Beginning Cherokee (Paperback)

by Ruth Bradley Holmes (Author), Betty Sharp Smith (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press; 2 edition (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806114630
• ISBN-13: 978-0806114637
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,047 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars osdadv!, December 12, 2000

By	Michael Polich (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I began learning Cherokee with this book over a decade ago. Growing up in Illinois, I didn't have a Cherokee community around that I could learn from. Over the years this book has became absolutely invaluable to me. I have read almost all the Cherokee language books written, and this is definitely one of the best. When I finally did get to Oklahoma to work on my Master's, I was actually able to talk to Cherokees in Cherokee largely through the rules of grammar, sentence structure, etc. that this book taught me. I also learned the syllabary through this book. Well worth a look.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great introduction to cherokee., December 3, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Norman, OK) - See all my reviews

we use this book in my intro to cherokee class. i especially like the fact that it integrates the syllabary, as we do not yet do that in my class. however, it could use more exercises to check comprehension.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely the best resource of its type., April 29, 2002

By A Customer

This is the best primer on both spoken and written Cherokee. There have been other attempts to write language instruction in Cherokee; all the others that I have seen are too complex...attempting to teach too much, too fast.
Cherokee is so unlike English, in terms of grammar and syntax, that learning the language is difficult; however, the difficulty is minimized by starting slowly and building vocabulary first. The optional accompanying cassettes should be a big help.
One caveat: this book teaches the dialect common in Oklahoma. Eastern Cherokee is slightly different, but if you learn the western dialect, folks in North Carolina will be able to understand you.