank you. I just found Donnetta and now you teaching. Dialects from different parts of the country always say a word with A different twist. I bet our ancestors here in Mississippi didn't have the southern drawl we have. I am looking for words to use here at our Homestead where the Houma lived. Part of the Cherokee Nation

Since I was a child I have wanted to learn to speak several languages, to include Cherokee. Indeed I have learned a few, but no language on earth has ever consumed my dreams as Cherokee has. Thank you for making these videos. I am looking forward to the rest of my lessons.

Thank you for helping me practice the language of my ancestors

I am the great granddaughter of my black cherokee great grand parents on my mothers side and my great grand father spoke the cherokee language fluent as a child in the 60's. I lost most of it because the family stopped speaking it and now I want to honor my great grand parents by re training myself again.

The fact that by watching this same video over and over intermittently for a few months, the first 10 minutes. I can now listen past 10 minutes and understand bits and pieces. Like how I understand Spanish after 2 years of a high school class. This is awesome!

Siyo Wade, it was so wonderful to meet you and your family at the Two Spirit Powwow, wado for all these amazing classes, and keeping our language vibrant and alive. ✊

Both my great grandmother she was Choctaw as well as Cherokee and my grandfather was Cherokee as well when you find the truth on knowledge of self you go through a frustrating and angry part because you been absent so long but now it’s more of tears of joy I will teach my kids who they truly are as well as there true history and language

Great class! I found out at 16 that i have cherokee blood and Cherokee ancestors. And i have always wanted to learn the language. I enjoyed this video. Thank you for doing this!!!

8:17 jiwuwéédòòlééʼi ji- relativizer (which...) w- translocative (over there) uw- he/she, set B prefix used with past tense eed- stem of verb "to walk" oʼl- perfective suffix (past tense) -ééʼi reported / non-experienced past. Giving the bare string: ji-w-uw-eed-oʼl-ééʼi Then, w- (Translocative) requires the verb to be in the atonic form, so oʼl- gets a low fall tone òòl-. Translocative also assigns high tone to the second syllable after it, so wee- becomes wéé-. All in all, we get the final form: jiwuwéédòòlééʼi (.. which allegedly walked around over there...)

I was born in Cherokee NC and I'm a fan please keep up the very good work my friend..

I tried learning Cherokee from a book when I was a teenager lol. This is so much better, as you can imagine 😂

My grandma is Creole and Cherokee and my grandad is Cherokee and I know that my great grandma is full blooded Native American Indian I saw the pictures and it blew my mind !!! I have 2 brothers that have a different father and they are Cherokee as well as I am it’s amazing!!!!!

I always wanted to learn the language of my great grandmother, even more now that it's disappearing away slowly. I hope to someday continue learning and keep it alive and strong.

This would be some good lesson Because I’m half Black half Cherokee

I'm potentially around a third cherokee but I live in California so I didn't start acknowledging my heritage until I was around 17. I'm 19 now. I'm super glad these videos exist. I feel like I'm discovering an old part of me almost

At 50, being raised mainly in the south west, I am finding this a precious resource. I always felt guilty learning other native languages because I hadn't learned my ancestorial language. There is such a beautiful sound to this and I can't wait to learn more. Thank you

Totally memorized the cherokee song! Amazing!

I love this! I’m Cherokee and I have family who speak it regularly but I only know a handful of phrases and words. I’m so looking forward to learning more!

I'm Native American, Cherokee decent. I have noticed that a lot of Native Americans do not like lighter skin. And it some times upsets me. Because I was taught not to be prejudiced. I almost died, because I only had 1 Clinic and it was a2, 2 1/2 hour drive from my home. Western Oklahoma. I had to drive 90 miles to get to the hospital. I decided then no one will not take my way of belief and who I am. A Proud Cherokee. My our Father show us how to be one Nation before it's to late. Wado

My father was from oklahoma and my mother from georgia. They both have cherokee ancestry and i like to learn other languages. I'm very glad you posted these lessons and i hope to become more and more fluent as i keep studying.

I'm yonegi Cherokee and Sioux these classes and the info that's here for research is very revealing and healing to me thank you Wade

I'm gonna make it through all of the language courses you have. My dad was Mowa and my mom is Cherokee. My dad didn't tell us he knew the language until he left us. I want to learn. For him, my mom, and for my kids. I strive to keep the fire burning and to pass the torch to the future bloodlines.

I'm not cherokee, but my grandfather's cousin told us stories of him and my grandfather eating dinner with an old cherokee man back in Oklahoma when they were children. They spoke of being fascinated by the man's appearance, living in a tent and wearing accessories made of bone and leather. He said they like the man and the man liked them. The man would always give them something to eat, usually sliced sweet potato which he stored in an earth mounded area near his tent. They usually said nothing to him, and he spoke only a few words that they didnt understand, but would smile and his brown eyes seemed to twinkle as he communicated with them through hand gestures and body movements. They'd fish, hunt, and cook food on sticks around an area called Indian Cave (whom he said my grandfather's name "Gary" was still written there today). I have great respect for the culture and integrity because of that old man, and find myself wanting to learn the language to preserve its beauty.

