Cherokee Bible Inspired Elders

BY WILL CHAVEZ

Senior Reporter

02/07/2012 08:27 AM

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Evenings listening to her parents tell Cherokee legends and stories from the Bible began Anna Sixkiller’s journey to becoming a Cherokee Nation translation specialist.

Sixkiller, 66, grew up in the Leach community in Delaware County and Cherokee was the only language she knew until school.

“That was the language in our home. My parents both spoke the language. I just learned by listening and hearing it every day,” she said. “As I was growing up I thought that was the only language people spoke, but I learned otherwise when I started school.”

After dinner, her family listened to her father tell Cherokee legend stories, the same stories now shared in books created by the CN translation department.

“The stories they told back then were the lessons to be learned when you were growing up. They meant for you to think about the stories being told and learn from it,” she said. “When it was Momma’s turn to tell stories, she read the Bible.”

As a girl, Sixkiller knew she would have to learn to read the Cherokee syllabary before she could read her mother’s Cherokee Bible. But it wasn’t until she was older with her own children when she became dedicated to reading the Cherokee Bible and learning to write the syllabary.

“I had studied it throughout the years, but then one day I picked up the Bible and read a verse and then from then on I read a whole chapter. What motivated me was seeing Mom reading stories from this book,” she said.

She began working for the CN Cultural Resource Center in 2000, working with the language. Previous to that she taught Cherokee in communities for 12 years. She said when she taught Cherokee, phonetics was used instead of the syllabary to help people learn.

Since 2000, Sixkiller said there’s been a shift, with the syllabary largely replacing phonetics when the language is taught. She said she hears the language being spoken more than it was 10 years ago.

“For me, I just learned the syllabary and for a long time it was very hard for me to use phonetics,” she said. “To me, if that (phonetics) is what’s going to teach a person to pronounce and talk the language then I think it’s good, but still yet the syllabary was invented by Sequoyah and that’s our language.”

She believes it is easier for a person who speaks the language to learn how to read and write it. However, being a translator requires more than knowing how to speak Cherokee.

“To be a translator you have to think in the language. You have to think in Cherokee,” she said.

She and the translation department are asked to help people and programs with translations.

Along with translating materials for the Cherokee Language Immersion School, she also translates for universities, libraries, the tribe’s Cultural Tourism and clinics and hospitals. She also translates inside and outside signage for CN buildings and casinos, including parking and stop signs.

Before the translation department hired more staff, Sixkiller translated stories from English to Cherokee for the Cherokee Phoenix. Sometimes, she said, she translated up to five stories for an issue within two or three days. Now, other translation specialists help her translate two to four articles a month for the tribal newspaper and website.

“It gets easier and easier, and now I can probably translate an article in two and a half hours, three at the most,” she said.

At times, when translating a news story or document, she said the staff must consult the Cherokee Bible or other older documents written in Cherokee to find the proper words. It can be a challenge, but Sixkiller said she enjoys it because it allows her to discover new words and explore Cherokee thought written in the syllabary.

Some older documents, more than a century old, force the translation department to gather to provide input about the meaning of old Cherokee words that are no longer used.

“When there’s more people to study then we throw ideas around, and we say ‘I think they meant this.’ After awhile it all comes together,” she said.

Sixkiller said she considers her translation legacy at times. Many books and documents she has translated into Cherokee have her name on them.

“My great-great-great grandchildren may pick up a book and say ‘I know this person. That was my great-great-great grandma.’ That’s what I think I’m leaving behind,” she said.

will-chavez@cherokee.org

918-207-3961

About the Author

WILL CHAVEZ

WILL-CHAVEZ@cherokee.org • 918-207-3961

Will lives in Tahlequah, Okla., but calls Marble City, Okla., his hometown. He is Cherokee and San Felipe Pueblo and grew up learning the Cherokee language, traditions and culture from his Cherokee mother and family.