Introduction to the Cherokee Syllabary writing system

The Cherokee syllabary was invented by a single individual named Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏯ) to write the Cherokee language in 1819. He is credited as the only known person in history to create an alphabet from scratch without knowing how to read or write.

In 1828, the ordering of the Syllabary and each letter's shape were modified by Cherokee author and editor Elias Boudinot to adapt the Syllabary to the printing press… for the creation of the “Cherokee Phoenix (ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ)”, the first newspaper published in a Native American language… it was during this process that many of the Cherokee glyphs were changed dramatically to more closely resemble those in the Latin alphabet.

Learning the Cherokee Syllabary is not difficult if the right technique is used. ☞ You should be able to learn the Cherokee Syllabary with three to five days of dedicated study.

The best way to learn any writing system is by writing it. Unless you learn to write the Syllabary, you will be spending a lot of effort just to learn to read Cherokee. The physical act of writing will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes for you to learn the Cherokee Syllabary. You need to associate a physical response with each letter's shape.

Simply starting out by writing each letter over and over will not work. Your brain will quickly become numb to the information you are trying to learn and you will encounter great difficulty going beyond a dozen or so letters. Instead you need to use challenge and response exercises that have been crafted using a pattern that prevents this numbness from occurring.

It works out best if you do each session twice per day. Once in the morning and once in the evening.