“Cherokee is not a head language. It’s a heart language.”

The Cherokee Nation is carrying its language forward across generations. With Indigenous languages around the world facing accelerating loss, the Cherokee Nation has set a goal of building more new speakers each year than the Nation loses. 

This story travels to the Cherokee Nation soundstage in Owasso, Oklahoma to see how the Tribe is using motion capture, animation, video games, and immersion schools to do the work. From the Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act to a fully digital Sequoyah created in honor of the syllabary’s bicentennial, the Cherokee Nation is showing what language revitalization looks like for the generations to come.

Featuring Cherokee Nation leadership and Austin Parker, Video Production Manager at the Cherokee Nation soundstage.