I am working on a project as someone who is very passionate about languages (particularly local languages, rare languages, endangered and underrepresented languages) where I have a website that stores modernized full course textbooks with other resources like dictionaries, stories for reading practice, forums and the like all for free. I am looking to work with native speakers of any language who would be willing to help, even if it's just to help me make a lesson or teach me a bit about the language or the culture. If any of you can help, I would really appreciate it. Thank you everyone!

Hello there,

Apologies if this isn't the correct place to ask, and I recognize this may be a long shot. I was reading a book called "Red Fox" by late 19th century author Charles G D Roberts; it's a novel chronicling the adventures of a fox who lives in the forests of (I believe) what's now eastern Ontario. Roberts gave the area the name of "Ringwaak Wilds"; is that an actual word in an Indigenous language, or did he just make up something that he figured his readers would think sounded Indigenous? I'm guessing the latter, but would love to learn if otherwise.

Thank you in advance!

Does anyone happen to know where I could download the audio for the Conversational Ticuna course? https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/30245

https://vdoc.pub/documents/conversational-ticuna-4kc0dbvl7570

Hello everyone, I am studying both Kanien'keha and Lushootseed, and am looking for learning partners. I've got a decent grip on the bare bones of both languages, and want to further my understanding and ability with both.

If you want to learn along with me, or just hear some resource recommendations, please feel free to message or chat me.

Mari mari kom pu che! Greetings everyone!

I am detribalized & reconnecting Mapuche -- Mapuche people are from southern Abya Yala (aka South America) across a few regions, such as Wallmapu and Puelmapu. There are a few different dialects spoken by various tribes of the Mapuche people -- but to my knowledge, they are mostly mutually intelligible.

I wanted to have a central place for resources so that other people on a similar journey of reconnecting through language could join! Unfortunately, these resources are in Spanish -- so you may need to use a translator if you never learned it (no shame it that).

RESOURCES:

1. VIRTUAL CLASS | Mapudunguaiñ fantepu meu: Let's learn the mapuche language of today (Basic Level, 2nd Edition) : A great free and asynchronous class to learn the basics of reading, writing, and speaking basic Mapudungun. Highly recommended - in Spanish, but the text can be translated in-browser by Google. Note: you have to enroll in the course by making a free account first to access!
2. Spanish-Mapudungun dictionary : Helpful dictionary to use as reference, not too in-depth so I recommend other resources.
3. Basic Mapudungun Guide (verbs, pronouns, grammar) : An extensive guide on Mapudungun particles and grammar with lots of example words, phrases, and sentences. I haven't gotten to use this one much yet, but I think it'll be really helpful.
4. Basic Grammar of the Mapuche Language (grammar + orthography) : A university/government resource that's really good if you have background linguistics knowledge of grammar -- extensive, but hard to understand (for me) at times.
5. Mapudungun Class Series - Mocen on YouTube : The first series I ever watched! Helps a lot with pronunciation through example and repetition -- it'll help you develop your speaking voice and accent!

THINGS OF NOTE:

1. Mapudungun does not have a standardized writing system. Before the Spanish invasion, our language was not written. Nowadays, there are three systems: Azumchefe, Ragilew, and Unificado. Unificado is mostly used in academic resources, and is slightly different from the other two. I recommend studying Unificado for online study, but highly recommend looking at the others so you can be familiar.
2. There are a few different pronunciations of a few sounds, most notably "D" vs. "Z". You may see the word for woman written as "domo" (pronounced with a Spanish /d/), or as "zomo" (pronounced with the Castilian /th/). Both are correct and depend on the speaker.
3. There is no standardized style of "stress" in pronunciation -- "stress" on syllables of words depends speaker to speaker. However, you will find that there are general rules for some words and consonant placements as you learn.

If anyone has any additional resources on hand that they want added (or have any questions), please feel free to comment in the thread -- chaltü may (thanks)!

Hello,

I'm using the online Spoken Yucatec Maya Course (https://lucy.lib.uchicago.edu/) and I wanted to get a digital download of the audio to listen to the recordings offline.

The University of NC sells the audio CDs ( https://isa.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/783/2021/01/Maya-Resources-Description-and-Purchasing-Form.pdf ) but only bundled with the books and it would cost over $300 to get them.

Although the books would be nice to have, the transliteration/transcription system used in the books is quite difficult to read and I prefer the online version of the course: https://3lib.net/book/11728595/19e388

Does anyone happen to know where I could get a digital copy of the audio for a better price?

Are there any resources for the Florida Seminole language (not Maskókî, erroneously called "Creek" spoken in Oklahoma as well as Florida)?

It is known that few North American languages have their own writing systems (Cherokee and Canadian syllabics are among the few exceptions).
However, I've recently learned that there is Osage script designed for Osage language and even adapted for Navajo language.
So I'm wondering if there are some other scripts that are relatively unknown. Perhaps some that were designed but never successfully implemented, or designed as an experiment?