5 minutes in and im questioning if learning a new language is for me 😳😂

My great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee and you can see the Native in our faces through the generation but thats the only connection I have to my ancestry is through the mirror, so finding cherokee lessons on here opens up a brand new to learn the spoken language.

Singing that song all over. Bless you for teaching us. I absolutely love this language.

I am 1/2 Cherokee and some aggressor from Whales makes up the other half...I just overlook that part of me. LOL I am very disabled and have found this program to be the best thing I have done in a long time. Thank you wade, my fellow Cherokee brother and ginali.

It's me again. I've been reading a book with a CD., but your 1st lesson has taught me more than the first chapter of the beautiful book I bought. Thank you again! I'm the last of our hetatage and I want to pass it on to my grandbabies! AHO! BLESS YOU! 💖

Just came across you teachings. I haven’t been around the Cherokee language for over 30 years. This is gonna help me to learn it all over again. Thanks

I am Iroquois and Polynesian Aksumite. Thanks for the lessons. I love the language of my people.

Love this so more of us can learn our language that haven’t grew up with it Great grand ma would tell us stories in the language while we all set around her can only remember some of the animals names miss her

This is starting to help me dive deep into my heritage. Thank you. I am picking it up fairly quickly for one that doesnt know the culture, but is part. But anyways thank you so much.

I am researching my family history and discovered I am of Cherokee decent but do not know much other than that. I am finding this very fascinating.

I'm Cherokee and Portuguese... I love this... I grew up being taught about my ppl but never had time to learn the language... this is great..

I haven't been around a Cherokee speaker since 2000. (I was 7). My son is only 5 months now, but I would like for him to learn while he's young. So I took it upon myself to teach myself as much as possible in order to teach him.

Oh my , Thank you so much for taking time to do this . I hope I'm not to old to learn lol. My Grandmother was Cherokee born and raised in Cherokee North Carolina. But passed before I was born . I'm doing all I can to learn everything I can find.

My distant grandmother escaped the British with her French lover at the end of the French Indian war. He served as an officer in the French military whilst she was a Cherokee woman he’d met during the conflict and fallen for. They escaped to Australia and settled down. My family have been her since.

Thank you, mr.blevins for all that you do for the first nation people

Wado! Thank you for the song and the hand gestures. I was shocked at how fast I started I memorized without any effort after I sang and did the hand gestures with you! ti really does help! I took cherokee in college 3 levels, but I have to keep practicing it or I lose some of it. That is the hardest part is finding someone to speak to in Cherokee!

Being Lumbee and Cherokee im truly appreciative of these lesson opportunities. My family never spoke it but being a christian, God has blessed me with the spiritual tongue of cherokee language. It has amazed my mother, children and church family, as my identity has come full circle.

I love that you sre teaching others the language.I am partial Cherokee. Thank you

I was not able to keep taking lessons through Cherokee Nation due to time difference where I live. This is wonderful to watch anytime I can.

OMGoodness! This is AMAZING! Thank you so very much for sharing this with all of us! God bless!

Oh my gosh! It’s Mr. Blevins! He was always involved with JOM and the summer camps. Also had him for Spanish and Cherokee up at Jay. It’s good to know that he’s still teaching cherokee. His talents were kinda wasted at Jay. I thought he was meant for bigger and better things.

I'm cherokee and Mexican my two fluid cherokee speaker grandma's tryed to teach me the language when I was younger but I didn't want to learn but I regret making that decision I wish I did learn but I'm here learning it

According to ancestry results and family stories from my very respected great grandmother, it's said that I'm a descendant of Jemima Leaf, supposed daughter of Nellie Leaf and Dragging Canoe. Family originates from rockcastle Kentucky. I don't believe I chose to be interested in the Chickamauga rather I believe the time was right for me to begin my journey of learning and sourcing my roots. I look forward to learning my ancestors native tongue and doing my part to preserve, maintain, and honor, the cherokee lifestyle and stories so that they have the chance to live on through me. I'm aware I may not be considered anything close to cherokee due to thinning of the bloodline over the years, however I take extreme pride in my ancestry regardless of my skin tone and thinned bloodline today. The nation may not claim me however I proudly support the cherokee nation and love all of you.

I'm moving to Oklahoma in like maybe a month or so I'm sitting and I'm sitting here learning Cherokee cuz my grandmother was half Cherokee but she was adopted by Mormons

Thank you for posting the lessons! I am of African descent,, but have Cherokee lines (Nunnallee and Mayfields) on my father side. 🏹

Nice to hear someone who knows how to speak it. I'm a yo-ne-gi (white Man) but have been encouraged be spirit to learn the language.

