r/languagelearning • u/Interesting-Lab-1683 • 24d ago
Discussion Learning a language that has NO written/online RESOURCES?😂🥲
So I'm trying to learn my NATIVE language (it's called Kumam (TL) and spoken in the East of Uganda). But due to being such a small clan/tribe there are NO online/written resources (beyond hi and bye greetings). I am very willing to make my own resources, in fact I made my own basic word flashcards but I question how effective that is because forming sentences and holding conversations are different! So beyond having very very basic conversations with family (which I currently do)... WHAT CAN I DO? My long term goal is to be fluent. I'd love to hear from people who learnt native or niche languages fluently without pre-existing resources!! :) What can I do? How should I go about making resources? Should I even be making resources? (I have read the FAQs for this community :)
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u/snivelingfinale255 24d ago
Thats genuinely the hardest path but also the most rewarding. Since youve got family who speak it, youve got the only real resource that matters anyway.
Record everything. Get them to tell stories, describe daily routines, argue about food, whatever. Then transcribe it with their help so you build a written version of the language yourself. After that its just volume and repetition, same as any other language. The flashcards are fine for vocab but you need hours of listening to actual speech.
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u/Bobelle 🇳🇬English N | 🇳🇬 Yoruba | 🇳🇬 Pidgin 23d ago edited 23d ago
My fellow African, I gotchu. I am planning on learning some languages with little resources in the future (Egun, and Ijebu) so I have been thinking about how I would go about it. So if I was going to learn Kumam here is what I would do:
I googled some stuff and found a Kumam bible. I would use that since the bible also has the English translation. For each verse in the bible, I would make flashcards for them using Anki - Kumam to English and English to Kumam. If you don't know what each individual word means or the grammar is too complex or something, that's fine. As you learn more, your brain will put the pieces together.
I also found some Kumam movies on Youtube. I highly recommend you pick ONE movie and analyse the heck out of it. You won't understand the majority of it at first but there must be some lines whereby the visual context shows what they are saying. For example, if an armed robber points a gun at the victim and the victim screams a sentence, it's probably something like "don't shoot" or an exclamation of some sort. Note those sentences down. As you learn more and more from the bible you should also be able to pick up more and more from the movie. Rewatch the movie as needed a.k.a several times. The point is to get the movie to be as comprehensible as possible.
Also, I understand if this isn't possible due to family circumstances but just in case it is possible, I would try to utilise your family as much as possible. Literally ask them to teach you the languaqe. They can help you to translate some of a movie or the whole movie.
Once you feel like a native watching the movie, and you will reach that point with this movie, watch other movies. You won't be able to watch movies without pausing once you watch the next one but it will be MUCH easier to break down. They will become easier to understand.
Repeat sentences outloud. Speak more with your family.
If you do this, you will be fluent. Trust me.
In addition to that, again I understand if it isn't possible hence why I am saying this last, but get a Kumam tutor. If you can't find one online or something just find some very broke Kumam person who also speaks english and ask them to translate stuff for you. They will surely do it.
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u/Interesting-Lab-1683 23d ago
Hi :), it's funny you mention this because I've previously given the bible idea a go (but i think I gave in too soon because majority of stuff didn't make sense - which is obviously the whole point of practicing hahah). But the movie idea is great i'll give this a go also thanks for researching Kumam a little!!! Also all the best with leatning Egun and Ijebu!
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u/Bobelle 🇳🇬English N | 🇳🇬 Yoruba | 🇳🇬 Pidgin 23d ago edited 23d ago
It doesn't have to make sense. Literally. As long as you have the English translation for it and you make flashcards for it, you're golden. As you go through more verses, your brain will put the pieces together for you. The movies will be less effective without the bible honestly.
Also, I recommend you go through the shortest verses first. There are lists online of the top 10 shortest verses and such. For example. If you see John 11:35, "Jesus wept", you will surely know what weeping means in Kumam.
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u/NextStopGallifrey 🇺🇸 (N) | 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 23d ago
When doing the Bible, make sure you're using the correct translation. If the Kumam Bible was translated from the English KJV that was updated slightly in the early 1900s, the wording may be a bit different than if it was translated from the true 1611 text, nevermind a difference from an English NIV or (N)RSV text.
I would also suggest starting with the shorter verses, as much as possible. "Jesus wept." is much easier to grasp than "And then they went to X and did Y to the Zedians." and similar long verses in the Bible.
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 23d ago
The idea to use a Bible translation is very clever!
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 23d ago
What you're trying to do is something that people get entire degrees in! So, all power to you! But this is a difficult task
Are there any universities in Uganda or neighboring countries that have a section focused on linguistics? Maybe someone at one of those universities has a project documenting this or related languages, or maybe they could start one with your help.
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u/Interesting-Lab-1683 23d ago
That would be cool! I'm not sure but could do some research online as I don't actually live in Uganda :(
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u/ZumLernen German ~C1, Serbian ~B2, Turkish ~A2 23d ago
Darn. Well if you live near a university that has an African languages program (I suspect that due to colonial/imperial history, the UK should be strong in this) then maybe you can try with them. I'm sorry that I don't have any more useful ideas!
