There are 38 federally recognized tribes headquartered in Oklahoma. Per the National Geographic Enduring Voices Project, the state has been named one of 23 hotspots for losing native languages worldwide. The Cherokee Nation is the largest Native American tribe in the United States with 350,000 citizens. This said, the Cherokee language is considered endangered, with less than an estimated 16,000 native speakers. The Cherokee Nation has seen a resurgence of interest and engagement with Cherokee identity, culture and language in younger generations. TCCL saw an opportunity to advance the tribe’s language revitalization efforts by approaching Mango Languages in late 2012 with the idea to collaborate. While navigating sovereign nation law presented challenges to formalizing an agreement, all parties were willing to work towards a solution.

TCCL took advantage of Mango’s existing technology, applying it in a new way to offer the first indigenous language program for the benefit of all public libraries. We have made public libraries across the country centers of community for Native Americans; connecting the Cherokee diaspora. In creating the course, it was important to let learners not only hear the language but also see the writing system. The Cherokee alphabet was invented in 1821, allowing the Cherokee language to become the most well-documented and preserved Native American language in North America. The Mango platform proved ideal for this important cultural component.

In early 2015, the Cherokee language lessons became available to TCCL customers via their PCs and mobile devices. Cherokee is already TCCL’s fifth most popular language course, and after only 60-70 days was accessed by customers in 518 libraries nationwide. The Cherokee course focuses on learning through conversations. Students are exposed to oral and written native speaker dialogue. All native languages run the risk of becoming silent. Through this TCCL project, Cherokee will escape that fate as many citizens begin the journey of cultural immersion by freely accessing something so vital to their culture: their native language. This three-way collaboration simply would not have come about if it were not for the foresight and tenacity of team TCCL.