I just found this series and I love it. My great great grandfather was full blood Cherokee and my mother had great interest in the Cherokee.

this is so cool. thanks for taking the time for doing this!

Thank you. Your voice is clear and audio is good. Thanks for the pics too and the syllabary.

I absolutely love this! My great great great grandparents would be proud. Thank you so much for this.

I'm chickasaw my wife has Cherokee....I teach her our language but I'm glad she can learn her native language on here

So excited to see this! Sgi!

I am very excited to learn cherokee language as I grew up in the mountains of polk county and my great grandfather, was cherokee,also one of the first settlers there then if course soon after he was forced to give up his land not sure the entire story,thank you much for taking time to remember and for keeping the cherokee language alive..,❤️🙏☮️

Wado! My grandmother had Cherokee heritage, and I'm starting the online beginning Cherokee classes through the Cherokee Nation this month. I enjoy the inclusion of both ASL and song, and the opportunity to hear the cadences

He is easy to understand and I feel comfortable listening and learning. I believe this can happen for me with these lessons. Always amazed at what "questions" they use to teach language...some just seem so silly....I'd rather hear or use questions that can be used in general speech.

This makes me so happy I’m so ready for more classes

What a beautiful language!

Thank you, my grandmother was Cherokee… I am wanting to return and learn the Cherokee roots. I believe it is important to know all our heritages, from our family. Still searching my native roots. Thank you so much for stepping up.

Hi, I'm old now, and in my heart promised to learn my Grandmother's language. She was born 1903, close as I can remember. I'm SO happy to see other's comments, also honoring their Grandmothers.

So happy to see this! ᎦᎵᎡᎵᎦ!

Thank you for such a great video. I’m fascinated to learn more about Cherokee culture and history. I was adopted and recently set out to find my paternal side of my family. I was able to trace that side all the way to the Dawes Rolls. I have living family who were raised on tribal lands. It was an unexpected discovery. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the privilege of growing up around family who could pass the culture down to me. I’ve always identified myself as a white man and it feels a bit wrong to identify with my ancestry. I’m also not anywhere near Oklahoma. The only connection I have with anything Cherokee is online. These videos are great because they allow someone like myself learn more even if distanced.

Man, a lot of effort was put into this course, this is so amazing!

My school ended Friday and are Cherokee class ended wenesday so I love this ❤️

Wado! So much! This means so much to me. Im so grateful.

I love this, Thanks for sharing it!

Thank you, so much for that beautiful lesson. I'm hooked. Wado!

I'm Cherokee on my grandma side, I'll never forget the time she was yelling at me in Cherokee she was full blooded. I have no idea what she said, whatever she said I replied yea whatever you said lady and she knocked me on my ass. So now I would like to learn my language since I do have Cherokee blood. Plus I never want to make that mistake again.

Yes! Thank you so much 💓

My grandfather always called me “Kaliasgaya” and I never got to ask him what it meant before he passed. I’ve been looking for answers and to see that it has something to do with a man really excites me! Finally getting some answers.

This is an awesome lesson series. I have only just started it but have tried to learn Cherokee for a few years. This one is so easy to follow. Thank you so much for this series. My Cherokee line is from my Father's side and he just passed this last August. Learning this and keeping it alive is very important. Thank you again.

I’m Cherokee and my grandpa (my fathers father) who I never met was full blood Cherokee and so my dad and I have a lot of it in us

Thank you for teaching this I can only do a few minutes before my brain zones out but I’m gonna keep trying thank you again!

Osiyo family of feathers 🦅 Wadu, for your teachings cause I never finished learning 🥰😇 from my relatives

My heritage is a split culture of the Cherokee. I live in Washington state now and I am surrounded by indigenous communities. I have learned some of their words but I felt the need to learn more about my heritage. Thank you

I want to get closer to my heritage my Native American side and African American! ( Its also pretty cool because my friends wont understand what I'm saying to my family while were talking lol!)

My Grandma was full Cherokee and I am so excited to learn her language!! Although I look nothing like her😂 Sadly I got red hair and pale skin from my mom and dad😂 but I’m still very excited

Wade, you are an excellent teacher! Thank you very much for the lesson! I have always wanted to learn a Native American language. I look forward to learning more.

Thank you for saving our language.

Oh my gosh. I'm already fluent in American sign language and he said what is your name in sign. This is going to be so helpful 😢 I can finally learn my family's language

Thank you im part Cherokee my nana spoke it I dont speak it

I am Jalagi seeking, my birth family has lost all of our culture. My grandmother’s Grandmother was Jalagi. My grandmother would cry when talking about our people and ancestors, I think because she had some idea of what we lost. She grew up in Appalachia. I’ve tried for many years to learn our language with not much success, and I hope this time with these videos and my books that I might be successful. Thank you for making them.