Rarest language you heard spoken

[zeme]

The rarest language I've heard and identified is Danish. Nothing fancy, but still..that was at work. Oh! And Norwegian on Norway day
Anyone heard some cool language rarely spoken in your country? 

[Amikeco]

The main problem would be to identify them like some African language, and I can't just go to those people and ask them, especially not when they are talking on the phone.

[Riptide]

I've identified both Jamaican Patois and Franco-Provençal. There were also another language I heard just the other day, but I couldn't make it out exactly because the people were speaking too quietly. I think it's an Austronesian language though, and I heard some Tagalog elements. They didn't look Filipino though...but you never know.

[zeme]

The main problem would be to identify them like some African language, and I can't just go to those people and ask them, especially not when they are talking on the phone.

Yeah..that's always a party spoiler 

I've identified both Jamaican Patois and Franco-Provençal. There were also another language I heard just the other day, but I couldn't make it out exactly because the people were speaking too quietly. I think it's an Austronesian language though, and I heard some Tagalog elements. They didn't look Filipino though...but you never know.

Franco-Provençal is winning so far! Have you asked the speakers or were you able to identify it by yourself?

[RedJay]

Molweni! The weirdest language I've heard spoken here is Xhosa, by my mom and I. (Molweni means hello, but to a group of people. To say hello to one person it is: molo.)


Unfortunately neither of us is fluent. I only know what my nanny taught me.

[Riptide]

I've heard quite a bit of !xhosa too...or some other clicking language. And zeme, I heard a couple speaking it while I was in a restaurant. I was pretty sure that was Franco-Provençal, based on the sound and some of the words used.

[zeme]

Where do you eat?

[hashi]

I get to hear Argentinian Spanish and Tongan quite a bit at my new job

[Meera]

I work at my parents afghan resturant in Philadelphia, and we get people speaking all kinds of langauges that come in, the rarest one i have heard so far was somali and swahili. Also one time we had someone come in who spoke Sinhala which was a really really pretty language!

[hashi]

I work at my parents afghan resturant in Philadelphia, and we get people speaking all kinds of langauges that come in, the rarest one i have heard so far was somali and swahili. Also one time we had someone come in who spoke Sinhala which was a really really pretty language!

I suppose it depends where in the world you live. For you, hearing something like Maori would be really rare, but I hear it most days of the week.

[Covered]

I don't know the language I hear in the uni, but it's an african language

[Meera]

I work at my parents afghan resturant in Philadelphia, and we get people speaking all kinds of langauges that come in, the rarest one i have heard so far was somali and swahili. Also one time we had someone come in who spoke Sinhala which was a really really pretty language!

I suppose it depends where in the world you live. For you, hearing something like Maori would be really rare, but I hear it most days of the week.

yeah i never heard anyone speak maori

[Johanna]

I have heard Pite Sami, which is spoken by about 20 people.

[JackFrost]

Lemme see from a list... :p

Native speakers...

1) Inuktitut - 30,000 (*maybe* I did see a few Inuits speaking)
2) American Sign Language - 100,000 - 500,000 (I grew up with them)
3) Catalan (6.6 million)

So I'd say Catalan with 100% certainly. I met Guillem in Montreal and heard a bit from him. And I was in Catalonia few weeks ago. ASL would be the sign language.

I could just ask Étienne to speak to me in Icelandic (300,000 speakers) if I see him again... been a while.
Same for Mauritian Creole (800,000 speakers). I know a classmate who speaks it. I could just ask her... :p

[Riptide]

I have heard Pite Sami, which is spoken by about 20 people.

What does Pite Sami sound like? Also, how does it differ from the other Sami languages? I'm curious.

[Johanna]

I have heard Pite Sami, which is spoken by about 20 people.

What does Pite Sami sound like? Also, how does it differ from the other Sami languages? I'm curious.

I was 11 at the time, and the only reason I knew it was Pite Sami was because I was told by the ones that were speaking it that it was, so I don't really remember how it sounds, and I have no idea how it differs from other Sami languages since I don't know any.

I heard Ume Sami on Ođđasat (news in Sami on SVT, NRK and YLE) not too long ago though, and I don't think I really noticed any difference between that and Northern Sami, which is what they usually speak on Ođđasat, but speakers of any of those two probably do

[Yeshua.C]

I once heard the Wiradjuri language while in Wagga Wagga. There were only 3 speakers in he early 80s and it has only slowly been introduced. I'm not sure how successfully though, this bloke was part of the language community involved in the revival.

Australian languages have very unusual, but very impressive sound systems. I like it very much.

[Covered]

tupi-guarani is rare too? 

[Renaçido]

I heard Guarani from a school classmate back in El Salvador who was an immigrant from Paraguay. As it's common in Paraguay, however, she was a non-native speaker.

In Canada I've heard Éwé and Èdó at school. My school in particular has a high number of Nigerian immigrants in proportion (although still very few in number).

[Covered]

french creole in africa or something

[Meera]

Yesterday I met someone speaking Huasa (Xsho-not sure how its spelled). And I also just recently heard a family speaking Assamese!

[hashi]

Yesterday I met someone speaking Huasa (Xsho-not sure how its spelled). And I also just recently heard a family speaking Assamese!

Assamese has 13 million speakers though... I don't know if that counts as rare really..

[Neqitan 2.0]

I've become a good friend of an immigrant from Nigeria, who is a native speaker of both English and Ihievbe. I've heard it speaking it with her parents.

If you don't know what it is:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ihi

Funnily, when she pronounces "Ihievbe", it sounds more like [i.xje.'we], at least to my ears.

[motanz]

Mösiehualɨ (Nahuatl) When I was 6, was the first time I heard my nanny speaking it.

Nederlands By some tourists here in Mexico like 2 years ago (Not so rare you would say, but in Mexico...).

Valencià (Catalan) By 2 friends from Valencia, Spain; last November. They argued so much in their language, it was awesome. 

[ILuvEire]

I've actually heard some great languages in Austin, there are tourists EVERYWHERE, especially when any of the big music festivals come around. I heard some people speaking Amharic once, that was incredible :] Other than that, I heard a bunch of Aleut and Inuktitut and a bit Tlingit when visiting my grandpa (who had some kind of fetish for frigid climates, he lived for ages in Iqaluit and all over the place in southern Alaska). I can safely say that Tlingit and Aleut are amazing, but I detest Inuktitut I also heard Navajo quite a bit when this same grandpa lived in New Mexico (he moved back and forth between NM and Icecoldlandia, he was an odd man). He had a huge interest in native american language and culture, so he purposefully exposed me to a lot of indigenous languages.

I've heard a click language a couple times by tourists that definitely wasn't Zulu or Xhosa, but I was embarrassed to ask, so I've no idea what it actually was hehe.