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I love exotic languages as much as I love travelling so one destination I'm considering for my next trip is Pakistan where a language famous to linguists for not being related to any other language is spoken in some areas.

Burushaski on Wikipedia | Burushaski phrasebook stub on Wikivoyage

Apparently it is spoken in the Hunza Valley region, parts of Nagar, Kashmir and Ghizer areas.

What I'd like to know but haven't had much success finding out, is whether some language teaching opportunities exist in any of these areas, such as a course or a known teacher.

This might involve knowing which of these areas is most accustomed to tourism and in which areas the language is most prevalent in day-to-day life.

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    This may help burushaskiresearchacademy.org
    – Nean Der Thal
    Dec 24, 2012 at 23:26
  • your question is not clear to me. Are you looking for teaching opportunities there or you want to learn this language from a teacher?
    – TheTechGuy
    Dec 25, 2012 at 19:36
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    @kkk: I want to study the language from at least a native speaker with a knack for teaching, but maybe there is some kind of place set up.
    – hippietrail
    Dec 25, 2012 at 20:22
  • Would you accept video lessons? :/
    – Mark Mayo
    Jan 30, 2013 at 5:28
  • As a comment sure. But I never learned a language through online lessons alone.
    – hippietrail
    Jan 30, 2013 at 5:42

2 Answers 2

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I am very interested in this question since I love languages myself. I spent quite a long time trying to find an answer, searching all over the internet using English, Arabic and some Urdu. Unfortunately I found no teacher, course or school. However, I found the Burushaski language page in the Endangered Languages Project site, which led me to the Burushaski Language Documentation Project page, and that led me to the members who contributed to this project.

I have managed to get in touch with two of the members. It turns out that Burushaski is an oral language and no school or any academic institution teaches using that language and there are also no schools to teach the language to people who want to learn it. That does not mean you are not able to learn the language, locals will be very happy to teach you Burushaski, and you will be able to find many people who speak English there. So I suggest once you arrive try to befriend a local who speaks English and learn it from him/her. According to the Burushaski native I was in touch with this should be easy and welcomed as well.

Thanks to Mr. Piar Karim for helping me in providing the answer.

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    Thanks for your efforts Halaba! I want to point out though that sometimes endangered or minority languages have non-academic community run schools where local elders who know the community language try to teach it to community members who ignored it in favour of a dominant national language in their youth and now regret it, and to try to pass it on to the next generation. I have no idea if this is the case with Burushaski. Just pointing out that your line of reasoning certainly doesn't apply in all minority/local language areas.
    – hippietrail
    Feb 24, 2013 at 0:25
  • Who is Halaba ;)
    – Nean Der Thal
    Feb 24, 2013 at 13:27
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    @hippietrail edited the question to make it more clear. I did not mean to speak in general I meant it explicitly to this language but my great English skills made it look like I was generalizing :)
    – Nean Der Thal
    Feb 24, 2013 at 13:35
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I am native Burushaski speaker but unfortunately we can't afford schools to teach Burushaski. The best way to learn such a language to work and live with locals and I would recommend Hunza (Karimabad, Aliabad) where you can find people who are interested in learning your language and in exchange they can help you learning Burushaski.

We have an organization called BADA in Karimabad, Hunza and they have contributed a lot to Burushaski in past decades. Probably, Allama Haji Nasir Hunzai has started it.

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