What are the Pros and Cons of Learning an Obscure/Rare Language?

[MetalChurch]

In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of learning a rare/obscure language? By obscure/rare languages, I mean languages that may have a few million native speakers or less and languages that are commonly spoken in a limited number of regions or countries. Very few people tend to speak these languages as a second language. In my case, I have recently considered the possibility of learning Finnish. I’m drawn to this language because I’m a big fan of heavy metal music and Finland has produced so many amazing bands over the years. I imagine that one of the cons would be that resources are more scarce for languages that are not widely spoken and it might be harder to find books translated into your target language. What do you all think?

[Iversen]

It's not just the number of speakers that counts. For instance I have had a lot of fun with Icelandic, which only is spoken by some 314.000 persons according to Wikipedia, but they read a lot and publish a lot and there are the necessary dictionaries and other resources so that you CAN learn it through homestudy. Besides it's the gateway to Old Norse and the viking culture, which is one argument that might interest some learners. In contrast I have also spent time learning some Scots and some Platt, but where Icelandic is the main language of its country, the two others are fringe languages under severe domination from more successful languages, and even when you travel in the areas where they are supposed to be spoken you may just hear the external language spoken with or without an accent. Finding local speakers who are willing to have a discussion with a mediocre foreign speaker can be a problem - I have for instance only twice had a discussion in Laeland Scots in my whole life, and in both cases it was outside Scotland. And that's not the best psychological background for spending a lot of time on something.

I have also learnt Catalan, which is the dominating language in Catalunya and supposedly also on the Balearic Islands and in the province Valencia. But it's in peril of been squeezed out by Castellano in those last two places. In the provincial capital Valencia only the street signs are bilingual, the population is mostly Spanish-talking. However because of its strong position in Catalunya and Andorra there is a lot of materials available in Catalan, and there is a population who is eager to speak to those few foreigners who have bothered to learn the language. Actually you don't even have to be polite to the intra-Spanish expats who have settled in Catalunya without bothering to learn the local language - if they can't understand Catalan then that's their problem, and they shouldn't be rewarded for being despicable lazy bums. But you can't do that in the town Valencia, because there the main language now already has become Castellano. In the countryside - well, maybe.

So while it may sound like a noble and laudable endeavour to learn a lokal fringe language, you may have problems finding both resources and local people who are willing (and able!) to speak to you. And you definitely can't save a language if even the native speakers have given up...

But Finnish: YES!! Definitely go for it. It has its own country (with less than 10% officially Swedish speaking - mostly on the Åland Islands), and it has tons of study resources. If I hadn't been so busy with the Indoeuropean language family I would almost certainly have added Finnish to my to-do list!

[Ug_Caveman]

they shouldn't be rewarded for being despicable lazy bums.

I laughed a little too hard at this remark I must say.

Re learning obscure languages - I'd say having a deep interest in a particular part of that culture is a very valid reason for wanting to learn the language. So long as you have the time availability, I don't see any major downsides (although I hope you like noun cases )

(From my own POV, I'm currently lining up an assault on West Frisian (circa 600,000 speakers) purely because I have a deep overall interest in the Netherlands.)

[Chung]

In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of learning a rare/obscure language? By obscure/rare languages, I mean languages that may have a few million native speakers or less and languages that are commonly spoken in a limited number of regions or countries. Very few people tend to speak these languages as a second language. In my case, I have recently considered the possibility of learning Finnish. I’m drawn to this language because I’m a big fan of heavy metal music and Finland has produced so many amazing bands over the years. I imagine that one of the cons would be that resources are more scarce for languages that are not widely spoken and it might be harder to find books translated into your target language. What do you all think?

Finnish is a lesser-learned language compared to EFIGS, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Arabic, but it's hardly obscure. For a language with only about 5 million native speakers confined to just a part of northern Europe, it has more than enough learning material and authentic content.

A pro of learning an obscure or rare language is that if you end up meeting a native speaker, you'll probably experience a warmer reception than if you were to do the same while learning something that's much higher profile.

A con would be that the experience can quickly get quite lonely if you have no one who can relate to your endeavor or a community of native speakers to liven things up nor find satisfying learning material and authentic content in the target language

[Henkkles]

When I opened this thread I did not expect Finnish to be an example of an obscure or rare language, it's one of the most vital languages in the world, definitely top 1% if you consider GDP per speaker, internet presence and political status. I would at the very least consider only languages that are not official languages of sovereign nation states as "obscure" or "rare", but that's just my preference.

Having done courses in Basque, Skolt Sámi, and the like, I can say that I learn them for the same reason I learn any other language; it is mentally stimulating and pleasurable. I recommend everyone try it out some time; you will notice that "small" languages (say, around 10,000 speakers) don't seem to play by the same rules as big languages do, to me they seem to contain more idiosyncretisms, they have things that get smoothed out once a language becomes the medium of communication for millions of speakers, things that only a tight knit speaker community which has its own language can come up with and maintain. This, I find, is incredibly interesting.

