a very niche studyblr

I cannot just choose a language, what do you mean 🌐 Main @mehilaiselokuva

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Want to study Okinawan but don't know which resources are good?

Haisai! I've studied Okinawan (and the other Ryukyuan languages) for a few years now and have gone through many types of resources both on and offline. I want to tell you guys about my favorites and what I would recommend for people wanting to learn Uchinaaguchi.

First of all, for dictionaries, I would recommend JLect. This dictionary is great if you only know English, and even better if you also know Japanese. I enjoy that this dictionary uses hiragana instead of katakana, which I always enjoy. If you speak Japanese, I also recommend this dictionary, which comes with a digital edition of the Omoro Soshi. This means that it includes historical words as well as words that are used today as well, so I'd recommend this when you are more advanced!

When you want to learn grammar, it gets more difficult. The verb paradigms of JLect are easy to approach for English speakers (second recommendation for that site I know!) If you do not know hiragana, katakana or kanji, the resource I can recommend for you is Rikka, Uchinaa-nkai! It is very basic and does not go very far into grammar, but it covers basic daily conversation and culture. I have also read All about Okinawan, which is similar. It is a bit too simple for me. If you aren't a linguist, this might also suit you.

For both beginners and linguists alike, I can recommend the Wikipedia page for the language. It is accurate and has quite a lot of content. I also like that the scripts used in it are hiragana and kanji (My favorite combination!) Do not forget that this language also has a Wikimedia Incubator!

If you are a linguist and familiar with reference grammars, I would recommend reading the introduction and Tsuken dialect part of the paper Ryukyuan languages: an introduction by Michinori Shimoji & Thomas Pellard. Note that the other parts of the book covers other Ryukyuan languages.

The rest of the resources are both physical books. I own Shokyu Okinawago and Okinawago no Nyuumon Tanoshii Uchinaaguchi. These two books are very nice, and clearly for different types of learners. I prefer the latter, as it uses latin letters with kanji and katakana and includes a CD. Shokyu Okinawago only uses katakana and seems to be aimed at people who love over-explanations of grammar points and exercises. I do not like either, so this book is boring me.

These are the resources I'd recommend the most. I might have forgotten some, so there might be a part two some time... Feel free to ask me anything about this language (or really any language I'm learning! I'd love to answer!) うたいみそーち !

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Language learning update!

Life happens, and it's been way too long since I last updated this blog. However, I'm back now! Here is my long-awaited progress update.

Irish

A new language! I feel like I've talked about wanting to learn Irish before. Now I have the time and motivation to do it, and have been learning it for a few months. I am slowly reaching A2!

Korean

Korean has been on maintenance mode much of this year, as I have no reason to learn it further. I have started reducing my study of the language, as I am now at a nice ~B2 level and can actually understand most things with context.

Japanese

One of my online acquaintances has gone to Japan for a few months, and to be honest, I cannot let them be better at Japanese than I am, so I've made this a race. I have made good progress and will do more. Japanese is my top priority for now.

Okinawan

I have been slowly studying Okinawan alongside Japanese and am slowly getting to the same level at it as Japanese. This is not a priority though.

Ainu

Ainu is on maintenance mode until the start of the academic year, when I will most likely need to study it more.

North Sámi

I need to pick this up again, as I need to take university courses on it again and I feel like I've forgotten most of the things I learnt last year. I have been immersing myself in the language but need more vocabulary and grammar points to get myself out of the A2 prison.

Breton

A fun new side project. I am not taking it very seriously as of now.

Swedish

I am at B2 but I need to get better so that I can communicate at university better. I do not want to resort to English with Swedish speakers anymore!

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

hi!! fellow language nerd here, and i really admire how youre studying some smaller languages as well despite it being pretty difficult to find resources ime

some of them are actually also on my "wishlist" but ive been struggling with finding resources, so i was wondering if youd have any to share?

im interested in the north korean variety of korean, in the jeju dialect/language and in okinawan! (i can also read korean, so resources in korean are fine too. sadly not good enough at japanese yet 🥲)

also if you have tips for finding resources yourself those would also be appreciated!!

tysm!!

Hello, and sorry so much for not answering this earlier, I've been super busy!

For North Korean, there are actual NK grammars for the language, but now that the country has started taking many of their websites down, it might be hard to access (also depending on where in the world you are and if you have a VPN or not), so if you can read Korean, I recommend just going to read NK news! They are very easily accessible online, for example, at KCNA watch ! You can also watch full days of TV content on the site and use their useful tools for going through the content. This site is awesome and needs way more support from viewers!

