Why 380+ Euros???

[anxious_songbird]

So for fanfic-related reasons, I want to learn Ainu-Itak. But I'm having trouble finding even decent sources on Ainu-Itak grammar (I can learn the script all I want, but you can't write a language without grammar). Which I'm pretty sure is because the Ainu generally haven't been treated well to understate it.

Now I've also had problems learning new languages, but I still wanted to try. So I looked up if I could find books or something where Ainu-Itak was explained in a way that somebody who knows English can learn it. I'm sporadically trying to learn Japanese (which I'm noting cause I think there might be more sources in Japanese cause it's an Indigenous culture mostly located in Japan), for more reasons than this, but I still suck at it.

As you may guess, I found a book that was 380+ Euros. Even the cheaper book I found was 50+ Euros.

...I'm just confused, honestly.

Like did I find a school textbook?

Either way, I'll contemplate buying the 50+ Euro one & hope & pray my parents don't question it.

Comments

[dorchadas]

The Ainu are in a really awful place in terms of cultural preservation. The Japanese government didn't recognize them as indigenous until 2019 and the Meiji government deliberately tried to Japanize them, so it's not surprising that sources for their language (which only a handful of people speak and which will be extinct in our lifetime) are so expensive.

[anxious_songbird]

Awful, It's just awful what happened to Ainu, I honestly have no words. But sadly not surprised that it happened cause that's just kinda what happens during colonisation (which in itself is awful obviously).

I understand why it's expensive one way or another. But my current economic flow will not allow me to actually buy the books that might teach me the language. I don't have to worry about money too much since I still live with my parents, but my job isn't paying me well so buying the expensive book would put me in debt (& I doubt my parents would be happy for me to buy a 380+ euro book).

Guess it's just gonna be another reason to learn Japanese...

[dorchadas]

It won't help with the language (unless you try to read it in Japanese), but a good book (if you haven't read it) is Kayano Shigeru's Our Land Was a Forest, a memoir of his life going from poor Ainu farmer to member of the Diet (where he would often ask questions in Ainu during debates). It'll probably be much less than €380.

[anxious_songbird]

Thanks for the reconmendation! I'll check it out once my paycheck comes in :)