When surfing the internet I came across an interesting site. The Sapporo TV station in Hokkaido owns a radio station which broadcasts a weekly radio program focused on studying the Ainu language. The weekly lessons are released on their website as podcasts, with accompanying printable worksheets. This week’s podcast can be heard for free here:
http://www.stvradio.com/exec/podcast_list.cgi?id=12
(press the green button on the right to listen to streaming audio)
Unfortunately, the podcast is in Japanese and Ainu, but as it is presented in a listen and repeat fashion, you might be able to separate the two. Previous podcasts and worksheets require member status to access. Anyways, I had mentioned this to Colleen and she suggested that I post it here. Give it a listen!
If you have interest in learning Ainu in English, there are some of the STV Radio lessons from 2006 translated into English on this website:
2 users commented in " Ainu Radio Language Program in Japan "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThanks for sharing this!
I am a Māori descent from New Zealand doing a university paper on the revitalization of an indigenous language and i have chosen the Ainu people and their language, as in 1999 i was fortunate to have travelled to Japan, Hokaido for the indigenous conference and grew an interset from there.
In regards to my studies i am searching for information pertaining to the the revitalization of the ainu language. At present, what state is the language in? and are there any educational initiatives or programs established to preserve the language, and are there any schools that teach in the language or have these initiatives in the schools? if so are these initiatives based on theories or philosophies??
if you are able to answer these questions will help hugely or are you able to forward me on to anyone who may assist me with these questions.
Being of an indigenous culture from New Zealand we too were in a situation where our native language nearly died but through the hard work of my ancestors we have maintained and preseved our language to a stage where it is compulsory to learn it in NZ. I hope to hear back from you and if need be liasion with you in language programs utilising initiatives that are established here in NZ.
Thanks alot for your time
Melissa Henare
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