Resources for learning Ainu

Ainu is a small language and resources to learn and study the language are scarce. Here you can find a collection of links to different sources for learning Ainu. If you really want to learn Ainu, I recommend that after studying the basics of the language, you try to read some of the documented old stories that you can find in the links listed below. Some of these resources have English UI's and they give explanations about the stories also in English, but unfortunately most of them are aimed for Japanese speakers. However, I believe that in many cases you can figure out how to use the system or how to download the files even if you don't understand Japanese, so give the Japanese ones also a try.

Ainu Language Archive of the National Ainu Museum (国立アイヌ民族博物館アイヌ語アーカイブ)

• Language: Japanese

• Ainu variety: Several varieties

• Available at: https://ainugo.nam.go.jp/
  Includes dictionaries by Suzuko Tamura, Shigeru Kayano, and Mashiho Chiri and hundreds of hours of old stories by speakers of different Ainu variants. The dictionary by Suzuko Tamura is partly translated into English but unfortunately there are a lot of mistakes and the translator apparently has just translated the Japanese definitions without actually knowing any Ainu.

Topical dictionary in conversational Ainu

• Language: English, Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Saru.

• Available at: https://ainu.ninjal.ac.jp/topic/en/ 

Glossed Audio Corpus of Ainu Folklore

• Language: English, Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Saru.

• Available at: https://ainu.ninjal.ac.jp/folklore/en/

Yukie Chiri: "A collection of the Ainu epics of gods" (アイヌ神謡集/Ainu shinyōshū)

• Language: Japanese

• Ainu variety: Horobetsu

• Available at: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001529/files/44909_29558.html

Waseda University repository

• Language: Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Saru.

• Available at: https://waseda.repo.nii.ac.jp/search?page=1&size=20&sort=controlnumber&search_type=0&q=%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8C%E8%AA%9E

Chiba university, Japanese-Ainu dictionary

• Language: Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Mukawa.

• Available at: http://itelmen.placo.net/Ainu-archives/mukawa/ 

Library of Ainu folktales 1: The folktales of Toshi Ueda (アイヌ民話ライブラリ１　上田トシの民話)

• Language: Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Saru.

• Available at: https://ainugo.nam.go.jp/siror/contents/Library1_3.html

Tradition documentation 7: Shinjiro Kuzuno's tradition (伝承記録７　葛野辰次郎の伝承)

• Language: Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Shizunai.

• Available at: https://ainugo.nam.go.jp/siror/contents/kuzuno_densyo/

Publication Project of Ainu Language Materials by Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (AA研アイヌ語資料公開プロジェクト)

• Language: Japanese.

• Ainu variety: Saru, Shizunai.

• Available at: https://ainugo.aa-ken.jp/  

Created on 2024/10/4 , Latest update on 2024/11/9