TLDR: Are there endangered Japanese dialects and are there any efforts to preserve them? Are there places people can learn them or ways to support the efforts?
So, please excuse a nerdy moment from me but, [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanese/comments/1d3vumd/til_ive_been_speaking_prewarsuper_regional/) from u/internetgeriatric got me super excited about something I hadn’t really thought about before.
Little background, I was a student of Scottish Gaelic for a while, and Gaelic has a ton of small local dialects due to the terrain and trade of the regions. Some small islands only 5-6km long would have two dialects so distinct that the people of the north end could ID the people of the south end. Sadly, in order to conquer the Scottish kingdoms, my ancestors, the English needed to break the Gaelic culture and were very effective in their efforts. Today, Gaelic isn’t dead but due to a combination of re-education laws and propaganda, it’s greatly diminished, has skipped generations, and many dialects are gone or on their way out.
There are efforts in the government to bring back Gaelic but as English is the medium of instruction and not enough native gaelic teachers exist the language is becoming anglicized and the dialects are merging to a standard dialect. There are some people, notably Àdhamh O Broin, who are trying to document these dialects and even revive some of them because of the cultural knowledge and value they hold.
Back to the TLDR up there, I assume, like with InternetGeriatric’s story that there are a number of Japanese dialects that are probably falling out of use. I wonder if, like with Gaelic, there are groups who are looking to preserve or revive them and it there are ways to help or to learn those dialects?
I’m personally ‘100 years’ too early to be trying to learn any of them but maybe one day I’ll be able to and, if not, would be cool to be able to support the efforts.
I’m off to go google now but would love to hear what people here know about the various dialects.
by wondering-narwhal