The Ainu language - short history, plus a note about last speakers and pandemics

[@thescousecleaner]

This hits hard as a gaelic speaker. My parents are both gaelic speakers and I lost almost all my grandparents to this Corona thing. That means 80% of the gaelic speakers I know are gone. Its alot to think of.

[@NativLang]

Ok, now I have a tear in my left eye mid-message. Love to you and your family.

[@thescousecleaner]

@@NativLangTapadh leat. It means alot. You're video on Irish was fun and quite accurate.

[@LouseGrouse]

This is awful news. Recently started trying to learn Gàidhlig, so hopefully I can honour all who've passed in some way by helping to keep the language alive. I'm so sorry for your loss

[@koffron9696]

It should be easier to revive the languages than 100 years ago with the help of the internet. Take care

[@skilldraculaX]

Sincere condoleances man. My grandma also died from the Covid, she was 87 and her native language was Alsatian, she didn't know any French. So sad to see speakers of rare languages disappearing :'(. I know some people on the Internet who know some Gaelic, try to speak with them :). I'm sure you can limit the damage this epidemics has done.

[@HuevoBendito]

It hurts when the last word of a language is spoken. It's like a part of humanity dies. Thanks for doing this video.

[@DrPonner]

The last ever word of a language before being forever silenced. It sounds rather poetic and dramatic.

[@mochardiansah7452]

Reminds me instantly of Tevfik Esenç

[@drungarious]

I remember reading a testament by one of the last speakers of Polabian, an extinct dialect of Wendish, in 1725. "When I and three other people in our village are gone, no one will rightly now what a dog is called in (Polabian) Wendish."

[@rahuldhargalkar]

I can only imagine

[@Triferus]

Well, I mean, this kind of happens all the time considering how frequently languages change with people.

[@Pickleton]

I lived in Hokkaido for 4 years, and my tiny town had an Ainu cultural resurrection group. It's really neat.

[@epg96]

Are they planning to revive Ainu language?

[@Pickleton]

@@epg96 Hmmm, I'm not very sure about any kind of particular goal other than to preserve the language/culture. But if you look around online, you can find videos of things like Ainu lullabies and demonstrations. I don't think there's much chance to really revive it to the point where people speak it natively. More of a "our family has Ainu blood, so we preserve the language/culture to honor our ancestors" kind of thing.

[@skellagyook]

@@epg96 There are groups in Hokkaido that are reviving in (and that teach it).

[@rahuldhargalkar]

That's so nice (:

[@taz0il]

I wanna learn Ainu deeply I feel like critically endangered languages should be priority languages somewhat because of the need to still have some cultures have originality since the world is already so acceptant of cultural diffusion.

[@violettasauveterre5100]

It's sad to know that languages are disappearing. I'm learning Nahuatl which is the language my people used to speak in before Spanish replaced it. By the way: love your video. Always a good day when you upload one. ♥

[@NativLang]

Tlazohcamati! I hope your studies go really well. Nāhuatl has such amazingly distinct ways of expressing everyday things that seem fresh when we're used to Spanish or English.

[@DrPonner]

I like that Nahuatl has one of my favorite sounds, the lateral fricative.

[@jd42277]

Eso te honra, suerte👍

[@soton4010]

your learninɡ of classical nahuatl

[@lyreparadox]

One of my Anthropology profs spoke fluent Nahuatl and used to edit the Nahua Newsletter "an international publication covering the history, language, and culture of Nahuatl-speaking and related peoples in the Mesoamerica culture area." Not sure if it's still being published but might be a useful resource for you? nahuanewsletter.wordpress.com/

[@siljami]

Another comment: the script. Ainu has been traditionally oral language but Japanese people have tried to put it down using katakana, Russians with Cyrillic alphabet, and people whose native language uses Latin alphabet (Portuguese, later Brits etc.) have applied Latin script. Ainu can be written with all these, lately mostly with katakana, Latin alphabet, or using both of these side by side. However, the first Ainu to create a literary work in Ainu (that is, Yukie Chiri) chose to use Latin script, not katakana. Also researchers and scholars have been and are still using Latin alphabet to write Ainu, because 1) using katakana hides the words' morpheme boundaries, 2) representing Ainu pronunciation with katakana is difficult, and 3) due to the special katakana characters needed, typing Ainu in katakana is difficult (was with older word processors and still is with computers. I know Macs have an Ainu keyboard, but most of the people do not have Macs). Lately, also other people than just scholars have started to shift to use Latin alphabet. The problem is that when a person whose native language is Japanese (as all the Ainu now are) sees an Ainu word written in katakana, they automatically read the word as if it was Japanese (that is, ignoring the small katakana characters that are supposed to represent the coda: "itak" become "itaku") and also apply Japanese accent to the word (Ainu accent is different from Japanese). So, katakana might be easier to read for Ainu who try to learn their heritage language, but it also hinders learning the correct pronunciation. If you attend Ainu association's Ainu language lesson for example here in Sapporo where I live, the script they use there is Latin alphabet *only* for all the aforementioned reasons. This might also be a question of decolonization: abandoning Japanese colonialists' script and opting to use (in Ainu perspective) more neutral Latin alphabet.

