So you want to learn a minority language with little resources? No problem! - André Müller | PG 2019

[@jonliechty7888]

When checking Wikipedia, remember to check several of the language versions. Some may have information that is not in the English-language Wikipedia.

[@gamermapper]

English is not my native language but I often use English Wikipedia and not in my own language because the English often has more material. However on local stuff there will be more stuff in local languages.

[@belstar1128]

Yea but ironically the languages that have articles about rare languages are rare languages themselves like Breton for example būt yea the non English wikis are underrated.

[@hash8944]

I hope to learn a language called Bilen which is spoken in Eritrea. It’s actually my ethnic language. Pretty much no one in my family speak it. And it’s only spoken by less than 90k speakers but the number is rapidly decreasing and so it’s an endangered language 😭. I hope to learn it to better connect with my origins and as I’m a polyglot.

[@andremuller9385]

I have heard of Bilen. Some linguists at the University of Berne in Switzerland work on analyzing this language's structure. But I don't know if they put any resources online. But maybe you can google for "Bilen language" and "Bern" or "Berne" at the same time and might find some uploaded stuff? Good luck with studying it!

[@svobodniknarodnik7128]

Good luck with that Hash, and I hope you succeed!

[@canko15]

90k is not a bad number tho

[@randomyoutubeuser9465]

I’m a kel tamasheq descendant and I want to learn tamasheq but there are literally no English resources so I feel your pain. I’m thinking of learning tamazight and then seeing if I can learn tamasheq from Moroccan resources. That’s the best I can do😕

[@timnokalt]

@@randomyoutubeuser9465 I've also been trying to learn Tamasheq for years! This English resource I recently came across has been useful: The Tamasheq of Burkina Faso Second Edition PDF. Although its of Burkina Faso, the Za variation is like the one my family in Niger speaks and the Sa variation is closer to the Malian dialects I believe. Another place to look is the African Language Materials Archive!

[@undekagon2264]

This is exactly how I would approach a new language, even if mine are not minority or small languages. Thank you for the talk.

[@eddykohlmann471]

There is an abundance of learning materials for Finnish and Estonian. But not so much for related Uralic languages that have less than a million speakers. Materials aimed at English speakers are almost non-existent. The few textbooks that have been published are usually quite expensive. No doubt to cover publication costs for small printing runs. Also, these books are often not up to the standard of materials written in Russian or Finnish for example. The same applies to online resources.

[@wyattwahlgren8883]

I'm learning Georgian right now. While there are certainly more resources on this language than Ewenki or Basque, there still aren't a whole lot. I'm grateful that there is enough out there for me to at least get a good start on the language.

[@AlinefromToulouse]

Mandarin, Russian, Korean : minority languages, few resources to learn them ???

[@andremuller9385]

I was wondering the same thing. ;)

[@pantherlaird]

That's not what is meant by "minority language"

[@yalamix]

@turkish lusophone I think they misinterpreted what he meant by minority. They didn't think about the number of speakers globally, but probably the number of speakers in their region or people who they think suffer prejudice the most...

[@ahaks7269]

Sometimes God gifts us wonderful people who attempts to revitalize endangered languages. Thanks to such people, Wymysorys (an extraordinarily endangered West Germanic language in Poland) has its own grammar AND The Little Prince was written in it!

[@connorgioiafigliu]

I'm fascinated by people who take on these small minority languages!

[@mamushi72sai]

Wait! I know this guy. I always see his comments on facebook!

[@Talvisielu]

Man, I just thought the same thing!

[@mamushi72sai]

@axel krustofski I know him from the polyglots groups.

[@Rolando_Cueva]

I always see him on Quora.

[@nictegki]

Hey! Would you mind sharing with me that facebook groups you guys talk about?

[@mamushi72sai]

@@nictegki it's called polyglots (the community)

[@buzzinbethan]

I’m trying to learn my local language which not many people speak Guernesiais. I’m also trying to figure out how to teach it and what resources to creat to help it in the future looking forward to watching the rest of this.

