u/KenzaVasaj7013

Terveh teile! I run a channel dedicated entirely to supporting and promoting rare and endangered Finno-Ugric languages. My goal is to raise awareness and keep these beautiful cultures alive. In my latest video, I read three short jokes in the Karelian language. Since Karelian is a close relative to Finnish and Estonian, I wanted to turn this into a small linguistic experiment: how much of it can you actually understand? Which words or phrases sound familiar, and which ones feel completely foreign to you?

https://youtube.com/shorts/U0NSc4YHaMY?si=_S8AWPeiIpdY7L_3

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Feedback from native speakers and language enthusiasts helps a lot in bringing more attention to Karelian. Passibo for your support!

Hi everyone! I run a channel dedicated to Finno-Ugric languages and culture. Today I recorded a video where I’m speaking Moksha and talking about nature — specifically, living and non-living things (эрек и аф эрек природась). I wanted to share some examples from my video to see if my fellow Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian speakers can spot any cognates or familiar grammatical structures! Here are a few interesting words from my talk:

1. Ведсь (Vedś) — Water (Sounds a lot like Finnish/Estonian "vesi", right?)

2. Шись (Šiś) — Sun / Day (Connected to Finnish "sää" - weather?)

3. Кулси (Kulśi) — Dies (Very close to Finnish "kuolla" root)

4. Ули (Uľi) - will be (reminds me of 'ole') etc.

To native speakers of other Uralic languages: What words jumped out at you? Does the phonetics or rhythm sound familiar to your tongue? Let’s map the connections in the comments! If you want to hear how it sounds when I speak it, here is the link to my video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/xJBSObBiV4I?si=PH97Cu1qwiPoSl91

Оцю сюкпря (Thank you very much) for your time!

Hi everyone! As an ethnic Moksha, I run a channel dedicated to the Finno-Ugric world. Recently, I made a video showing how to count in the Izhorian language (the language of the indigenous people of Ingria). But I didn't just count; I also showed three essential case forms for any declensable parts of speech: nominative (nominatiivi), genitive (genetiivi), and partitive (partitiivi). As a Moksha speaker, what I found completely blew my mind. Izhorian belongs to the Finnic (Baltic-Finnic) branch, while Moksha is a Mordvinic (Volga-Finnic) language. The relationship isn't close, but our numerals are still quite similar:

fkä, kafta, kolma, ńiľe, veťe, kota, śiśem, kafksa, vejxksa, kemoń. /jx in Moksha is the same as the German -g in Leipzig/

Yet, here is the mystery: why do these numerals look way more similar to Moksha when we look at the partitive forms in Izhorian? It genuinely feels as if a shift in case forms happened somewhere along the way. Are there any professional linguists or Finno-Ugric specialists here? Could you please watch my video and share your thoughts? I would love to hear your insights.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ACdeyQ4bdX0?si=E1qaTtEq3Cizl93u

I also have a question for Finns and Estonians: what do these forms look like in your languages? And to the Hungarians: are these three base forms just as crucial in Hungarian, or is your system structured differently and more logically? Which forms do your numerals resemble more? Please let me know in the comments!

Here you can find numbers in mokshan if you want:

https://youtu.be/bCsbKAtZUO8?si=l4Ugm3zfS1ShwOXb

Hi everyone! Here is a video showcasing the sound of the Ingrian (Izhorian) language through an ancient spell / invocation to the heavens. For context, Ingrian (ižoran keeli) is a severely endangered Finnic language closely related to Karelian, Finnish, and Estonian. It was historically spoken by the Izhorians in the Ingria region, along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. Today, it is nearly extinct, with only a handful of fluent native speakers remaining. Since Ingrian shares deep grammatical roots and vocabulary with its sister languages, it is interesting to see how mutually intelligible they are today. If you are a native Finnish or Estonian speaker, how much of this text can you understand?

• What percentage of the words or general meaning can you catch?

• Does it sound like a familiar dialect, or do you only recognize separate words? Looking forward to your insights! Kiitos / Tänan!

https://youtube.com/shorts/UY4Pb2mf3UQ?si=bf4o24LwqBd1egRY

PS A quick note on the video structure: At the beginning, I break down the words slowly and articulate each one clearly. At the end of the video, I recite the entire invocation at a natural speaking pace.

