UniLang

This looks interesting. I wish I knew Chinese.

Atalarikt, thanks for posting so many materials for Formosan languages. Terima kasih!

Well, I might try translating the lessons (for at least one of the languages) as I learn Mandarin, if one one else offers before I can start doing it (it'll take at least a little while before I learn Mandarin, let alone can translate).

Oh, I forgot to share the original desktop version of the Formosan web dictionary by the Taiwanese Council of Indigenous Peoples.
https://e-dictionary.apc.gov.tw/Sitemap.htm
It has much more stuff than the mobile version that I originally shared (see the first post), but also requires much more Chinese knowledge!

Developing a Hla’alua Learner’s Guide: In Search of an Auxiliary Remedy for Hla’alua Revitalization (Exegesis) and A Hla’alua Learner’s Guide (Creative component)
An open-access thesis containing basic Saaroa/Hla'alua lessons

A Reference Grammar of Paiwan
WARNING: This PDF file has a pretty big size (29.86 MB!)

Found so many resources this late night (when I wrote this).
These resources, I believe, are much more user-friendly, in that they are provided in a simpler way than linguists provide their papers on Formosan languages/linguistics.

National Taiwan University/NTU Corpus of Formosan Languages (in Chinese and English)

Endangered Language Alliance page on Tsou (contains storybooks (including audio recordings, transcription & English translation) and a YouTube playlist consisting of basic phrases and many other recordings)

Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale/Lacito page on Amis (including audio recordings, their transcription and French/English translations)

The Goose that Laid a Golden Egg, aan Aesop's fable in Thao (audio recording + transcription & Chinese translation provided by Mike Campbell of Glossika)

Introduction to the Writing System of the Kavalan Language (a blog post from a Taiwanese language blog)

List of posts from the same blog under the Bunun tag (particularly of the Isbukun dialect)...

...and a YouTube playlist of some of the videos accompanying them (playlist created by me)

Isbukun Bunun Basic Sentence Training (a Facebook note from the official Glossika page)

Squliq Atayal Basic Sentence Training, also from Glossika

Vocabulary of the Week


Language: Sakizaya (Sakuzaya)
abinung
Translation: coconut

Example: Tadatakalaw ku langaw nina abinung.
This coconut tree grows too high.

Did you know?

The Sakizaya people were thought to have been extinct after an attempted genocide called the Takobowan Incident in 1878, after which the remaining ones had to assimilate with other peoples, such as the Amis, to protect their identity. They also discreetly maintained their culture and language for many years. Anthropologists considered the Sakizaya as a subgroup of the Amis people.

In 2004, the Sakizaya community presented a petition to recognize the Sakizaya as an official, distinct ethnic group. It was officialy filed on 13 October 2005 and eventually approved on 17 January 2007.

A Taiwanese Facebook group about Formosan languages
The posts are mostly Chinese, but it's fine using English there as well.

księżycowy wrote:Well, I might try translating the lessons (for at least one of the languages) as I learn Mandarin, if one one else offers before I can start doing it (it'll take at least a little while before I learn Mandarin, let alone can translate).

I can help do that. Which language do y'all want first?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm interested in Seediq (if they have it, I haven't really tried to tell what languages they have yet ).

I was thinking it would be fun (and motivating) to translate it myself. The lessons themselves are mostly presented in easy enough Chinese translations. But I certainly appreciate your offer, considering who knows when I'll get around to starting Chinese.

vijayjohn wrote:I can help do that. Which language do y'all want first?

As for me, I would like to have Amis lessons translated first, given that the Amis people are the biggest Formosan ethnic group. But let's hear what other say as well. I might need to make a poll for this though.

I don't think we need a poll. There aren't a lot of people wanting to learn Formosan languages after all.

księżycowy wrote:I don't think we need a poll. There aren't a lot of people wanting to learn Formosan languages after all.

You're right after all. _{Then again, Glossika's courses for the Formosan languages are still in progress of making. Who knows it's going to increase the number of people wanderlusting for/interested in learning them?}

Kanakanavu Language Documentation and and Description Project
Contains phonology, orthography, word lists, grammar, and documentations (consisting of stories and narrations) including recordings and interlinear gloss.

Vocabulary of the Day


Language: Tsou
ngalasu
Translation: glass (loanword from Japanese ガラス/硝子/garasu)

Example: La na'no cingkoya 'o ngalasu ho isi psoelʉa to hie.
Glass is bright when it is exposed to sunlight.

księżycowy wrote:I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm interested in Seediq (if they have it, I haven't really tried to tell what languages they have yet ).

They don't have just one course for Seediq. They have one for Truku (德路固語), one for Toda (都達語), and one for Tgdaya (德固達雅語), i.e. one for each variety of it.

Same with Amis: They have one for Northern Amis (南勢阿美語), one for Southern Amis (恆春阿美語), one for Central Amis (I think this is 秀姑巒阿美語 in Chinese), one for Tavalong-Vata'an (I think this is 海岸阿美語), and one for Chengkung-Kwangshan (馬蘭阿美語).

vijayjohn wrote:They don't have just one course for Seediq. They have one for Truku (德路固語), one for Toda (都達語), and one for Tgdaya (德固達雅語), i.e. one for each variety of it.

Same with Amis: They have one for Northern Amis (南勢阿美語), one for Southern Amis (恆春阿美語), one for Central Amis (I think this is 秀姑巒阿美語 in Chinese), one for Tavalong-Vata'an (I think this is 海岸阿美語), and one for Chengkung-Kwangshan (馬蘭阿美語).

Alright, I'll go with Truku and Central Amis, then.
księżycowy, what say you regarding this?

Truku sounds perfectly fine to me.

I should note, I'm not going to start learning it until April at the earliest, so there's no rush to translate any Seediq lessons yet. Unless atalarikt wants to learn some now.

księżycowy wrote:I should note, I'm not going to start learning it until April at the earliest, so there's no rush to translate any Seediq lessons yet. Unless atalarikt wants to learn some now.

Take it easy. I still can wait a bit longer, because right now I'm busy with preparations for final high school exam, which will be around April.

Hey Vijay, I'm curious, how much grammar information is there in the lessons your translating? I'm curious. I've only peeked at first lesson booklet for one of the languages.

So far, I haven't found any grammar at all in any of them.