[@daishiyokota-ok2ru]

Aino association is red party‼️ Do'nt you know that❓ Every Japanese know that😁

[@NativLang]

Learning about Siberia brings me to Ainu - finally! Fans have asked for a while. I also took a moment for a note about the pandemic and how strong but vulnerable communities with last speakers are. (No, not charity-sponsored; I felt it's important.)

[@papazataklaattiranimam]

NativLang Turkic languages pls

[@bdrummmm]

NativLang Your channel is the best!! As a Mongolian language learner I really enjoy that your channel has done videos on it, and other languages that aren’t as known!

[@el.k9776]

Wow, this is just.. amazing Miyakoan is the most exotic Ryukyuan language btw

[@frenchbreadstupidity7054]

Thanks for bringing it up. I never really thought about how endangered languages are at risk when the elderly population is at risk. I hope to see languages with small populations, immortalized by language apps soon, so anyone who cares enough can learn it. Do you think that the recently dead dialects of Ainu could be revived? Would there be enough writing and recordings for people to get an idea of what they used to sound like, and reconstruct them?

[@J.o.s.h.u.a.]

So happy you're talking about Siberia. It's my favourite place when it comes to languages, there's just so many fascinating things to learn from that area of the world.

[@Cookie-mv2hg]

Here in Taiwan, we have some really interesting "aboriginal languages" as well (10 or more) I wish someday it'll show up in this channel :)

[@skilldraculaX]

Indigenous formosan languages are often ignored. Nice to see somebody who mentions them :P. Do you know some bits of any of these languages by any chance ? Are they taught in schools ?

[@rzeka]

The Amis language has interesting phonology - epiglottal consonants, a voiced (lateral) dental fricative, and just /a i u/ for vowels

[@ooaaveehoo]

They are really cool! I'll take this chance to recommend artists Yawai Mawlin and Pgagu who make music in their own native formosan languages, Atayal and Truku.

[@mrniceguy7168]

What percentage of Taiwanese people are aboriginal? I always thought of the aboriginal people of Taiwan to have largely “disappeared” like American Indians

[@teemun3979]

@@mrniceguy7168 Native Americans haven't disappeared, even remotely, especially in Canada. Look at the numbers. Especially when you include mixed numbers, there are millions (not including the genetic ancestry of hispanic and latinos). In the US they might want you to think Natives have disappeared, because then you don't think about how horrible the conditions on reservations are and how little opportunities there are for them. The main reason there were so few natives in the Americas when Europeans came back after exploring to colonize is because the Europeans brought diseases that the Native American population had no immunity to. Natives believed living with one's animals was an unhealthy or dirty practice and they were right, but being right came at a cost. They had no immunity to any of the plagues Europeans encountered.

[@StrunDoNhor]

This video really resonated with me. I'm a member of the _Gitxsan ("The People of the River of Mist"),_ a small group of Canadian First Nations that can be found in central British Columbia, situated along the _Xsan (aka, the Skeena River),_ from which we get our name. I am _Laax See'l ("Frog Clan")._ Today, there are only around 1000 speakers of _Gitxsanimaax,_ the Gitxsan language, most of them elders -- within a few decades, it is likely the language will die out entirely. I never learned (or rather retained) any of the language I learned in school, but these days have made it a mission to relearn and preserve my native tongue.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 33 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

xsan skeena x ks to sk interesting letter shift laa x see l which is frog laax or see'l so totem is frog hense river ,in Siberia and the world many peoples are asked by outsiders what is the name of your group thety reply we are people humans of such and such a river coast a place to stay with water and hunting fishing because that is the natural place of settlement Ainu place names are all based on gather food,danger and unusual land mark some times pretty name Amga river in Siberia amma woman because it is very pretty and slow flow clear but few fish and mountains are named after grandfather mother of fire a otter is the forgetful one and in Sakhalin a rock shape like a Frog only women go who can not have children and the Crow is burnt wood person Paskur There are Ainu who moved to US and now want to return Russians took Ainu to live with Aleut 200 years ago so they can get the whale in Kuriles

[@lyreparadox]

Part of me wishes that the folks who make video games, where they'll develop an entire conlang just for one of their alien races would instead use already existing endangered languages. People get so invested with some of those games they do the work of learning and translating the texts in the game just to get hints or hidden meanings about the world. If only they could do that and discover the language they went to the effort of learning was actually a real language. The closest I've seen is the comic Saga using Esperanto as their "alien" language, and that's still -basically- a conlang.

