ကညီ Knyaw
Free forever
The Karen word for ourselves

ကညီ

knyaw “the Karen — our name for ourselves”

Keep a language alive — one word at a time.

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Free forever. No paywall, ever — only the language.

Why this matters now

A language carried across borders, fading between two generations.

Sgaw Karen is the mother tongue of more than a million people. Families carried it out of Myanmar and the camps along the Thai border — into Minnesota, into Australia, into cities where their children now grow up speaking English first, and Karen only at the dinner table, if at all.

A language lives exactly as long as it is spoken at home. When the elders who hold it pass on, the songs, the prayers, the way a grandmother scolds and softens in the same breath — those go quiet too.

Knyaw exists to keep it spoken. Free, built with the community, so a child far from home can still learn the words their grandmother prays in.

A taste of the lessons

Start by reading the script, one word at a time

The Karen writing, how to read it, and what it means — tap a card to reveal the meaning.

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Knyaw teaches you to read and understand Karen — its script, words, and meaning. Spoken pronunciation comes later.

5 Themes in the learning path
2,113 Karen words gathered to verify
30 Phrases verified for Lesson 1

… and growing every week.

ကညီ

Keep a language alive — one word at a time.

Start learning for free right now, or leave your email and we’ll keep you posted. Then come say ဂီၤလၢအဂ့ၤ in the community.

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Built with the community

Knyaw is made with Karen speakers, elders, and community organizations — not for them, but together. Every word is reviewed by people who carry the language.

Karen community org A local Karen church Native-speaker reviewers Your organization?

Partner slots are placeholders — add real names and logos as they’re confirmed.