TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) - The Cherokee Nation will honor the tribe’s translators who work to preserve and promote the language during an event on Friday.
The tribe will recognize the 17 translators in honor of International Mother Language Day, which was created by the United Nations to showcase language diversity.
While the spoken Cherokee language has existed for centuries, a reading and writing system called the Cherokee syllabary was invented by Cherokee statesman Sequoyah in 1821.
The Cherokee Nation says the tribe is one of the few with a dedicated translation team to work with technology companies, museums and universities to translate everything from documents to programs.
Officials with Microsoft will also attend and honor the tribe for its recent project to add Cherokee on Microsoft’s Office Online.
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