[tiia]

Learning a language that is not among the most commonly learned ones can give you a lot. But nowadays I wouldn't even really count Finnish into that group. It may not be in the top 10 of the most commonly learned languages, but there are surprisingly many interested in it.
It may not be the fastest language to learn, but I don't like it being called difficult. That just scares people away. It's just different and therefore takes a bit more time to learn. That's it.

Back in 2006, when I finally decided to learn Finnish, resources were indeed scarce if you were not living in Finland. But they did exist. Now, 18 years later the situation has become quite different. There is way more online material, more textbooks, more publishers that noticed, that people want to learn Finnish. There are online and offline language schools offering Finnish classes.
I was still extremely lucky to find classes in 2006 (and later), but those were by far not available in every city. There was almost no online material at all.
However, in all those years I met many other fellow learners or people interested in the language, just because we were so few! It felt like one had to connect with those that were there. And many indeed liked metal music, so there was more than just one thing we had in common. I haven't experienced anything like that with any other langugage I have learned so far.
My ways of searching for natives/conversation partners brought me to language cafes and a group helping out international students. Thanks to those I met also other nice people, even though mostly non-Finnish speakers. But I also got to know some Finns or other learners.
So to make it short: This language gave me a lot and my life would have been different without it.

The lack of native material outside of the Finland is still a thing. I mean you shouldn't limit yourself to translated material, but rather look for originally Finnish one. They have their own literature, too. The only problem is to get it outside of Finland. Most foreign bookstore don't have books in Finnish, except for teaching/learning purposes, and large Finnish bookstores mostly don't ship outside the country.
But don't worry, there are ways to get around this. For example secondhand bookstores often do ship abroad. Or you just buy tons of books once you're traveling to the country. Or in my case, I found out the local Finnish community had actually their own small private library.
But movies? Well... that's much more of a problem. You will just have to take whatever you can get your hands on. They only dub childrens movies, the rest usually just gets subtitles. If you want Finnish audio that are not for children, you'll have to look for actual Finnish movies. I did watch movies that I would have otherwise never watched (or found) if it would not have been for the language.

But just a note about learning a language, that is very different from what you know: it takes time! Don't be discouraged if you cannot speak after a year (or two). Persistance is the key, not talent.

I mostly learned outside the country and it took my eight years until I considered myself "fluent". (The seventh year I spent in-country.) I have seen people being fluent after just one year of learning, but also others being slower than me and many who just gave up.
I strongly believe, though, that if you just continue no matter what, you can learn it.

[iguanamon]

I have learned Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol; Lesser Antilles French Creole (Kwéyòl); Haitian Creole; Catalan. I've dabbled in Kouri-Vini (Louisiana Kreyol) and Aranés.

The pros are many. Seeing the faces of St Lucian and Dominica speakers of Kwéyòl light up upon hearing me speak their language is wonderful. Speaking Haitian Creole also has the same effect on the Haitians I run into from time to time. The folktales and music of both varieties of Creole are fun and wonderful. Learning about Vodou (Voodoo) religious practices is interesting to me.

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol has taught me so much about Judaism- Sephardic style, history, and the Ottoman Empire. The language has elements of Turkish; Greek; Italian; Hebrew; and Arabic. The folklore and music, are amazing. Being able to read the language in Hebrew Rashi and Solitreo script (from right to left) is intellectually rewarding to me.

These languages provide the joy of following the road less taken along with the familiar spiced with the exotic- grammar and vocabulary. Learning them isn't as easy as buying a course and Harry Potter. In fact- Harry Potter has yet to be translated into any of them.

The cons are also many. Learning these languages means having to accept less than perfect resources and few, if any in some cases, courses. Few TV series are available. A learner has to forge their own way and get the most out of what is available. I had to accept less than perfect resources. I had to use what I had to my best advantage. The experience of learning these languages, has made me a better learner over all. When you can learn with less than optimal resources... learning bigger languages with better resources is much easier.

It also means fewer opportunities to speak the languages. Ladino, a dying language, is spoken by about 70,000 people scattered all over the world... and none near me. There are Kwéyòl and Haitian Creole-speakers where I live. I've only ever met Catalan-speakers in Spain. Louisiana Kreyol is quite rare. Aranés is only in the Val d'Aran in Spain. About 4,000 people speak it. Online, all of these languages are accessible.

Yes, learning small languages isn't easy but it isn't impossible either. It just means having to work harder. For me, it has definitely been worth the trouble to learn them.

[raoulhjo]

I would have loved learning a rare language but my attempts have failed. Learning a language with many resources is difficult enough for me.