I usually recommend news and a good dictionary for any language, same goes for Jejuan, as you can find news online at KCTV Jeju. They are also on YouTube, so you can listen to the news in the language as well. There are just over 1000 lemmas in the Jejuan wiktionary, so that can get you started. After you have less to work on, but with a good website translator, anyone can use the Naver Jeju "dialect" database.

For Okinawan, I actually ended up finding most of the sources out there lacking, so I made my own textbooks while searching for information (I made three in total. I don't think I can post them because it's not my place to say how their language works, I might be a linguistics student but am not qualified enough yet). What I recommend is jlect for searching for words (may not be that helpful after reaching B2, as many translations are in Japanese. With Okinawan, you really want to know Japanese first, as most of the resources out there are aimed at Japanese-speaking Okinawans wanting to reconnect with their language. There is currently a Wikipedia incubator for the language, and I recommend checking that out for reading. For listening, there is the Okinawan "dialect" radio, which you can also find online if you look for it.

My hidden tip for any language is searching for grammars using Google's "filetype:pdf" search feature. I will demonstrate its effect:

Searching for a grammar online will usually bring you to websites which may not be very useful if you are a linguist like me as they are aimed at the average non-language nerd! Now, if we put filtype:pdf at the end...

The search result brings up whole grammar books for free. Easy! This is how I find the grammar books of my most endangered languages. Have fun!

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

I saw someone complain about languages being non-Indo-European

and therefore the OP no longer wanted to learn them????

idk about you guys but I'm having the exact opposite problem I get disappointed if I see one more of those languages

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Something needs to be said about artists/writers/etc. wanting to make Indigenous/minority characters, saying "but there's no information out there about them" (without searching shit up/contacting activists or people knowledged about the subject) and then just using the majority language/culture of the area

I don't want to use a real example because I am not targeting anyone but just as an example if someone named their fully Ainu character (who has never met a Japanese person in her life, lives deep in the forests of northern Hokkaido) Himeko (姫子). Maybe making her wear a kimono. Saying that she eats udon noodles. You see how that makes no sense? And how you could probably research the culture before making the character.

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Studying both SK and NK Korean; a guide by someone who has been doing it for nearly 8 years

Somehow I was blessed with the kind of autism where I want to learn everything about the Korean peninsula, and thus, I have dedicated almost 8 years to studying the topic. If someone wants to know how to achieve this, keep reading! (Keep in mind that this is just my study route, you can always make your own!)

Studying South Korean intensely.

People might be wondering how you can learn the standard languages of both countries at the same time, and in my opinion, as there are more internet resources for the SK variant, go ahead and start learning that first. Further on, you can start learning the other variant on top of that! (This doesn't mean that there are NO NK resources. There used to be a lot before NK stopped promoting unification, they shut down a lot of the freely accessible sites)

Adding on top of the SK vocab and grammar

When you have gotten used to the SK language, learning the NK forms is quite easy! I like to make word lists like this with both of the variants shown.

Keep up with medias from both countries

People are shocked that I read NK media. I feel like people should be reading media from people and states which they do not completely agree with! Breaking the echo chamber will do good to your critical thinking and media literacy skills! And if you want to learn the language, what other route do you take? One of the biggest sites which publish news from NK is NK News. They have a wide selection of different news, tools, and data about news in the country. I have gathered many other sites as well, so if anyone needs it, I can make a post.

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Ainu vocab - 2nd year, 2.2.25

As said in my last post: If you have not learned Ainu yet, start now with my "already known words" list; if you have been learning for 1+ years, learn both lists!

ALREADY KNOWN WORDS:

tanukuran - this evening kotan - town hontomo - in the middle of kusu - because nukar - to look, see ruwe - because ora - because yakun - if onuman - evening arpa - to go (plural) opitta - all ronnu - to kill isam - to disappear, to die nisatta - tomorrow to - day nina - to gather firewood hine - and oraun - from there iteki - by no means pirka - good inaw - gift used when praying, inaw aep - food yakka - even if somo - not yak - if ye - to say kamuy - god, spirit nep - something kus - because hetak - okay. ek - to come (singular) utar - people turano - bringing with hopuni - to get up, flee eaykap - cannot pe - thing, nominalizer

NEW WORDS:

topattumi - night raid kisma - to carry, to nurse nisike - to carry firewood on back iwak - to return back os - to follow rikin - to rise up yaynure ani - to seem to koyayrayke - thankful uneno - similar nitne - hard, bad, spoiled sirari - lees, dregs kocarpa - to share food koyayattasa - in return yakanak - if, then kusis - bad, spoiled iwak - return sikoekte - to come towards someone epakasnu - to teach

There are many words in Ainu which need further explanation (like the millions of "because") but I chose to put the simplest meaning here.