[@akl2k7]

That reminds of how apparently Blade Trinity used Esperanto on a lot of its signs to disguise what city it was in. Same with the Charlie Chaplin classic, The Great Dictator. That is an interesting idea, though. Of course, then the problem would be how well the writer knew the language in the first place. I'd almost be afraid of completely butchering the language.

[@anonb4632]

@@akl2k7 Irish has already been butchered on Star Trek and Andromeda... I have reservations about it... However, I gather Ewoks use a form of Tibetan. No idea how authentic it is.

[@alejandroojeda1572]

@@anonb4632 i think ewoks spoke gibberish... Sorry. (Ok searched It, gibberish based on kalmyk)

[@Punyulada]

Though I've not made visual video games, I've actually created a text-based adventure game that used folk songs from my native language (Gaddang). If my visual novel project becomes an actual product, I do intend to have some of the dialogue in it, hopefully to inspire more indie game devs to use their native tongues.

[@guilherm502]

That would be great, actually!

[@SuperSangfroid]

There was a lot of discrimination towards the Ainu people after Hokkaido was annexed into the Japanese empire. This led to suppression (sometimes voluntary) of Ainu culture and language. Although 25,000 Japanese identify as ethnic Ainu, there are only around 10 elders who speak the language fluently.

[@milobem4458]

TEN speakers?

[@user-xm2nb7qj1t]

Elders? Ten? Someone please protect them oh god

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@Artoria Pendragon Not true. Only left-wing ideologists are propagating like that. Some Ainu appeal with strong anxiety it's an evil operation to divide Japanese citizens and to cause conflict. Japan is surrounded by evil communist sh*tholes.

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@Brief Histories Misleading narrative. Just in modernization effort, the Japanese government prohibited several old-fashioned customs of both Yamato people and Ainu people -- such as tattoo, tooth blackening, samurai top-knots, Ainu's bear ceremony (sacrificing a pet bear) etc. www.pinterest.jp/pin/378161699950585439/ The government also taught "Standard Japanese" at school to all the children all over Japan so that people of every region can communicate each other. Speaking local language at home is up to the person. The people in the 19th century did not have modern concept of nationalism. When the Russians began encroaching toward Hokkaido, majority of Ainu themselves chose to become Japanese rather than to become Russian. (In Manchuria, the Russians actually treated the locals brutally and even massacred.) Both Yamato and Ainu at the times were focusing on how to survive under the threat of western imperialism. Neither of them had emotional leeway to care how to preserve tradition. Now the government is funding for resurrection of their language.

[@Tsiskoko]

This is the same with my native language, Oneida. Only about a dozen native speakers left. The youth are reviving it slowly.

[@gabrielebarra4465]

Iyairaykere for this video! I was fortunate enough to find an Ainu native speaker who was willing to teach me the language. Blessed to be able to speak it 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@pedrosegundo8109]

イランカラプテ Irankarapte!

[@gabrielebarra4465]

イランカラㇷテ* 👀 , the little katakana are important! (ㇷ)

[@pedrosegundo8109]

@@gabrielebarra4465 I know, but I can't put the little katakana ones using my phone, or it is because I do not know how.

[@gabrielebarra4465]

Pedro segundo yea okay cool, nobody argued about that, the word is correct, you just wrote it the wrong way)

[@gabrielebarra4465]

Or better, the imprecise way

[@nakenmil]

This reminds me a lot of the Saami of Scandinavia. Divided between different countries, marginalized and persecuted, and not a whole lot of native first-language speakers left. Thankfully, while things aren't perfect, there has been a lot of progress since the mid-1900s.

[@MA-gn5nl]

Irankarapte, thank you for this great video on Ainu! Iyairaikere! I’m learning the Saru dialect of Ainu itak, so its really nice to see people know about the Ainu. It always shocks me that not many people in Japan know, let alone heard of the Ainu.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

irankarapte! Ainu iItak an+i ne-ws an ro

[@Seltyk]

Ah, the Ainu. A lovely tongue and a lovely people. I hope one day you'll also tackle the Ryukyuan branch of Japonic, that away the whole country will have been discussed on this channel

[@thespiritualwanderer2180]

isn't Ryukyuan a dialect of Japanese?

[@kareepan3382]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 The Japanese government might have you think that, but they're their own seperate languages.

[@littlechemie5425]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 different language(s) in the same language family is more correct I think

[@darryljones3009]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 No more than English is a dialect of German.

[@sephiroth7655]

@@thespiritualwanderer2180 it been homogenized by the islands national language being forced to be english much like Ainu. So it's like a dialect nowadaya but was previously a much more distinct language.

