If you’re looking to learn Cherokee then you may be wondering if the popular language learning platform Duolingo has a Cherokee course.
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Does Duolingo Have A Cherokee Course?
Despite the importance and long history of the Cherokee language, Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Cherokee course.
Cherokee is a fascinating native American language with a long and rich history. Today it is spoken by approximately 2,000 people, mainly in the US.
Many people who are looking to learn a new language use Duolingo, a fun language learning platform that features bite-size lessons on various languages.
Duolingo is known to be a fun, free and easy way to learn a new language.
Why Is Cherokee Not On Duolingo?
Few Speakers
One reason why Duolingo may not have produced a Duolingo Cherokee course yet is that there are relatively few people who speak the language.
Cherokee currently has around 2,000 speakers around the world. This is quite a small amount compared to other more popular languages and may be a reason why Duolingo has chosen not to produce the course yet.
Having said that, Duolingo has produced courses on much smaller languages (in terms of number of speakers).
They have made a High Valyrian course of which there are no native speakers as this is a fictional language.
In addition, the fact that Cherokee is an endangered language with few speakers is more of a reason to produce the course.
Creating a Duolingo Cherokee course would bring more awareness to the language and help to keep it from dying out.
Additionally, Duolingo has recently produced both a Navajo and a Hawaiian course for this exact reason.
Less Popular Language
Another reason why Duolingo may have not yet produced a Duolingo Cherokee course is that there isn’t enough demand.
Cherokee isn’t a popular language for native English speakers to learn. Relatively few people are interested in learning the language compared with other languages and Duolingo produces courses based on demand.
This is a shame because it’s certain that there is some demand for English speakers wanting to learn Cherokee (you wouldn’t be on this page if there wasn’t!).
There are tons of people in the US trying to learn Cherokee to keep it alive especially those with Cherokee ancestry.
Duolingo, however, is currently working on other languages which they believe will be more popular with their users.
When Will Cherokee Be Available On Duolingo?
The Duolingo Incubator is a feature where you can see what languages Duolingo are currently working on producing a course for.
The Duolingo courses are created by volunteers. You can contribute to a course on the Duolingo Incubator page if you’re fluent in more than one language.
This page simply shows which courses are currently being produced so you can apply to help build a course if you want to.
Having checked the Duolingo Incubator, I can see that currently Cherokee isn’t a course they’re working on. This means that Duolingo Cherokee isn’t going to be released any time soon as they’re not even working on producing a course.
Within the incubator, on their language list they do say ‘more languages will be available for teaching soon’ however it is unclear how long we may be waiting for more courses to be added.
How Do Duolingo Decide On Which Courses To Create?
Duolingo themselves state that they decide on new courses based on the Duolingo forums.
They suggest the best way to get them to add a new language is by visiting their forum section and searching for suggestions that have been made in the past.
You then should add an upvote or comment to these posts. The more upvotes the more likely Duolingo will take notice and build a course.
If you want to help then you can upvote this Duolingo forum post to show Duolingo that people want a Cherokee course.
Cherokee is definitely a potential candidate for a future Duolingo course as recently Duolingo has been producing lots of courses on endangered languages.
They already have Navajo, Hawaiian, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Welsh and are now working on a Maori course. Cherokee would be a great addition to this list.
Alternatives To Duolingo To Learn Cherokee
Whilst Duolingo is a fantastic resource for learning a new language, don’t let their lack of a Cherokee course stop you from learning the language if you want to.
There’s plenty of fantastic resources out there for Cherokee – both free and paid.
Free Alternatives For Learning Cherokee
Memrise
Memrise is an online language learning app that uses fun games to help its users learn their chosen language.
They have tons of free Cherokee courses that will teach you the alphabet, vocabulary and phrases in Cherokee.
It’s really interactive and gradually introduces new words slowly so you have time to consolidate them all. There’s also plenty of opportunities to practice what you’ve learnt.
Mango Languages
The online language learning platform Mango Languages also has a Cherokee course.
The course features 2 units and serves as a great introduction to the language.
They teach the language through conversations. You’ll learn vocabulary, grammar, phrases and more in this short course.
Online Cherokee Classes
The Cherokee Nation runs several free online Cherokee classes each year.
There are various different levels that you can join including beginner, intermediate and advanced.
The classes are live and you will be invited to join via an online portal. They run the classes every spring and fall – check their website for upcoming classes.
Paid Alternatives For Learning Cherokee
Cherokee Textbook
If you’re looking for a standard book to help you with Cherokee then the Simply Cherokee book is a great place to start.
If you also want to be able to read and write in Cherokee then you’ll need a textbook like this one. It teaches you the Cherokee alphabet including pronunciation of each letter.
I’d also recommend getting an English – Cherokee Dictionary to expand your vocabulary and look up new words. This one is great as it also includes phonetic pronunciation.
Thanks for reading this post on whether Duolingo currently has a Cherokee course.
Even though Duolingo doesn’t currently have a Cherokee course, there are still lots of other ways that you can learn Cherokee.
Check our other Cherokee content here.
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