Editing Cherokee language (section)

== Status and preservation efforts ==
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Swyddfa Bost Tahlequah.jpg
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| caption1          = A sign in [[Tahlequah, Oklahoma]] in English and Cherokee (transcription: {{lang|chr|ᏓᎵᏊ ᎪᏪᎵ ᏧᏂᏍᏚᎢᏍᏗ}} – "{{lang|chr-Latn|daliquu goweli tsunisduisdi}}")
| image2            = Kituwah Academy.png
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| caption2          = A lesson at [[New Kituwah Academy]] on the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina. The bilingual [[language immersion]] school, operated by the [[Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians]], teaches the same curriculum as other American primary schools
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In 2019, the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes declared a state of emergency for the language due to the threat of it going extinct, calling for the enhancement of revitalization programs.<ref name="emergency" /> The language retains about 1,500<ref name="Strive" /> to 2,100<ref name="emergency" /> Cherokee speakers, but an average of eight fluent speakers die each month, and only a handful of people under 40 years of age are fluent as of 2019.<ref name="Strive" />{{additional citation needed|date=August 2023}} In 1986, the literacy rate for first language speakers was 15–20% who could read and 5% who could write, according to the 1986 [[Cherokee Heritage Center]].<ref name="Ethnologue17" /> A 2005 survey determined that the Eastern Band had 460 fluent speakers. Ten years later, the number was believed to be 200.<ref name="Standingdeer">{{cite news|url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/01/03/cracking-code-speak-cherokee/77744120/|title=Cracking the code to speak Cherokee|last=Neal|first=Dale|work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]]|date=January 4, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Tsali Boulevard sign, Cherokee, NC IMG 4880.JPG|upright=0.9|left|thumb|Tsali Boulevard (transcription: {{lang|chr|[[Tsali|ᏣᎵ]] ᏧᏩᏐᎯᏍᏗ}} – "{{lang|chr-Latn|tsali tsuwasohisdi}}") in [[Cherokee, North Carolina|Cherokee]], North Carolina]]
Cherokee is "definitely endangered" in Oklahoma and "severely endangered" in North Carolina according to [[UNESCO]].<ref name="UNESCO">{{cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/index.php?hl=en&page=atlasmap&cc2=US|title=UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger|date=2010|publisher=UNESCO|language=en|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref> Cherokee has been the co-[[official language]] of the [[Cherokee Nation]] alongside English since a 1991 legislation officially proclaimed this under the Act Relating to the Tribal Policy for the Promotion and Preservation of Cherokee Language, History, and Culture.<ref name="Cherokee">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JiN-P2aNrnoC&q=Established+cherokee+and+english+as+the+official+languages+of+the+tribe&pg=PA188|last=Cushman |first=Ellen |date=September 13, 2012 |title=The Cherokee Syllabary: Writing the People's Perseverance |chapter=8 – Peoplehood and Perseverance: The Cherokee Language, 1980–2010 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |pages=189–191 |access-date=June 2, 2014 |isbn=978-0-8061-8548-4 }}</ref> Cherokee is also recognized as the official language of the [[United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians]]. As Cherokee is official, the entire constitution of the United Keetoowah Band is available in both English and Cherokee. As an official language, any tribal member may communicate with the tribal government in Cherokee or English, English translation services are provided for Cherokee speakers, and both Cherokee and English are used when the tribe provides services, resources, and information to tribal members or when communicating with the tribal council.<ref name="Cherokee" /> The 1991 legislation allows the political branch of the nation to maintain Cherokee as a living language.<ref name="Cherokee" /> Because they are within the Cherokee Nation tribal jurisdiction area, hospitals and health centers such as the Three Rivers Health Center in [[Muscogee, Oklahoma]] provide Cherokee language translation services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cherokee.org/Services/Health/HealthCentersHospitals.aspx|title=Health Centers & Hospitals|publisher=Cherokee Nation|access-date=June 5, 2014|archive-date=June 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625105122/http://cherokee.org/Services/Health/HealthCentersHospitals.aspx}}</ref>