[@iamseamonkey6688]

I wish you'd do more on Australian aboriginal languages. I've always found them fascinating and the fact that most of them are extinct and the rest critically endangered saddens me. I'm not aboriginal, but I've always been really interested in them and they're many _pama-nyungan_ languages. And fantastic video on the ainu. It's the first time I've ever gotten to hear much about them. You are one of my favorite channels about language.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 34 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@iavv334]

"I know language may not be the first thing on our minds" ***I look up from the noun declension charts for Hungarian I've been working on for three weeks

[@timflatus]

Yeah actually one of the worst things about a crisis like this is the way it seems to put important stuff on hold. Studying language is one of the things we can continue to do under lockdown, this work is important - languages die with their speakers, it's a human reality, not a metaphor. One of the best ways to honour people is to keep their stories, language and culture alive.

[@discogoth]

Honestly! I started learning Farsi (Persian) because I’m out of work and about to finish up my classes for the semester and summer classes don’t start for over a month.

[@valkeakirahvi]

Just what I thought too xD This is the BEST time to join online classes on all the cool languages from different continents that are super hard to learn otherwise! I'm taking Zapotec and Ojibwe (even though it means the classes are in the middle of the night in the European time) and have Northern Sámi and Skolt Sámi classes from my home university. Oh and continuing Nahuatl too :D

[@janellephoenix4378]

Wow, that’s cool!

[@Deriak27Forever]

4:19 To add an asterisk to your asterisk, the exception is ん (n) which stands out as the only unpaired consonant in the kana writing system.

[@Sovairu]

Japanese also allows palatalized onsets, so the syllable structure can be viewed as (C)(y)V(n) using the Romanized and , but yes, the moraic nasal is the only natively possible coda.

[@lizardirl9488]

It's also a bit more complex than that, but the writing system doesn't really capture that. The best example is the Japanese word for to be, です (desu). Despite the final character being su, it's read like just an s. There are a few more examples, like you'll commonly hear いち (ichi) pronounced like just "ich", and a few more quirks related to し (shi). Japanese is an insanely interesting language, but a big headache. Wouldn't be surprised if I got something wrong lol.

[@osmanceylan]

@@lizardirl9488 what is there to shi? I can't think of any

[@NinjaRodent]

@@osmanceylan The only thing I can think of is when they say しかし shikashi (meaning but or however) they often pronounce it as skashi rather than shikashi. But I'm sure there's more.

[@brucecampbell624]

@Sovairu Sometimes geminates (the sokuon) are analysed as a phoneme /Q/ with the moraic nasal analysed as /N/, so both /Q/ and /N/ are the only possible codas in that case.

[@taintedtaylor2586]

It would be amazing if you could do an episode on Mexico’s native languages (apart from Nahuatl and Mayan of course) Like Tarascó(Purépecha) and Otomí.

[@NativLang]

I keep teasing it, but an overview like that would be really cool.

[@rjfaber1991]

@@NativLang Meanwhile (speaking of native languages of the Americas), I've been hoping for ages you'll do a video on Quechua. I've no relation with the language at all, but the great content on native American languages you have already covered makes me very intrigued about what you'll do for the big one that is still glaringly missing.

[@taintedtaylor2586]

NativLang Thanks a lot of responding! I had actually seen a sneak peak on Purépecha in one of your videos, but recently I have been learning a lot about Mexico’s other native languages due to INALI (National Institute of Indigenous Languages).

[@babelKONI]

There's so much to talk about in oaxaca, oto-manguean is as diverse as indo-european

[@taintedtaylor2586]

J Meeseeks Actually, I have an interest on the North-east of the country, exactly in the Rio Grande valley, it’s suspiciously odd that there’s no native languages spoken there and the native tribes that used to live there where never identified correctly. On a different note, I found an arrowhead on the most north-eastern part of Mexico.

[@rzeka]

In the Siberia video, I hope you mention Nivkh and it's really unusual vowel system

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 23 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@ChessedGamon]

Well that explains the time I spent way too long trying to figure out what that string of katakana meant.

[@samrijijkot]

Theres a beautiful anime that follows an ainu girl and a japanese soldier. I enjoyed it a lot, can recommend. Golden Kamuy is the name. Provides glimpses into their culture, dont know how accurate though. Also, language is touched upon a little, differences in japanese dialects as well

[@SuperibyP]

I hoped someone would mention Golden Kamui

[@vklnew9824]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6mvgZ2mhsSKjq8. Ainu vid

[@semaj_5022]

Such a great video. This has made me want to go study up on the Ainu and learn about their history and culture, along with the language of course. I can't wait for the Siberia episode, btw! You're honestly probably my favorite KZbinr, dude. Your videos are the best and you seem like a genuine, decent dude. Thanks for all the work you do!

[@rahuldhargalkar]

Much love for the Ainu people out there! Keep the language and culture alive ^^ & thanks NativLang

[@YellowSkarmory]

Ainu's gonna be an interesting topic. Haven't watched yet, but I expect it to be good, as usual. Will edit with thoughts. EDIT: Surprisingly heartfelt episode. Indigenous peoples absolutely deserve more notice. In terms of the actual language, not all that much was here compared to what I expected, but that's fine; things are different in the world right now.

