New Guest Post by iguanamon on Main Site.

[rdearman]

iguanamon has very kindly written a guest post on minority language learning for the main site! A round of applause please!

http://language-learners.org/2015/12/14/my-experience-learning-a-minority-language-guest-post-by-iguanamon/

If anyone else has a topic or would like to do a guest blog post on a language learning related topic, please PM me.

[jeff_lindqvist]

*round of applause*

Well done Iguanamon!

[LMAshton]

Very cool!

I want to learn Plautdeitsch (Mennonite Low German) as its the language of my ancestry. It was the first language my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and so on learned in southern Manitoba, Canada. My parents refused to teach it to us kids, and I was so disappointed. There isn't much by the way of learning materials for it, but I'd still like to learn it. Luckily, I still have access to native speakers of the language in my relatives who still live in or near the Mennonite communities in southern Manitoba.

[Serpent]

Great post!!!
Not sure whether this is that relevant for Belarusian or Estonian Every small language is unique. With Belarusian the problem is the opposite - there are native materials and translations, but very few actually speak it.

[PeterMollenburg]

Yep, very nicely written iguanamon It's nice to read a positive perspective, particularly as I seem to be more and more curious about learning minority languages lately. You are evidence that where there is a will there is a way(s).

[iguanamon]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I wanted to convey a sense that in the face of the seemingly impossible, you can find a way. The key, I have found to learning a minority language is not being so hung up on any one particular course or resource that you can't see beyond that. You can't do that because the resources are limited. Once one becomes open to learning "by any means necessary" then it is indeed possible to make it happen. Flexibility is the key. Every minority language is unique, yes. What most have in common is that the approach to learning them simply must be flexible. A learner must make the best of what is available in order to be successful.

Another key to learning a minority language, as with learning any language, is desire and passion. While one can indeed learn a language without these factors, for minority languages where there is no real need to learn them... passion and desire are critical. They are what can get a learner through the many barriers and lack of great resources available in minority languages.

[Arnaud]

deleted

[Serpent]

And Mirandese is mentioned twice, as Mirandês and Mirandes

[iguanamon]

I make typos all the time. That's why you see that I edit almost all of my posts in all my languages multiple times. In this case, I can't edit it. Only rdearman can. I also didn't put a space between "daily" and "15". I shouldn't have added Mirandês the second time and I should have a space between the last two paragraphs. It is so difficult to proofread your own work.

[rdearman]

Blame the editor not the author. I will fix the typos, etc as soon as i can.