How to learn a spoken language?

[Star1]

I am not actively studying any language like that now, just planning on it. I do not have access to native speakers at the moment, so I am studying some more popular languages. I don't have any more advice that I can think of, except that if the language(s) you want to learn is a minority/rare language, there may be others trying to document it, and if so, you should contact them.

I am interested in the Algonquian languages. What about you? It is possible there are more resources on your language than you think and you just haven't found it yet.

Edited to add: I have another idea. If coming up with a writing system of your own is too difficult, try and find some conlangers online or in clubs, etc. They invent scripts for fun on a regular basis and would probably be glad to help.

[reineke]

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[Bakunin]

@Star1: Contacting others who might have worked on the TL is always a good idea. Iguanamon has already mentioned the most important options including SIL and researchers. I would like to add FB (or maybe other social media), with searches performed in the national language/local lingua franca. If none of that leads anywhere, than it looks more like a job for a professional linguist than a layman language learner

I’m interested in various Tai-Kadai and Mon-Khmer languages. There are some resources, and moreover I know already that GPA as a general approach works well for me; I’ve started this thread to get some outside opinions, not primarily to get advice in my specific circumstances. I’m actually in a comfortable situation in that I speak the local lingua franca (Thai), am actively learning a second one (Khmer), and have already experience in applying GPA and related techniques.

I’m not convinced that coming up with a made-up conlang script is a good idea. The issue of choosing a script is complex and requires both linguistic expertise and community participation. In my case there are various potential scripts around, all of them Brahmic ones. They all have pluses and minuses, and politics also comes into play. I’m not going to engage in that wider discussion (lacking expertise and motivation), but I may choose one of these scripts to take personal notes. The biggest challenge for me is the phonological analysis required to come up with an accurate representation of the sounds.

@reineke: For Swiss-German, there’s plenty of stuff if you look around, but none of the various writing systems has been adopted by the respective speaker communities. There is a pretty good writing system for the Zurich dialect, but it contains a number of special characters and diacritics which are a hassle to type. Cumbersome. Whenever I take some notes (see my latest log entry for an example), I fall back to standard German spelling which works ok because I know how to pronounce the words. With a language I’m not yet speaking comfortably, that is a dangerous approach.

The assumption of having access to native speakers means that I would like to get opinions assuming that one has access to native speakers willing to help with language work. I’m not interested in situations where there is no access to native speakers (like dead or moribund languages), I’m more interested in spoken languages which are still vital in many respects. Of course, these native speakers won’t be able to help with structural questions or the writing system - they only speak the language.