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 23 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@alexseo9305]

this guys pronunciation for all languages is impressive

[@Casinooos]

Hey, maybe a video on the Baltic languages? One of the smaller families in Europe, couple of extinct languages, Prussians giving their name to Germanic Prussia, Lithuanian being the most archaic language in Europe, Latvian always stressing the first syllable (heard it's super rare for Indo-European languages) etc? Would be cool! 🙌

[@chaichapstick]

I second this! My great grandparents were Lithuanian and i wanted wholeheartedly to learn it until i discovered Lithuanian has 53 freaking phonemes, i cry. But i still do wanna learn

[@yogatonga7529]

Czech is also stressibg the first syllable.

[@FirstLast-lo3eo]

Lithuanian is very close to Sanskrit in terms of Vocabulary.

[@csstuff421]

You coming back (via recommended) proves to me that everything I've engaged in (language, biology, astronomy, logos etc.) comes back to me during quarantine

[@EkaitzIturbeltz]

Very interesting video! First time I heard about the Ainu it was in Shaman King It would be cool to hear you talk about basque language and its dialects :)

[@mansionbookerstudios9629]

You can help save 34 million of North Korea people by watch yeonmi park

[@MAELAET_]

I like that mini languages can be lerned by many so it dont die out

[@Kiu_8]

Ainu yet another awesome video was coming!

[@HistoryDose]

Hey I really love the style and flow of this video. It's great to see channels like yours--definitely an inspiration for our channel as well!

[@fueyo2229]

I'm native speaker of an endangered language, though I don't usually speak it , because it's shameful. I hope Ainu can recover, to all Ainu speakers or just residents of Hokkaido. Fight for your tongue! Don't let your ancestral heritage die!

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

what language Mak-an-ak ne itak-i-p I have never heard of shameful ishikipipka ne-i itak shomo an wa

[@mintman325]

The way people communicate has always been of interest to me. I found you through the what Aztec sounded like. I’ve been subed ever since.

[@atamija]

this reminds me that i should finally make up my mind in terms of which endangered language to take on

[@Mertek71S]

For anyone interested in Ainu (that can understand or is at least learning Japanese) look up しとちゃんねる on youtube. It's one of the few Ainu channels on youtube and it deals with everything from language lessons to Ainu culture. Hopefully if the channel gets more traction somebody will add English translations. It's a really small channel and but they put out quality videos fairly regularly.

[@cometmoon4485]

Another great video. It's really important to spread knowledge of languages and cultures that other civilisations have tried desperately to eradicate. Keep up the great work!

[@janeleess]

Reminds me of the fact my ancestry is Hokchew (I'm a Malaysian Chinese) but I can't speak a lick of Hokchew and won't even recognise it if it's spoken to me (never met my grandparents, nor did my dad ever learn it from his parents). There was a time I tried to find resources online to learn it, only to realise it's been so squished in China when they were promoting standard Mandarin that they are still working on reviving Hokchew there, and that Hokchew survives better outside of China where it's still spoken colloquially by grandparents to grandkids. I'm glad to see more resources out there now, but it's still not easy to learn a language/dialect that's more spoken than written via the internet!

[@mirandaa1464]

This video is so cool! I started researching Ainu language and culture last year so to find a video from a reliable source on it is amazing! (Besides all the videos on youtube from native Ainu speakers, those are my go-to).

[@dontmintme]

I'm going to start studying linguistics in october and everytime I question my plan I watch your videos and get reassured that I made the right choice 🎉

[@pibi-tudu-kaga6991]

Mint If you want a bunch of channel recommendations hmu

[@dontmintme]

@@pibi-tudu-kaga6991 please! I'm dying to find more channels on anything linguistics!

[@ishikari1111]

While it is correct to use the smaller size of kana characters to indicate the unreleased syllable-final consonants in Ainu, the character "ト" is not normally used in Ainu writing. For this reason, the small "ト" is not used to represent the final stops of "-t". Instead, the "ッ" is usually used.

[@masaakunokouchi]

I have only recently found your channel, but the word binge watch now comes to mind

[@Neberheim]

I'm glad to see Ainu! I've always had a fascination with it. The persecution of ethnic minorities and languages in Japan is common even today, and not widely known in the western world. The Ainu only received legal recognition in the last decade, and the prime minister during that time had once declared Japan was "one race, one civilization, one language and one culture." Japonic languages should definitely get some airtime here!

[@jaredlarter6018]

This hits very close to work I've recently been doing on helping to support the online learning site for Indigenous languages of British Columbia and trying our best to help the elders keep recording their languages while staying safe from COVID-19. I know just how frighteningly few speakers many languages have and I hope that all these languages can make it through.

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Very interesting and worthwhile video.

[@AvrahamYairStern]

Do more videos on Nahuatl please!

[@gyannunez]

I was looking into the Ainu language just three days ago, and then you happened to post this.