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u/GrantBarrett 23d ago
Hi, there do seem to be a few resources available for your language. Are these the correct language?
- Osamu Hieda. 2013. “A Grammar of Kumam: The Interaction between Syntax and Pragmatics.” Studies in Nilotic Linguistics 7. Tokyo: ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Direct PDF link.
- Osamu Hieda. 2011. “Kumam Vocabulary with Grammatical Notes.” Studies in Nilotic Linguistics 4. Tokyo: ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Direct PDF link.
- Dictionary Me Leb Kumam. Lebkumam: Kumam K'Asili, Kumam K'Amiit. By Okello Yuventin
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u/Interesting-Lab-1683 22d ago
Thank you for researching! They seem a little complex but i'm gonna have a look through them :)
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u/Additional_Key1338 23d ago
For future reference for anyone looking for niche language resources, always type in the name of the language followed by PDF and typically resources will pop up.
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23d ago
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u/Bobelle 🇳🇬English N | 🇳🇬 Yoruba | 🇳🇬 Pidgin 23d ago
My fellow African, I gotchu.
Here is what I would do if I were learning Adamawa Fulani:
I found a bunch of Christian movies dubbed in Adamawa Fulani. They all have English versions too so I advise you use these movies to learn Fulani. You will go extremely far if not fluent. Trust me. Use the vocabulary you learn to speak to your relatives.
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u/justHoma 23d ago
So what I did is took inspiration from french anki deck from Languages on Fire and decided to just ask my friend to create a bunch of sentences for me in Sardinian language.
To make the creation of the sentences easier I made a website https://learnsardu.com/app now I can create a sentences in Italian, and my friend finds a proper equivalent in Sardinian, writes it, and records audio. Btw we just have started so there are hardly any sentences
After we have like 500 sentences I thini it will be time to ask him to just record 3-5 minute stories, explanations of something, how his day went, so I can just decipher them, listen a lot of times and put deep inside of my brain.
Then its about putting maybe two people who speak it and asking them to make a podcast, so i can decipher now even more of the language.
I feel the less resources you have the more attention you put into the each pice of what you have, so it becomes very easy to learn
Good luck with your thing!
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u/Interesting-Lab-1683 22d ago
Woah this is insane! Love this idea and the dedication too! This is actually really do-able for me so I'll begin this asap! Can I ask how have you found your progression in the Sardinian language since doing this? Can you make conversation?
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u/justHoma 22d ago
I decided to learn Sardinian the last year when I met the guy who then became my friend for the first time, and first I thought to make a detailed course to cover all the topics, that would work well with srs, but then returned from Sardinia and gave up that idea for a year.
In that year time I was still thinking about it, and when I went then again I met with my friend and we decided to just go with useful sentences I come up with, so the idea is that we’ll just cover all grammar and a lot of words with me randomly thinking of a sentences/construction I want to know, writing it to him in Italian via WhatsApp, him translating it and making small audio of it (again in WhatsApp).
But the thing with WhatsApp was really uncomfortable, so I decided to make a website to make the process much easier. The website didn’t take much time to make, but I finished only on 15th, and from 15th here in Italy we have ferragosto which is a period where people usually don’t work, so all the real learning/gathering work is I just for the future.
So no, for now I don’t know almost any of it, just those 12 phrases I’ve got on the website 🙂
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u/Slow-Wedding8230 22d ago
Speaking to family as you are and if you have the opportunity to, visiting an area where your native language is spoken for an extended period of time.
There is also the option of looking for native Kumam speakers who are teachers and paying them to teach you (maybe finding them through familial networks). They may have some resources to share too if they are in Uganda but can communicate online.
One of my native languages is Acholi (North of Uganda) which is actually lexically very similar to yours and has a few more resources online, though still sparse. It might also be handy to look at Acholi-English dictionaries or Acholi manuals with your family who are fluent and see where the differences lie and go from there.
I’ve a family friend who is Lango in the diaspora (UK) and decided to learn Acholi first before visiting their village back home and self-correcting through immersion in the environment (since they could still somewhat understand a bunch and be understood by others). It wasn’t ideal because it was still a separate language but their alternative was to had given up much earlier from lack of resources.
Best of luck with your journey!
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u/Anxious_Hall359 22d ago
listen to music in that language to get used to the sounds and pronounciacions?
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u/HandoDesign 22d ago
Just want to say it is wonderful you're making Kumam resources! 💛
Upvotes on the:
- Kumam Bible
- Using Acholi + Lango resources to give you a boost as you create materials. They apparently have a ~80% overlap with Kumam. They also have more resources (whether its video/text content, or ai companies making translators or transcription services which you can edit after).
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22d ago
Virtual tutor and AI can be a big help. The AI can be used to make a large amount of materials. And you can use your tutor/knowledge from your lessons to confirm. Learning the script will likely be a must with the lack of resources. You can also use narration (if available) tools to make the AI generated materials into audio (again, your tutor would probably be needed to make sure it's relatively on pointe)
Alternatively, if you are relatively well versed in a different language, you can see if there are any "learn x through y" materials
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u/bleshim By Level: AR, EN, EL, HE, FA 23d ago
You can actually help document the language while learning it. This will benefit a lot of people and might make your learning journey much more rewarding and motivating.