Look Who it Was Random video

Alan King - Size Isn't Everything: Studying Tiny Languages

4,398 views · Published 17 December 2016 · 47:30 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: Polyglot Conference · 2016 · Education

Watch on YouTube

I am going to talk a roomful of polyglots into making the next language they learn a minority, indigenous or endangered one, or maybe one undergoing frantic attempts at recovery. This may seem like a questionable choice. A tiny language may not help your professional career, or impress your friends. Even native speakers may consider your choice an odd one, and most people won’t have heard of Pong or Goobish. It may even become extinct before you’ve finished learning it. Plus, a lack of decent documentation, learning materials, anybody to practise to with or anything to read in it can make learning these languages a difficult choice. In this talk I will ask whether it is really doable, and why you would bother in the first place. As as a veteran tiny language learner (microglot?), I will draw on my experiences working with a variety of endangered and minority languages to show you how and why learning these languages is fun, engaging, and worthwhile.

Join us at: PolyglotConference.com
fb.com/PolyglotConference
fb.com/groups/PolyglotConference
twitter.com/Polyglot_Confer
instagram.com/PolyglotConference

The Language Event
Join us at: TheLanguageEvent.com
fb.com/TheLanguageEvent
fb.com/groups/TheLanguaageEventEdinburgh
fb.com/groups/TheLanguageEventAuckland
fb.com/groups/ThelanguageEventMelbourne
twitter.com/PolyglotMeetup
instagram.com/TheLanguageEvent

Filming & Editing: Simos Batzakis

More from this channel