=== Education ===
[[File:Cherokeeclass.png|thumb|left|[[Oklahoma]] Cherokee language immersion school student writing in the [[Cherokee syllabary]]]]
[[File:CherokeeKituwahAcademy.png|thumb|left|The Cherokee language taught to preschool students at [[New Kituwah Academy]]]]
In 2008 the Cherokee Nation initiated a ten-year language preservation plan that involved growing new fluent speakers of the Cherokee language from childhood on up through school immersion programs, as well as a collaborative community effort to continue to use the language at home.<ref>{{cite web| title=Native Now: Language: Cherokee| work=We Shall Remain – American Experience – PBS| access-date=April 9, 2014| year=2008| url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/language_cherokee| archive-date=April 7, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407132754/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/native_now/language_cherokee}}</ref> This plan was part of an ambitious goal that in 50 years, 80 percent or more of the Cherokee people will be fluent in the language.<ref name="preservation" /> The [[Cherokee Preservation Foundation]] has invested $4.5 million into opening schools, training teachers, and developing curricula for language education, as well as initiating community gatherings where the language can be actively used. They have accomplished: "Curriculum development, teaching materials and teacher training for a total immersion program for children, beginning when they are preschoolers, that enables them to learn Cherokee as their first language. The participating children and their parents learn to speak and read together. The Tribe operates the [[New Kituwah Academy|Kituwah Academy]]".<ref name="preservation">{{cite web|title=Cherokee Language Revitalization |work=Cherokee Preservation Foundation |access-date=April 9, 2014 |year=2014 |url=http://www.cherokeepreservationfdn.org/cultural-preservation-connect/major-programs-and-initiatives/cherokee-language-revitalization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407070520/http://www.cherokeepreservationfdn.org/cultural-preservation-connect/major-programs-and-initiatives/cherokee-language-revitalization |archive-date=April 7, 2014 }}</ref> Formed in 2006, the Kituwah Preservation & Education Program (KPEP) on the Qualla Boundary focuses on language immersion programs for children from birth to fifth grade, developing cultural resources for the general public and community language programs to foster the Cherokee language among adults.<ref name="kpep">Kituwah Preservation & Education Program Powerpoint, by Renissa Walker (2012)'. 2012. Print.</ref>

There is also a [[Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma]] that educates students from pre-school through eighth grade.<ref name="Chavez, Will">{{Cite news|last=Chavez, Will|title=Immersion students win trophies at language fair|work=Cherokeephoenix.org|access-date=April 8, 2013|date=April 5, 2012|url=http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/6142}}</ref>  A second campus was added in November 2021, when the school purchased Greasy School in [[Greasy, Oklahoma]], located in southern [[Adair County, Oklahoma|Adair County]] ten miles south of [[Stilwell, Oklahoma|Stilwell]].<ref name="Immersion">{{cite web|url=https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/cherokee-immersion-announces-second-campus/article_c000fbc2-3c1a-11ec-8157-776cb821c25a.html |title=Cherokee Immersion announces second campus|date=2 November 2021 |publisher=Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, Tulsa World, November 2, 2021|access-date=November 2, 2021}}</ref>  Situated in the largest area of Cherokee speakers in the world, the opportunity for that campus is for students to spend the day in an immersion school and then return to a Cherokee-speaking home.<ref name="Immersion" />

Several universities offer Cherokee as a second language, including the [[University of Oklahoma]], [[Northeastern State University]], and [[Western Carolina University]]. Western Carolina University (WCU) has partnered with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to promote and restore the language through the school's Cherokee Studies program, which offers classes in and about the language and culture of the Cherokee Indians.<ref name="wcu.edu">{{cite web|title=Cherokee Language Revitalization Project|work=Western Carolina University|access-date=April 9, 2014|year=2014|url=http://www.wcu.edu/academics/departments-schools-colleges/cas/casdepts/anthsoc/cherokee-studies/cherokeelanguagerevitalizationproject.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407084751/http://www.wcu.edu/academics/departments-schools-colleges/cas/casdepts/anthsoc/cherokee-studies/cherokeelanguagerevitalizationproject.asp|archive-date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> WCU and the EBCI have initiated a ten-year language revitalization plan consisting of: (1) a continuation of the improvement and expansion of the EBCI Atse Kituwah Cherokee Language Immersion School, (2) continued development of Cherokee language learning resources, and (3) building of Western Carolina University programs to offer a more comprehensive language training curriculum.<ref name="wcu.edu" />

In November 2022, the tribe opened a $20 million language center in a 52,000-square-foot building near its headquarters in Tahlequah.<ref name="Center">{{cite web|url=https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/cherokee-nation-opens-20-million-immersion-facility-where-english-becomes-a-foreign-language/article_efc8e322-6420-11ed-aecf-4fec10897829.html |title=Cherokee Nation opens $20 million immersion facility where English becomes a foreign language|date=15 November 2022 |publisher=Michael Overall, Tulsa World, November 15, 2022|access-date=November 16, 2022}}</ref>  The immersion facility, which has classes for youth to adults, features no English signage: even the exit signs feature a pictograph of a person running for the door rather than the English word.<ref name="Center" />

The Cherokee Nation has created language lessons on the online learning platform [[Memrise]] which contain "around 1,000 Cherokee words and phrases".<ref>{{cite news |last=Sellers |first=Caroline |date=8 June 2023 |title=Cherokee language lessons now available on two apps |url=https://kfor.com/news/local/cherokee-language-lessons-now-available-on-two-apps/ |url-status=live |agency=[[Kfor.com]] |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923144201/https://kfor.com/news/local/cherokee-language-lessons-now-available-on-two-apps/ |archive-date=23 September 2023 |access-date=25 March 2024}}</ref>