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a piece of my heritage with you today. I am a full-blooded Moksha. For those who might not know, the Mokshas are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people living mainly in the Volga region.Historically, the forest was everything to our ancestors — it gave them shelter, food, and protection. They held a deep, spiritual reverence for nature and worshipped its spirits. Because of this deep connection, our language itself evolved to sound like the forest. It has a powerful, breathy quality with lots of voiceless, rustling sounds. When you hear it spoken, it literally sounds like the wind blowing through the trees. Since my ancestors knew the woods like the back of their hands, I decided to share a few traditional forest life hacks on how to navigate without a compass. After all, who else to share this if not me? At the same time, you can get a glimpse of how this unusual language looks and sounds structurally.

https://youtube.com/shorts/3FUJOEfv4Hg?si=NkYEL2ms5lZdNrhU

I'd love to hear your thoughts and impressions! And a special shout-out to our Finno-Ugric cousins — Finns, Estonians, and Hungarians: do you feel or recognize anything familiar in these words or grammar structures? Let me know in the comments!

Hi everyone! I run a small project dedicated to rare and critically endangered Finno-Ugric languages.

Recently, I decided to do something unusual to bring more attention to the Votic language (Vađđa tšeeli). Today, it is spoken by only a handful of elderly people, making it one of the most vulnerable languages on the planet.

To show that even nearly extinct languages can be alive, modern, and fun, I reacted to the iconic Russian "Chef asks Chef" (Повар спрашивает повара) meme and translated its dialogue into Votic at the end of the video!

wanted to share this with fellow language lovers. Here is how it sounds!

https://youtube.com/shorts/n6OFLwGznGg?si=NMQSzKlvSGHcSR3Q

I would love to hear your thoughts. If you are interested in the Votic grammar or how certain words were adapted, feel free to ask in the comments.

Hello everyone! / Hei kaikille! / Tervist! I have just uploaded a video on YouTube featuring a short dialogue between two speakers talking in Livvian Karelian (also known as the Olonets Karelian language / livvinkarjala). For those who don't know, Livvian Karelian is a Finnic language spoken mainly in the Republic of Karelia. It is very closely related to Finnish and Estonian, but has its own unique grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics, heavily influenced by centuries of contact with Slavic languages.

My question to Finns and Estonians: How much of this dialogue can you actually understand without looking at any translation?

Suomalaiset: Kuinka hyvin ymmärrätte livvinkarjalaa? Mitkä sanat kuulostavat täysin tutuilta ja mikä meni ohi?

Eestlased: Kui hästi te karjala keelest aru saate? Kas tekst on teie jaoks arusaadav?

I would really appreciate it if you could watch the video, leave a comment on YouTube about your level of comprehension, and subscribe to the channel if you want to support the preservation and promotion of the Karelian language!

https://youtube.com/shorts/a9Nv_ssoX0s?si=EKRWwRLdCX78u6jv

Thank you / Kiitos / Aitäh!

Tere! / Hei! I have recently recorded a video where I read a traditional Votic folk tale (Vadja keel / Vatjan kieli). As you know, Votic is one of the closest relatives to Estonian and Finnish, but it is now critically endangered. In the video, I read the text slowly and articulate every word very clearly so that it is easier for non-native ears to catch the cognates and roots. Despite the simple plot of the story, it actually raises a very timeless issue about family roles and society. I am very curious to know how much of it you can actually understand just by listening!

Eestlased: Kas te saate vadja keelest aru? Kirjutage palun video kommentaaridesse, kui palju te mõistate ja mis sõnad kõlavad tuttavalt!

Suomalaiset: Ymmärrättekö vatjan kieltä? Kirjoittakaa video kommentteihin, kuinka paljon ymmärrätte ja mitkä sanat kuulostavat samalta kuin suomen kielessä!

Watch the video here and leave your thoughts:

https://youtu.be/TxlKN-GthJs?si=qUHs7_e84fuV173o

Thank you for helping me test this! Looking forward to your comments under the video!

Hi everyone! I’ve just uploaded a new video where I read a dialogue in Livvi Karelian (livvinkieli), a beautiful and rare Finnic language. While it is critically endangered, it is still very much alive and surviving today! As part of my channel, which is fully dedicated to Finno-Ugric peoples, cultures, and languages, I wanted to run a little linguistic experiment. Question for Finns and Estonians: When you listen to the video, how much of it can you actually understand without looking at a translation? Could you give a rough estimate in percentages (e.g., 30%, 60%, 90%)? Which words sounded completely familiar, and which ones felt totally foreign? Check out the video here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/aYTa8zDIx2s?si=HQ3Yx285ibVWsGcb

I would love to hear your thoughts and see how close our languages really are. If you’re passionate about Finno-Ugric heritage, consider subscribing to the channel for more content!

