It wasn’t just Navajo. It was also encrypted/coded in Navajo to make it even more complicated on top of an already complex language. The code talkers were incredibly important to the war effort. The code was never cracked either. Makes me really proud of them for doing such a good (and dangerous) job.
Still more native speakers than Navajo.
That’s what multiple genocides get you. A language rated as Vulnerable in UNESCO.
Still, there are about 170,000 people who speak Navajo, with about 8000 who only speak Navajo.
And there are only 2000 fluent speakers of Hawaiian, let’s go colonialism!
US: kills all the Navajo speakers
Also US: “Wow, there are so few Navajo speakers! We should use it as a secret military code!”
It wasn’t just Navajo. It was also encrypted/coded in Navajo to make it even more complicated on top of an already complex language. The code talkers were incredibly important to the war effort. The code was never cracked either. Makes me really proud of them for doing such a good (and dangerous) job.