Freelang Ainu-English dictionary

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Ainu – Help to revive this dead language

Finally, after 140 years, the government of Japan lifted the ban that resulted in the extinction of the Ainu language and marginalization of Ainu people. Japan banned the Ainu language in the 19th century, outlawed their practices and seized their land. So bad was the discrimination that may Ainu’s were ashamed of their cultural heritage and often hid their backgrounds from other people. This meant that they did not even want to speak the language in public and they grew [...]

The Ainu language, also known as Aynu itak, is a language isolate formerly located on the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido of Japan, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and tip of Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Today, the language is in danger of going extinct with no first language speakers on Sakhalin and 15 first language speakers on Hokkaido, though language revitalization efforts are underway in both places. However, of the 16,000 ethnic Ainu, of which 15,000 live in Japan, perhaps only about 1,000 are speakers of the Ainu language. There is also an unrelated language in western China called the Äynu language.

Features of this dictionary

Download our free dictionary (for Windows or Android) and browse both the Ainu-English and the English-Ainu lists. Look up a word, add or modify an entry, and learn words at your own rhythm from a personal learning list. Click here to learn more about the features or scroll down to download the program. An online version is also available, so you can browse the dictionary without downloading it.

Features of this dictionary

Download our free dictionary for Android! Browse the wordlists, look up words and practice your vocabulary at your own rhythm. An online version is also available, so you can browse the dictionary without downloading it.

Word list information

This dictionary was made by Charles Lippert.

Sources used:

"Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Ainu in Samani" website, "An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary, including A Grammar of the Ainu Language" by John Batchelor, "A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu" by Alexander Vovin.

Ainu > English: 5,065 entries
English > Ainu: 5,065 entries

Last update: March 21, 2014
First upload: January 29, 2009

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