English / Cherokee Phrasebook - ᎩᎵᏏ - ᏣᎳᎩ ᎪᏪᎵ

 

 

English / Cherokee Phrasebook

Cherokee is a Southern Iroquoian language now spoken by around 22,500 people in North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. In 2005, the Cherokee Preservation Foundation funded a survey whose results indicated that only 460 fluent speakers were then living in Eastern Cherokee communities, with 72 percent of them over the age of 50 and elder speakers dying far more quickly than new speakers were emerging. By 2015 that number was down to 215.

Today the syllabary is still used; efforts are being made to revive both the Cherokee language and Syllabary. The process of revitalizing the language is complex. While it has been spoken for hundreds of years, there is little in written form that can be used for instruction and few people are trained in teaching it.

The 1st Edition of this phrasebook contains over 2,700 terms and phrases in English and Cherokee with their Cherokee transliteration and pronunciation. The 2nd edition contains 30% more pages and over 3,500 terms.

We also publish a Cherokee / English Dictionary and a Spanish / Cherokee Dictionary.

Contents

Introduction

A Guide to the Cherokee Language
Character order
Cherokee Syllabary Pronunciation Key
Vowel Sounds
Modifiers
Cherokee Pronouns
What are the Cherokee Pronouns?
Numerals
Cherokee Verbs
Transliteration Issues

Numbers - ᏗᏎᏍᏗ - disesdi - di-se-s-di
Shapes - ᎤᏙᏢᏒᎢ - udotlvsvi - U-do-tlv-sv-i
Colors - ᏗᎧᏃᏗ - dikanodi - Di-ka-no-di
Animals - ᎡᎿᎢ - ehnai - e-hna-i
Birds - ᏥᏍ - tsis - tsi-s
Reptiles ᎠᎾᏓᏂᏏᏂᏙᎯ anadanisinidohi A-na-da-ni-si-ni-do-hi
Insects ᎠᏂᏍᎧᏱ aniskayi a-ni-s-ka-yi
Trees - ᏡᎬ - tlugv - tlu-gv
Plants - ᎤᏂᏰᎬ - uniyegv - u-ni-ye-gv
Greetings - ᎤᎾᎵᎮᎵᏤᏘ - unalihelitseti - U-na-li-he-li-tse-ti
Acceptance - ᏓᏓᏂᎸᎦ - dadanilvga - da-da-ni-lv-ga
Body - ᏥᏰᎸᎢ - tsiyelvi - tsi-ye-lv-i / Disease - ᎥᏳᎩ - vyugi v-yu-gi……………………………………
Clothing - ᏗᎿᏬ - dihnawo - di-hnạ-wo
Conversation - ᏗᏟᏃᎮᏗ - ditlinohedi - Di-tli-no-he-di
Days - ᎢᎦ - eegah - ee-gah
Directions - ᎧᎸᎬᎢ - kalvgvI - ka-lv-gv-I / Measurements - ᏗᏟᎶᏛ - ditlilodv - Di-tli-lo-dv
Family (female) (ᎠᎩᏏ - ahgee'si - ah-gee'-si) - ᏚᏓᏘᏘᎾᎥᎢ ᏏᏓᏁᎸ - dudatitinavi sidanelv - du-da-ti-ti-na-v-i-si-da-ne-lv
Family (male) (ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ahsgahyah ahs-gah-yah) - ᏚᏓᏘᏘᎾᎥᎢ ᏏᏓᏁᎸ - dudatitinavi sidanelv - du-da-ti-ti-na-v-i-si-da-ne-lv
Food / Drink - ᎠᎵᏍᏔᏴᏁᏘ - alistayvneti - a-li-s-ta-yv-ne-ti / ᎠᏓᏔᏍᏘ - adatasti- a-da-ta-s-ti
Vegetable - ᎢᏤᎢ - ijei - i-je-i
Months - ᎢᏯᏅᏓ - iyanvda – i-ya-nv-da
Nature - ᎤᏁᎳᏅ ᎤᏬᏢᏅ unelanv uwotlvnv U-ne-la-nv -u-wo-tlv-nv
Negative Words - ᎦᏘᎴᎩ ᏄᏍᏛ ᎧᏃᎮᏗ - digatilegi nusdv kanohedi - ga-ti-le-gi- -nu-s-dv- -ka-no-he-di
People - ᎠᏂᏴᏫ - aniyvwi - A-ni-yv-wi
Places - ᎭᎾᏂ - hanani - ha-na-ni
Profession - ᏄᎬᏫᏳᏒ ᏗᏕᏲᎲᏍᎩ - nugvwiyusv dideyohvsgi - Nu-gv-wi-yu-sv di-de-yo-hv-scgi
Religion - ᏗᏁᎸᏙᏗ - dinelvdodi - di-ne-lv-do-di
Seasons - ᏓᏓᏁᏟᏴᏎᎬ - dadanetliyvsegv - Da-da-ne-tli-yv-se-gv
Society - ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ - unadotlvhi - U-na-do-tlv-hi
Time - ᎠᎴᏰᏑ - aleyesu - a-le-ye-su
Tools - ᏗᎬᎳᏂᏓᏍᏗ - Digvtanidasdi - Di-gv-la-ni-da-s-di
The Lord's Prayer in Cherokee and English
Cherokee Proverbs