vijayjohn wrote:If you went to Japan, would you try to find people who spoke Ainu? How would you go about doing that? It's moribund, isn't it?
Extreeeeemly moribund. 10 native fluent speakers, half of which have university positions. Ainu appears to be treated like “Indian” 100 years ago in the west- between “uncivilized” and to be discouraged to “really just Japanese from the north” to dent their complete identity. For that reason, and a heavy assimilation regime for hundreds of years as second class citizens, it is absolutely moribund.
Would love to go to the museums and “see” artifacts and speak to any geeks like us, but I fully expect today, it’s like the Lakota or Cherokee- very few individuals who can speak the language at all to any level, and a lot “for show” I.e. cuisine, rituals, dance, dress. There are no heavy population centers, and only 60,000 identified as being descended from Ainu due to discrimination.
*note i haven’t much Native American research, this is just based on what I have heard from people who have visited reservations.
What I could try to do is find out who is trying to revitalize the language- in a few shopping areas, words have become chic for boutique apparel store names. Some road signs are in Ainu (for curiosity I am assuming), and in 2002 or somewhat recent times, Japan finally recognized them as an ethnic group indigenous to japan that still exists. So, times are changing.
But back to who- universities I think. Sapporo in the north and the main Hokkaido university each supposedly have 1 basic class which covers culture, that few people attend, and an intermediate language class tha ~5 students a year attend. Far from fluent, but a start.
Beyond being a language isolate, it’s hust very different from the normal drôle I do of romance-Germanic-Slavic with a sprinkle of Asian languages- and it has kept my curiosity.
For today though as I am trying to do 1 blurb a day atleast to myself (but topping it out helps immensely)...
Ine, asikne, iwanFour, five, six.
I think I got
sine, tu, re down good as they sound a lot like their English counterparts.
Also decided I need to learn please and Thankyou. Have always said with those two words, and hello, and body language, I could get anywhere!
Also, typing out
Irankarapte And
Suy unukaran ro So many times they’ve stuck well.
No pen pals for me but maybe one day if this hobby sticks well enough I’ll have the courage to try!