There are a number of good websites which can help get you started in learning more about a language.
A number of communities which speak an endangered language have created websites giving information about the language and the community. Some examples can be found on our Language Maintenance Projects & Strategies page, the Language Documentation Projects page, or the Endangered Language Fund's language resources page.
The Ethnologue: Languages of the World provides basic information about a great many of the world's languages. The site allows users to search by region or by a particular language name. Information includes location of the language, approximate speaker numbers, classification within a language family, relationship to other languages, and vitality of the language. SIL is a Bible translation organisation, and therefore information is included on religion of speakers and whether portions of the bible have been translated.
Here are some universities, libraries and organisations which are good sources for information about the languages of specific regions.
- AIATSIS is an excellent resource to learn more about Australian indigenous languages.
- Australian National University, especially the Linguistics Department of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, focuses on Australia, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea.
- KITLV library, Leiden, the Netherlands, has one of the best collections in the world for material about Indonesia. The catalogue is searchable online. You will need to use the institute's own list of keywords.
- Leiden University, the Netherlands, especially the department of the Linguistics.
- University of Hawaii, USA, especially the Linguistics department.
- University of Melbourne has wide language expertise in the Linguistics Department and the Asia Institute.
- Linguistic Society of America web page has a link to projects and languages and you can search for a particular language.