An Azerbaijani Language Learning Resource

If for some reason you are basing your academic choices on which of the foreign languages the US State Department deems a “critical language”, you might actually choose to learn Azerbaijani.  You can see the full list of critical languages here.

So if you then choose Azerbaijani, you might as well head over to this website:

A logical and melodious language, Azerbaijani is worth learning for it own sake. The language and its idioms can be a real source of delight and surprise for a native English speaker. That said, intellectual enjoyment is not the sole motivator for learning Azerbaijani. If you live in Baku, life becomes much, much easier with even “bir az Azərbaycanca”. I hope this blog will encourage and support your language lessons. If you are a native speaker, please inform me of mistakes! A big thank-you to everyone who has written so far.

And then you can learn a bit about your blog-based teacher, “Ms. Colleen”:

I am a teacher-librarian, and educational writer living and working in Baku, Azerbaijan. I am really interested in Azerbaijani culture, especially the music. I am learning to play muğam on the kamancha and I enjoy singing xalq mahnısı. I hope to one day be fluent in Azerbaijani so that I can read the literature.

Ms. Colleen has a lot of really great lessons, and an uncommon flair for the national music of Azerbaijan, Muğam.  I particularly enjoyed her recent posts on Sample Sentences, Sentence Starters, and Consonant Changes.  And she posts more songs with lyrics than I do poems.  Even if you’re not really learning the language, it’s a great way to see how the words and structure compare to English. Note, however, that Ms. Colleen appears to have taken a 3-year break.  Not really sure what happened there.  I’m certainly glad she’s back on the scene, though.  As long as she keeps posting, she’ll be over there on the right side of the blog, there.

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