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Ainu vocab - start of 2nd year, 1.2.

I have been wanting to make a series about learning Ainu so people can see my progress! Maybe you can even follow my progress and learn the same words along the way!

If you have not learned Ainu yet, start now with my "already known words" list; if you have been learning for 1+ years, learn both lists!

NEW WORDS

hontomo - in the middle apapok - near door kenas - low place near river earkinne - very cikuni - wood ora - because nina - to collect firewood asinuma - self yaymonikor - busy sinean - one day sike - carry on back puniakus - lift ehopuni - raise, rise koskoso - weigh by hand kosne - light (weight) monaa - to sit ehopuni - return, resume ayne - so situri - stretch

ALREADY KNOWN WORDS

tane - today nispa - sir, leader ne hine - was, and kotan - town poro - big pirka - good sat - dry utari - people makanak - how, somehow eun - to somo ki - not kusu - because oro ta - (to) there arpa - to go (plural) wa - and eramiskari - to not know korka - because sini - to rest sorekus - all that poronno - a lot hopuni - to get up eaykap - cannot kor - to have

Dialects used here: Ishikari, Saru

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

pov: the person who claims to have studied a language for three years posts their notes for the day and it's

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Lists in Ainu

Ever wondered how to make lists in Ainu? Here are two grammar points for that.

X ne ciki Y ne ciki - Xネ チキ Yネ チキ Used for listing nouns.

X hine Y hine - Xヒネ Yヒネ Used for listing verbs.

Example sentence:

Cekunip ne hine ciki kam ne ciki a=sapte hine a=supa hine. チェクチㇷ゚ ネ ヒネ チキ カㇺ ネ チキ アサㇷ゚テ ヒネ アスパ ヒネ Fish and meat, we bring them out and we boil them.

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

How I keep up with university and 5+ active languages at the same time!

Someone was curious about how I use my time to study this many languages effectively, so today I will write a post about it!

Note types

I like writing notes by hand. Digital notes do not stick in my head at all. On top of that, I do not use textbooks (North Sámi is an exception since I am studying it through my university) and only use free materials! I have a few different "types" of notes I write, here are some of them! (Sorry for any mistakes as some of these are old. I can see them too now that I am revisiting the notebooks)

The Korean Type

The Korean type is pretty much just word lists. I use this type of notation when studying a language I am good at and don't need to learn as many grammar points. Notes may be in English or the language itself!

The Ainu/Japanese type

This type includes grammar points. I use it for languages I have been learning for a while, but I still need to write down the grammar points. This type of note usually includes longer texts in which I make my own translations and highlight grammar points.

The North Sámi type

I use this type exclusively for Sámi for now. It requires a bigger notebook, this one here is A4. For this language, words are generally longer, there are many conjugations I need to write out and the volume of vocab I need to learn is bigger. This is why I prefer a bigger spread.

Time management

I use a study clock, so I get accurate data on how much I study. Here is the data from this past month:

My daily average is 3 hours. This month, my top studied subjects were Okinawan (32 hours), Linguistics (15.5h), R**sian (9h), Sámi (8h), Uralic languages (5.5h) and Ainu (3h). You could be surprised; how come I am studying so much in such little time? I think that the time you study is not important, but the quality is the top priority.

As you can see, I do not study all subjects equally. I do not set myself rules on what to study on what day. On some days, I feel like studying one language and one on another. The only rule I have is that I need to study something every day!

With this study routine, I have brought my Ainu from 0 to B1 in one year and my Okinawan from A1 to B1 in one week. I could share my exact study routine here later (what I include in my notes and how I structure what I learn), I don't want to make this post too long!

Feel free to send me an ask if you want to learn more about my study routine!

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

January language log

AINU - I started my second notebook and am already approaching its middle point (???) I love the language. I have been considering going on exchange just to study it for a while but I have no time

KOREAN - impeachment & martial law vocabulary boosted 100%

JAPANESE - I have been putting off learning Japanese for a while now as it's not as important as the other languages but I have been learning more through Okinawan

OKINAWAN - Oh my god. I have been so busy! I have been hating all the sources available so I made my own textbooks (two of them), learning as I go. I shared them with my friend who is also interested in the language. I love the verb types after years of being so confused!

R**SIAN - For my degree. It's not mandatory but I want to learn the language to have access to the amazing selection of literature from my field!

