Navajo language app comes to Android

Android users now have a way to brush up on their Navajo. As KUNM’s Carrie Jung reports, the Navajo Keyboard app is allowing smart phone users to practice their skills in the native language through text messaging and social media.

The application comes loaded with all of the traditional Navajo characters and 65 pre-made phrases to help beginners through any basic conversation. It can also act as a user’s primary keyboard.

Jerome Tsosie is the president of Native Innovations, the company that developed the application. He said he created the app to give those wanting to learn the language more ways to practice communicating.

“Our younger generation, these days, they’re all digital. Everyone has some kind of device,” Tsosie said. “It’s an opportunity for anyone out there who’s wanting to learn, to start texting in Navajo and start posting things in Navajo on social media.”

The Navajo Keyboard has been available to iPhone users since February. But because there are more Android users on the Navajo Nation, Tsosie said the Android release was in high demand.

The Android app has been downloaded more than 1,000 times since being released earlier this month.