An app for that: Cherokee Nation debuts official language

With help from another prominent indigenous entity, the Cherokee Nation debuted its own language learning app on Dec. 9.

With a ceremony inside Durbin Feeling Language Center, tribal leaders lauded the release of the app as a means to fully resurrect a mother tongue that almost went extinct over hundreds of years due to acts of cultural genocide.

"We used to have 100% of our population speaking the language," Cherokee Nation language program director Howard Paden said. "Now, less than one-half of one percent speaks our language."

But to move in the right direction, the Cherokees received the help of Kiwa Digital Ltd., a renown dubbing and AI-language company based in New Zealand, founded by Mori individuals that also helped the Cherokee Film Institute in its film and series dubbing proj