[@ChineseZeroToHero]

Big fan here... Thank you André!

[@dangmefinnish]

Learning Dangme. Thank God there is KZbin videos now teaching it. Not so many but a good starting point.

[@Victoria-fs9jo]

It's kinda weird how excited I am about the Bible website but damn they really do have it in my TL, so I guess it's time to learn some biblical vocabulary

[@nickeman132]

I'm also learning Interlingua so i searched a video about "minority languages" and i was surprised when someone mentioned it and he said there's no need apparently lmao

[@eduardoevaristo4749]

How's your interlingua coming along? I'd also like to learn it someday, I've been interested in Interlingua for some time

[@Pakanahymni]

It's funny how Finnish is mentioned despite being one of the world's top 1% most vital languages.

[@AlexNicholls.]

I learnt Finnish but it took four years of living there, its not that theres no material. It's just that what exists teaches a kind of formal Finnish that no one actually uses.

[@Pakanahymni]

@@AlexNicholls. Yeah that's a huge pain in the ass. I know lots of people who are learning Finnish and I've prepared some materials in my Helsinki dialect morphology and stuff because it simply doesn't exist.

[@belstar1128]

Well 1precent out of 7000 but finland Is a rich country so that helps a lot.

[@czas4]

Hmmm. Minority languages are those with no learning apps and less than 100 "how to learn" videos on it on the internet.

[@plerpplerp5599]

Very enlightening.

[@adamclark1972uk]

With few resources (not little resources)

[@canko15]

This guy Andre is so cool

[@hamuz93]

Andre ❤

[@ShaareiZoharDaas]

I want to learn Sami

[@ShaareiZoharDaas]

Eight of those listed should not be on there.

[@canko15]

which one

[@nictegki]

@32:11

[@andreassitompul7217]

HORAS HABATAHON, ANGKA DONGAN NA MANJAHA KOMEN ON, BETA HITA MARSERAKHON HATA BATAK.. 😁

[@evaphillips2102]

All that loud smacking is SO distracting.

[@ferrous719]

I think something that is important to emphasize is that... Languages aren't butterflies. There is a culture behind them, and to "collect" them like he appears to be doing is... Disrespectful and possibly appropriative.

[@andremuller9385]

Oh, did you have the impression that I collect them without also studying their culture? Ah, no, I didn't want to imply that. I always value that as well - but my talk was not about culture immersion, it was really just about the question how to learn a specific language. No speaker of the languages that I have learned (or am learning) found it appropriative that I have spent the time to learn their language (with them or by myself), and usually they find it very respectful of me that I am interested in minority languages (and cultures) and don't only rely on English or the majority language of the country. It might also have made this impression, because the way I approach these languages is quite technical, because of my linguistic background, but it doesn't mean that I ignore the history, culture, or political situation of their speakers - after all, the language is often a gateway to understand exactly these things much better! :) Maybe I didn't say that at the beginning of my talk, and perhaps I should have. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@Phagocytosis]

@@andremuller9385 Just checking, but presumably you meant no speaker found it inappropriate, right? I probably shouldn't even ask, given the content of the rest of the comment... but yeah, you missed a negation there. Anyway, I agree. In all honesty, I think cultural appropriation is mostly just a problem when it concerns personal gain or profit, like when you are taking a cultural element and trying to make money off it, possibly at the expense of the original culture. I don't think that applies here, and if anything I think studying a people and their language, or even just their language quite frankly, is quite respectful. Great talk!

[@andremuller9385]

@@Phagocytosis Re-reading it, I think I might have used a wrong word. What I meant to say was that no speaker of the languages I meantioned ever found that me learning their language was "cultural appropriation" in any (negative) way.

[@Phagocytosis]

Oh, no, I think it may have been my mistake actually. I see now that you wrote "appropriative", which I first read as "appropriate". You had it right, then. Apologies.