Hi everyone! I’ve just uploaded a new video on my channel featuring a casual, everyday situation spoken entirely in the Livvi Karelian language (livvinkieli). The context is simple and relatable to anyone: two friends are having a quick phone call because one of them lost their passport and they’re trying to remember where it could be. I wanted to show how this beautiful and rare Finno-Ugric language sounds in a modern, real-life context rather than just in old folklore. Dear Finns and Estonians, I’m really curious — how much of this dialogue can you actually understand? How well does it resonate with your own languages? Let me know in the comments! AND HERE IS A CHALLENGE! Let's play a little game. The Karelian language has historically borrowed some vocabulary from Russian. Who can accurately count how many Russian loanwords / Russian-origin words are used in this short dialogue?Drop your guesses and thoughts below!

https://youtube.com/shorts/hYlTbWQkJzE?si=jHF3IoUzv__foV-a

Hello everyone!

I’m excited to share a new video from my channel, Finno-Ugric World, where I explore and preserve rare Finno-Ugric languages, peoples, and cultures.

This video is fully voiced in Votic (водский язык) — one of the rarest and most critically endangered languages in the world. Votic belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family. Historically, it was spoken by the Votes in the cultural region of Ingria (modern-day Leningrad Oblast, Russia). Today, it is on the verge of extinction, with only a handful of elderly fluent speakers remaining.

Every single recording of this language is a treasure for cultural and linguistic preservation. In this video, you will hear a simple everyday story. Listen to this story, and you will begin to understand the Votic language a little bit!

If you love rare languages and want to help save them from being forgotten, please check out the video and subscribe to the channel. Let's keep these unique voices alive together!

If you love rare languages and want to support cultural preservation, please subscribe to my YouTube channel! You will find a lot of other fascinating content there about the indigenous peoples of Ingria and other Finno-Ugric cultures. Let's keep these unique voices alive together!

https://youtube.com/shorts/LKEnkDuqiVE?si=0wNU6tcET_H84zUN

>Hi everyone! I am trying to speak Votic again and wanted to share this. Votic is a critically endangered Finno-Ugric language, closely related to Estonian and Finnish.
In this video, I practice my Votic while raising a compelling question about history: why have "great people" historically mostly been men, and how did domestic labor strip women of the free time that men used to create art and science? (Of course, I also highlight incredible women who broke this cycle, like Marie Curie and Lise Meitner).
I really wanted to use this rare language to talk about a deep topic, not just basic phrases. I’ve provided the English translation in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

>https://youtube.com/shorts/Ok0TrZesexc?is=zWlHwcB1A7RXxv57

Hi everyone,I wanted to share a quick spotlight on Votic (vađđa tšeeli), an incredibly vulnerable Finno-Ugric language that is right on the brink of extinction. Today, it is spoken by only a few elderly people in a couple of villages in the Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia.For those who haven't heard of it, Votic belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family. If you know any Estonian, Votic will sound remarkably familiar to you—the two languages share a massive amount of vocabulary and grammatical structures, making them very closely related. It also shares noticeable similarities with Finnish, though to a slightly lesser extent than with Estonian.Because there are no younger generations learning Votic natively, it is classified as critically endangered. It’s a beautiful, rich language with a unique history, but sadly, it might completely disappear within our lifetime if nothing changes.I’m really passionate about preserving and documenting rare languages, so I actually started a dedicated channel about this topic. You can check it out here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/rANwH6iKhB0?si=UIDszTw4_gZ7XTkU

I also recently made a video where I attempt to speak Votic myself! You can watch my progress and hear how the language sounds here: https://youtube.com/@kvfuw?si=wnEBQZJ1cL1ssw84

I'd love to hear your thoughts or feedback.Have any of you ever come across Votic or studied other highly endangered Finnic languages?

Dear Finns and Estonians, do your languages also have spatial cases? Are they similar to the ones found in the Livvi-Karelian dialect?

https://youtube.com/shorts/hDMpTN0m81c?si=PhzmMQd7IkdDAS2Z

As an ethnic Moksha, I’m so tired of explaining to people that 'Mordvins' don’t actually exist! There are only the Mokshas and the Erzyas! Just listen to how we count to ten! Is that seriously supposed to be the same language?? We can barely even understand each other!

https://youtu.be/bCsbKAtZUO8?is=tKO5BbAafPIeZXnw

Have you heard about the endangered Balto-Finnic languages? All of them have much in common, and you can find that out here. Just listen to how do they say 'Good morning!'

https://youtu.be/ArrZhgru630?si=Kmaff1g-AMSLUDuv