MANDARIN - I have been wanting to learn Mandarin a bit more actively for linguistic purposes. My HSK level is somewhere between 2 and 3 I think

NORTH SÁMI - I have been taking a break for a few weeks after my first exam. Now I need to pick it up again to take the second course in autumn!

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

アシㇼパ　アシㇼ　クアニ　

asirpa asir kuani

new year new me

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Various types of イソイタㇰ isoytak (talking) in Ainu

isoytak イソイタㇰ - to talk (also: hanasi ハナシ / 話) koysoytak コイソイタㇰ - to let someone tell their story eyayeysoytak エヤイェイソイタㇰ - to let someone tell their story yayeysoytak ヤイェイソイタㇰ - to tell one's story eysoytak エイソイタㇰ - to talk a lot about... ekoysoytak エコイソイタㇰ - to let someone talk about... ewkoysoytak エウコイソイタㇰ - to discuss... ukoysoytak ウコイソイタㇰ - to discuss various things with... ukoysoytakpa ウコイソイタㇰパ - to discuss various things with... (plural)

When forming/trying to understand these words, you can use this guide:

e エ = about, regarding w/u ウ = with other people, mutual (u at start of word, w in the middle. always written ウ in katakana) ko コ = facing/objective isoytak/ysoytak イソイタㇰ = talking (ysoytak is used if previous syllable ends in a vowel. always written as イ in katakana) -pa パ = plural yay ヤイ = self

For example:

koysoytak = ko+isoytak. "facing the talker" ewkoysoytak = e+w+ko+isoytak. "people mutually talking about (something) while facing eachother" ukoysoytakpa = u+ko+isoytak+pa. "talking & mutually facing (plural)"

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

End-of-the-year review!

The biggest achievement of this year was getting into my dream university. Here's how I did with my self studies.

AINU This was very fun and I am OBSESSED with the language. I filled up my 64-page notebook in under a year. I can speak pretty fluently already! Will totally be continuing to study this language next year!

KOREAN Korean was on maintenance mode for most of the year. I have been forcing myself to read and listen more and of course keep watching content in the language.

NORTH SÁMI My new focus for the year, I study this for university. I got great marks for my first course and I feel like I am progressing fast. There will be a small break where I can't take it at school again so I need to make sure I don't forget anything!

JAPANESE I have been studying this language a bit more than Korean for the first time. I feel like I still need to study a lot but my reading skills have been improving a lot this year!

MANDARIN & CANTONESE I have been consuming content in both languages over the year and have become obsessed with Cantonese cooking shows. I can understand a lot, but I cannot speak at all in either language

KARELIAN I have been reading content and trying to finally learn some grammar. Waiting to enroll in a course in this language some day. I understand the language perfectly because I grew up hearing it, just can't speak it!

OKINAWAN I have neglected this language a bit. I got about 5 pages of notes written down this year. Next year I hope to focus on the conjugations of words more

DUTCH I can understand text very well due to my existing Swedish knowledge but cannot understand speech well. Maybe I need to focus on that next year.

SWEDISH I moved to an area where this language is spoken more so I have naturally started picking up more words. I can speak the language well already but now I know what words the locals use for stuff, it's super interesting

YUKAGHIR? I have started picking up words from all the Yukaghir music I listen to. I wasn't even going to learn the language. Please I don't want to fall down another language rabbit hole and be obsessed with a random language

Other: I want to learn another Uralic language, maybe Nenets or Nganasan! I can learn those through my university at some point. I would also like to learn a language like Spanish or Russian for fun but I think I don't have enough time for that. I also need to find a job... Oh right and I can speak a bit more toki pona and have been working on my conlangs too.

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Two cute Ainu grammar points

-po - a suffix added to words to form a diminutive.

menoko メノコ > menokopo メノコポ okkayo オッカヨ > okkayopo オッカヨポ pet ペッ > petpo ペッポ

-popo - a suffix added to names to describe small children.

Emi エミ > Emipopo エミポポ Utunnai ウトゥッナイ > Utunnaipopo ウトゥッナイポポ Bikki ビッキ > Bikkipopo ビッキポポ

[kkulbeolyeonghwa]

Festive Ainu Vocab for the season

ewenewsar - to spend time and have fun (sing, dance, tell stories etc.)

ekiroroan - fun. enjoyable.

ekiroroanka - to entertain. to please.

ewkotoyse - to gather. to hold a meet-up.

iway(e(he)) - party, celebration. gift, present.

sanke - to give gifts

unkeray - to receive gifts