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[rare-language-resources]

Need resources for learning a rare language? Here's where I suggest starting.

A guide to finding (free) resources for those with niche target languages.

Wikibooks! -> https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Languages

Wikibooks my beloved. There are books for a LOT of languages here, unfortunately not many of them are complete. It's always worth checking through though! Books are sorted by continent and completion. As far as I know, there's no standard template for these books, but most all of them are formatted like textbooks, with lessons, indexes, exercises, etc. Books might be slow to update but most of them aren't dead projects.

Omniglot! -> https://omniglot.com

This ugly little website is SO helpful for finding resources for a ton of languages. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to navigate, so I'd just search up "[target language] omniglot.com" and the page for your language should show up. Scroll to the bottom and boom there should be a list of resources for learning. This site also has some fun stuff like a list of proverbs in various language. I'd recommend browsing it for fun sometime :)

Youtube! (duh?)

Maybe this is a little obvious, but it's worth mentioning. Try searching stuff like "learn [target language]" or "[target language] lessons". Don't be discouraged if there aren't a lot of results though, that happened for me!

WIKTIONARY!! (my beloved) -> https://www.wiktionary.org

This is a big ol' multilingual online dictionary!! In my experience, most words/entries have an IPA transcription and declension/conjugation chart (if needed). Sometimes words even have audio files to go along with them. Wiktionary has a pretty handy way of categorizing stuff, too. Typically, there's a "Category: [Target Language]", and in that category there will be various sub-topics like phrases, colors, words for body parts, and even vulgarities (really this site has it all!). I might make an in-depth guide on how I use wiktionary at some point because it has seriously been such a lifesaver for me. Also see if they have a frequency list for your target language. Wiktionary sometimes has lists of the 1000(+) most commonly used words in a language. It might not have it for yours, but if it does that can be very helpful for learning vocab.

Tumblr!

Not always fruitful, and definitely not always easy to search, but this place has some hidden gems if you keep an eye out for them. Try searching basic tags like the name of your target language in it's language (sorry that's poorly phrased... I mean like if you're learning Turkish search the #Türkçe tag rather than just #Turkish). This is handy for finding content in your target language. Recently I found a link to a site that has a bunch of free dubs of cartoons and animes done in my target language. I've also found comics done in my target language. Also, just reading what people are posting in that language is helpful and a fun way to immerse yourself in the language. As long as the memes have words you're learning!!

Anki (and flashcard sites in general)!

A free app for mobile (though with free there's a limited amount of time you can use it daily). Anki lets you search for public decks that others have made for learning your target language. Even if you don't find a premade deck, I recommend keeping it around because this app is great for making flash cards. They have an integrated format for foreign language vocab but it basically fills in with Google Translate, so just watch out for the accuracy with that. Besides Anki try searching other flashcard sites like Quizlet (though you might need to pay for that now? not sure). Generally, searching "[target language] flashcards" into google will have some good results.

The CIA (well, Foreign Service Institute) -> https://www.fsi-language-courses.org/fsi-language-courses/, https://www.livelingua.com/fsi/

Free textbooks made by the American government to train spies and ambassadors? Released to the public? For free? Wowza! Admittedly a lot of these are pretty outdated, but a free textbook is a free textbook. If your target language isn't on one of the sites I linked, try googling "[target language] FSI course", "[target language] FSI pdf", etc.

Well that's all I can think of now but I might edit this later. Feel free to add on :)

Good luck to everyone trying to learn a niche language, I feel your pain!! Remember that there's always more stuff if you dig hard enough! Happy studying and hope this helps!!!