[@shashwatsinha2704]

This is partially correct: they also lived on most of northern honshu.

[@victorfergn]

Isn't the word samurai related to that?

[@Uyarasuk]

@@victorfergn 侍 Samurai comes from a verb meaning to serve or wait upon, as in servant or retainer of the nobility.

[@yayoikisaragi7968]

@Sashwat Sinha Vice versa. Some Japanese (Emishi people) were inhabiting in Hokkaido. They were coexisting.

[@victorfergn]

@@Uyarasuk It was Shogun, my bad. 征夷大将軍 those evil Emishi.

[@edwardrushfirth6216]

I got exited thinking this was a LOTR themed video because the Ainu is the singular version of Ainur meaning the holy ones.

[@dreamlandish]

Everyone!!! It's our duty to learn our mother tongues and traditions! Don't let them die!

[@duskitonbaby]

I know this video is months old, and might not see it, but have you read Golden Kamui? It's a manga that actually has a lot about the Ainu culture, cuisine, and some language.

[@SwordsmanOrion]

I'm just a simple monolingual American, but I have had a fairly strong interest in the Ainu for almost exactly 30 years now for what is probably a strange reason. Back in 1993 I fell in love with an arcade video game called Samurai Shodown (Samurai Spirits). One of my favorite characters from this fighting is an Ainu girl named Nakoruru. Like any kid in the 90s I was mostly attracted to her distinct character design, however, what made her really stick out was her companion. She fought with a red tailed hawk named Mamahaha. Her backstory and history was just interesting enough for me to look deeper and discover that the Ainu were a real people that were distinct and different from the Japanese people. I've never forgotten about this character and I've learned a great deal about the Ainu culture because of her.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

='Mama' habo step mother, Na,ko ,ru,-ru have several meanings each tu-itak-re-itakMonshutu an wa = ko=ru-ru to hit

[@rjfaber1991]

What do you mean? A pandemic that causes everybody to sit at home and have loads of extra free time is the ideal time to study languages, or at least learn to speak one. I guess I'll judge how effective it's been by how good my Korean will have become by the end of all this, but I certainly couldn't have put the hours in to the extent I currently do if there wasn't a pandemic going on.

[@frenchbreadstupidity7054]

The average native Ainu speaker is old. The pandemic kills old people at a higher rate. The Ainu are relatively rural and isolated. Isolated populations catching the virus, might not be able to access life-saving treatments.

[@rjfaber1991]

@Natalie Mayo ​I was actually quite specifically referring to how he introduced the video, not the bit at the end. You're absolutely right about that of course, but that's not what I referred to, and if I'm to be brutally honest, I hadn't reached that part of the video yet when I wrote the comment, so if it appears ever-so-slightly tone-deaf, that'd be why.

[@alexanderadamas]

Loved the video as always, would've loved maybe a short reflection on some of the characteristics of the language (with examples) like in the old times :)

[@Thumbnailsquid5767]

didnt catch the bit at the end until my second watch and i wanna like it twice

[@fyviane]

Actually it was one of the first things that came to my mind - how many language deaths will COVID be responsible for. :(

[@Nyyckaulhas]

I have spent my last four years doing anthropology fieldwork in the Northwest of Latvia, among the Livs. Livonian has only a dozen of speakers left, none of them native though. But the cultural community is very active into preserving their coast and folklore, and passing down what they have to the next generation. The Baltic region of Europe is fascinating, linguistically speaking. A handful of somewhat ancient languages, from two unrelated families, on a narrow strip of land between the Germanic and Slavic world. And right in there, a tiny language, one of the smallest in Europe at the moment, and a living culture that uses this tiny voice to survive. I am Breton myself. Small languages connection, I guess. Thanks for your video, and for raising awareness on language attrition and indigenous communities.

[@reveninja5252]

For the last few months Ive been eating a creme soup made out of a special kind of pumpkins, which do not need to be peeled, because their skin gets amazingly soft during cooking (it's true!). The pumpkin species is called hokkaido. I never knew what it meant... And now I am wondering, is there anything that connects the Hokkaido lands or people with this small but tasty pumpkin species? Ps: Those pumpkins will melt your pallate also when made in the oven (45 minutes in 200 Celsius)

[@Figgy5119]

I'm using the app called Drops to learn Ainu. It's not great for actually learning the language, it's more of a vocabulary quizzer, but I hope perhaps this app exposing people to the existence of Ainu will help

[@justbovel]

Oh, I didn't really know I wanted to learn more about Ainu, but I do. Please do some more in depth videos about their tongue!

[@EC-rd9ys]

Wow, I was just reading about the Ainu two days ago and now this shows up!

[@dhawthorne1634]

I love learning about these small ancient languages and their struggle to not get swallowed by their larger neighbors. I look forward to your next Siberian adjacent language video.

