Apple Helps Preserve Cherokee Language By Adding it to iOS

Apple is helping to preserve the Cherokee language by working with the tribe to add it to iOS, according to an Associated Press report.

Tribal officials first contacted Apple about getting Cherokee on the iPhone three years ago. It seemed like a long shot, as the devices support only 50 of the thousands of languages worldwide, and none were American Indian tongues. But Apple's reputation for innovation gave the tribe hope.

Apple finally completed support for the language this year and it was released with iOS 4.1.


"There are countries vying to get on these devices for languages, so we are pretty excited we were included," said Joseph Erb, who works in the Cherokee Nation's language technology division.

The Cherokee tribe has 290,000 members but only about 8,000 Cherokee speakers remain and most are 50 or order. Cherokee Chief Chad Smith hopes that by getting the language on the iPhone it will encourage the younger tech savvy generation to make use of the language.

Read More [via AppleInsider]