Seriously guys, my brain started itching hard last month about something wild: learning a super rare language. Like, not just Spanish or French common stuff. I’m talking proper rare. Saw a documentary about some ancient language speakers, maybe twelve old dudes left on the planet kind of thing. Boom. Hooked.
First step? Obviously, panic mode. Googled like a madman. Typed in “learn [Language Name]”, fingers crossed. Spoiler: zero real hits. Found maybe two dusty websites mentioning it. No courses, no apps, nada. Totally blank. Felt like hitting a brick wall headfirst.
Didn’t give up though. Stumbled into a niche forum for linguists. Lurked hard. Found one user who casually mentioned knowing it. Shot them a desperate message. Literally wrote “Help a dumb guy out?”
The Hunt For Stuff
Went digging deeper online. Found:
- – Some scanned PDFs from like the 70s. Written by some ancient professor. Dryer than sandpaper. But… words! Grammar rules! Progress.
- – A ten-minute YouTube clip. Some researcher just counting to ten in it. Played that thing on repeat for an hour.
- – An old research paper snippet. Super dense academic stuff. Mostly went over my head, but picked out basic sentence structures.
That researcher from the forum? Actually replied! Offered a weekly chat. Free. Said they just enjoyed hearing anyone try. Score! Started cramming like a squirrel with nuts. Wrote down every single word from the PDFs, the clip, anything.
The Brutal Practice Begins
Started talking to myself. Seriously. Made flashcards. Old school, pen and paper.
- – Greetings first: “Hello”, “How are you?”, “I’m confused”. Learned those cold.
- – Pointing at stuff: “Dog”, “Cup”, “Headache”. You know, essentials.
- – Kept bugging my researcher buddy weekly. Said the most basic stuff. Sounded like a toddler chewing gravel, probably. Felt ridiculous but pushed through.
Recording myself was painful. Played it back. Cringed so hard. Mispronounced everything. But heard the mistakes clearly. Went back, tried again. Slower. Focused on how my mouth moved.
Where I’m At Now
Few months deep now. Can I chat fluently? Hell no.
- – Can struggle through a simple convo. Greet. Ask basic things. Reply short answers. Super slow.
- – Read simple sentences from my hoarded PDFs. Mostly. With dictionary glued to my hand.
- – Still sound weird when speaking. Got the “accent” of someone who learned from fifty-year-old tapes. Surprise.
- – People think I’m nuts or a genius. There is no middle. Showed my language partner (yes, just one!) on Skype. Their face? Priceless. They’d never heard a foreigner try before.
Truth bomb? Learning a super rare language is a crazy messy grind. Forget shiny apps or easy paths. It’s digging through archives, bothering strangers online, talking to walls, and feeling stupid most days. But man, the rush when I said “Good morning” right and got a smile back? Couldn’t buy that feeling.
Honestly? Just start. Get curious. Dig deep. Ask stupid questions. Sound awful. It’s part of the chaos. The rare part makes it tricky, yeah, but the basics of learning? Just showing up, every day, pretending you kinda know what you’re doing.