[@nandraenyeo999]

I know im not special but id like to say that im one of the few remaining Spanish speakers in the Philippines. It was hugely wiped out by the Americans and Spanish was thought from my Great Great grandparents to me and my family. I can also speak Cavite Chavacano, a Spanish creole. I can speak actual fluent Spanish. Ive nevet met another fluent Spanish speaker here in the Philippines. And i Hope Spanish will be brought back to my country!

[@empireofgreatjanggeo7888]

In Philippines, we have so much dialects, I appreciate all of different languages around the world

[@Hannah_Em]

Last time I was this early, I'd never heard of social distancing!

[@mappozza]

My maternal side of the family is native of the now extremely rare istanbul greek dialect, and honestly this video sort of inspired me to learn it, it would be cool to carry on the existance of such a rare language.

[@kochofedorento]

I tried learning Ainu last year, but unfortunately there aren't many online resources apart from vocabulary apps. If anyone has the chance, I recommend to learn it, it's a very interesting language and culture as well.

[@田中之夢]

v happy that you’re making more videos on northeast asia! :D

[@Polyglotjem]

I never want your videos to end ♡

[@letsnotgothere6242]

I ask my grandma sometimes to tell me stories of her ancestors that I never got to meet. She loves to tell me of her great-grandmother, who was a full-blooded Lumbee Indian. None of their languages have living native speakers anymore. Except maybe one-Tuscarora. In 2007, there were about 3 elders left in the US who could speak it, and maybe 50 in Canada. Who knows if any of them are still alive? If you could make a video on Tuscarora, I would love it. Cheers during quarantine!

[@stephenwmsmith]

There are about 4-5 indigenous languages around my city. There's Blackfoot, Nakoda, Tsuutʼina, Further north I know we have lots of Cree as well.

[@WaterShowsProd]

I was talking to an Akha friend just a couple of days ago about whether Akha villages, and other hill tribe villages, were remote enough to avoid the pandemic. He was saying they probably would be, but if someone went down into the town and took the virus back then the village would become infected. Fortunately now in Thailand at least most of the provinces are now clear of cases. I've been seeing updates in The Shan State in Myanmar about field hospitals and medical checks going on there. With so many small pockets of languages in Myanmar a widespread pandemic could really threaten many of them.

[@antoniamarch]

I had never been so early to anything

[@iDk-dp1bi]

whoa

[@Matheus_Braz]

Dang new nativlang video amitite

[@guillaumedep1]

I just got this in my feed even though it's been out a year. Great video! Going to subscribe and catch up on your other stuff.

[@JanPospisilArt]

Ey o, for more on the origins of the Ainu, watch Trey the Explainer's video!

[@von-kale4754]

I appreciate this videos creation, at least for a part Ainu lad like me, it made me happy to see the language has not died yet.

[@K1ddkanuck]

As a Canadian of (mixed) First Nations ethnicity, I wish I could speak in Odawa or another Anishinaabe language/dialect (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Mississauga, etc.). Meegwetch (thank you). That's about all I got.

[@kadenvanciel9335]

Hey, Josh. Idk if anyone pointed this out, but Hokkaido Ainu Itak is not a preserved ancestral dialect, at least in terms of proto-langs. Vovin reconstructed the protolang in 1993.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

Mon-shutu an wa mak-an-ak ya

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

Not sure what you mean Vovin reconstructed according to history 'Batchelor 'ohotsk culture Jomon 20,000 years ago and now present 6 Hokkaido dialects Kamchatka Amur sakhalin Kar-putu Kur isle Ru-ru-tom variations and Aomori dialect heavy with Emush ,Matagi Tohoku kesengo kesenuma dialect traces of Ainu and my studies Japanese mix of Yayoi era juju and Chinese kanji cloaked over is Ainu so corrupted my Kanji if you study Ainu 33 years and look at Japanese so many dialects so many basic verbs

[@migmontest]

Thank you for your video. I am peruvian and it hits home. Ainu in quechua means "community" as in the concept of working together.

[@rammsteinrulz16]

"Hokkaido." You mean Sinnoh.

[@tz233]

Ainu this would be a great video!

[@declup]

I'm a little disappointed this video wasn't fleshed out more. The Ainu language is a fascinating topic; I would've enjoyed seeing more examples of its writing system, morphology, syntax, etc.

[@beecee8347]

I'm glad I went to your Twitter, otherwise I wouldn't have found this new video! It doesn't appear on your front page. From the front page I thought the account was basically inactive.

[@pedrosegundo8109]

What a coincidence! I started to learn Ainu this week!

[@julioargumedo6722]

Eres una luz en estos dias de cuarentena, gracias carnalito eres la mismisima vergura

[@DistrarSubvoyikar]

It's very sad to think about how many languages and dialects we've lost and how many we will probably lose in the near future. I hope that as many of them as possible get preserved by linguists... And I can see you're doing your part in that...

