LLH Archive / field notes on language

Language,
in the wild.

Essays, practical guides and language records for people who want to understand what they are learning, not only complete another lesson.

Free Resources on Endangered Languages 9 min Jan 26, 2026

From the Brink of Extinction: The Return of the Eyak Language

TL;DR: Once declared extinct, the Eyak language is finding its voice again. Through documentation, technology, and community effort. It’s not…

Free Resources on Endangered Languages 13 min Jan 26, 2026

TL;DR: Xinca is a distinct Indigenous language and people of southeastern Guatemala who were wrongly pushed out of the national…

Free Resources on Endangered Languages 10 min Jan 23, 2026

TL;DR: Cornish didn’t die; it was pushed out. Then brought back. After centuries of decline, people like Henry Jenner and…

Learn russian for free 10 min Jan 23, 2026

TL;DR: Perfect grammar won’t make your Russian sound natural. Fillers will. Real Russian uses words like ну, типа, and короче…

Free Resources on Endangered Languages 12 min Jan 22, 2026

TL;DR: What if a language worked with almost no sounds? Rotokas proves it can. Spoken on Bougainville Island, the Rotokas…

Learn russian for free 9 min Jan 22, 2026

TL;DR: You don’t need a partner to improve your Russian speaking. You need the right system. Speaking is what turns…

Learn russian for free 10 min Jan 21, 2026

TL;DR: Russian listening feels hard because speech doesn’t match what you learned. Sounds blur, stress shifts, and words change. The…

Learn russian for free 10 min Jan 21, 2026

TL;DR: You don’t need fluent Russian to travel. You need the right phrases. A small set of practical expressions helps…

Learn russian for free 12 min Jan 20, 2026

TL;DR: Understanding spoken Russian isn’t about learning more words. It’s about training your ear for real speech. Russian sounds fast…

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