[@հերետիկոսություն]

I have waited so much for this...

[@kaneko6688]

Thank you for introducing our proud variations of cultures and languages in Japan.

[@hankwilliams150]

Thanks for giving me a little bit more information on a subject I already know little about!

[@観音一騎]

Aino is an ancient Ainu word, but its meaning is that it was born to a different ethnic group. Today Aino describes this as a human being. The explanation is missing. Before the extinction of the Jomon people, the words "Aino is a human being" were interpreted as "Aino is a human being born by a Jomon woman, but is an Ainoko born by rape by a different ethnic group." It is unclear what the name of this Aino was called in the dialect of Southern Hokkaido. In Vietnam, the Yomiuri Shimbun reporter estimates that Vietnamese girls were raped many times during the Vietnam War and gave birth to one million children. A maximum of 30,000 Korean soldiers, usually 20,000, gave birth to 1 million children. Most of these Dairaihan are hateful Korean soldiers, and most of them are thrown away in the sea, rivers and jungles, and nuts and other food for animals. Even so, there are tens of thousands of Dairaihan who cannot be thrown away. The Ainu are also children of the same age as Dairaihan. Just as Dairaihan is not recognized as an indigenous people of Vietnam, Aino cannot be recognized as an indigenous people of Japan. 現在残されたアイノ語はアムール川流域漂泊民の言語、カムチャツカ沿岸漂泊民の言語、オホーツク沿岸漂泊民の言語など数十言語の混成で、この一部が言語消失前に残された。したがって全アイヌ語のどの系統であるのかさえ不明である。アイヌの呼称そのものがアイヌ語では無く日本縄文人の言語である。古称ではアイノである。アイノの呼称は道南の一部の方言で、アイヌ全体ではなんと呼称していたかは判らない。このような状況は、遺伝子にも記憶され、古い遺伝子は大陸沿岸の数種の部族の遺伝子があり、それらの混成、雑婚ののち縄文人遺伝子が混入している。ここで、日本縄文人遺伝子がアイノに混入するが、日本縄文人は殺戮、強姦で滅亡し、「間の子」であるアイノに日本縄文人の言語、文化は伝承できていない。 アイノはアイヌの古語であるが、その意味は異民族との間に生まれたという意味である。これを現在のアイノは人間と説明している。説明が抜けている。縄文人が絶滅前に「縄文人女が産んだ人間であるが異民族が強姦して生まれたアイノ子である。」と泣き叫んだ言葉が「アイノは人間」と解釈したのである。このアイノの名称も道南の方言で他のアイノはなんと呼称したかは不明である。ベトナムではベトナム戦争時、ベトナム少女が何度も強姦され、100万人の間の子が産まれたと読売新聞記者は推定している。最大韓国兵3万人、通常2万人の韓国兵が100万人間の子を産ませた。このダイライハンのほとんどは憎き敵の韓国兵の子としてほとんどは海、川、ジャングルに捨てられ動物の餌にナッた。それでも捨てきれないダイライハンが数万人生存している。アイヌもダイライハンと同様の「間の子」である。ダイライハンがベトナム先住民と認定されないように、アイノも日本先住民に認定できない。 ainuは日本先住民では無い。民族でも無い。浮浪の集団我に本状今人を強姦して生まれたあいのこである。

[@demnotmem]

Your videos are amazingly animated but sometimes explanations are quite confusing

[@howl-pendragon]

I went to an Ainu museum in Hokkaido in 2010, it was very cool. I'd never heard of them before then

[@ab-th1yc]

thanks for making this video, i was looking forward to it

[@Patlichan]

My language (Adyghe) is in risk as well. I've heard Ainus and Adyghes may be related, idk how, but it'd be so cool.

[@Coolducky2]

You only mentioned sign languages briefly on the side in this video, but I would really like to hear more about them by you!

[@kyliejenner6059]

My native is Ladin, from northern Italy. Most native speakers are old ppl, and they are more likely to die. I don’t know the numbers but i think that pandemic could have major influence in the decrease of native Ladin speakers, or native speakers of other small languages

[@mappozza]

Blessings to all the people of the Belluno province, and generally the Dolomiti area. After the climatic events that devastated the place some time ago, now this... It's very sad.

[@oqqaynewaddingxtwjy7072]

Ainu Itak y-uk-utu-ru ot-þe somo ki an yak-ka wen-pa shi-chup somo ki ,Itak an-i -a-push-pu-su pu-ru- pa-ro pu-ru-se ,words kept in heart gush out Ainu itak Shik-nu-ye ta-pe.

[@JK-he5xh]

Great video! Although it's sad, it's very interesting to hear about endangered languages

[@ulaaks3334]

You should do Livonian next, good video as well 👌

[@forevermrsanime]

I used to have a necklace with that character for harmony on it.

[@unionofaltavia8136]

You should make a video about the Formosan languages