Learn to Speak Uyghur – Book Giveaway!!

Home » Contest, Headline, Uyghur Language September 13, 2010 7 Comments

Foreigners who come to Xinjiang and speak Mandarin are nothing new. It’s almost expected nowadays and few people will look your way in surprise. If you utter a phrase of Uyghur, however, you’re bound to attract attention.

For this reason I’m dedicating this week on FarWestChina to providing tools for those interested in learning Uyghur. Whether you want to do language study in Xinjiang, outside Xinjiang, or even in the comfort of your own home…throughout this series I want to provide you with a summary of information to get you started speaking Uyghur.

Uyghur Book Giveaway

To help make this series worth your while I’ll also be giving away three copies of the book Beginning Uyghur for English Speakers by Renee Gaines!

Designed for use alongside a tutor, this book is one of the few English textbooks published for the Uyghur language. Even in Xinjiang bookstores it’s nearly impossible to find such a textbook. Trust me…I’ve looked!

Published by the Xinjiang University Press and available only on eBay, this workbook provides 240 pages worth of illustrations, writing exercises and grammar lessons.

How to Win:

How can you get your hands on a free copy of Beginning Uyghur? There are three different opportunities that reflect three ways you can interact with FarWestChina online:

  1. Facebook: Throughout this series, every time you “like” a post you’ll automatically be entered to win. Obviously I would love for you to become a fan of the FWC Facebook page, but that’s not a requirement. Just scroll to the top of this post (for example) and press the Like buttom…it’s that easy!
  2. Twitter: I’ve reserved one copy of this book for followers of the FWC Twitter page. Every time you tweet or retweet a post from this week’s series you’ll increase your chances of winning.
  3. Website Comments: Do you really want to learn Uyghur? Tell me why in the comments section below! Convince me you’re truly interested and I might send you a copy…free!

For those who care, I get no benefit from this. This isn’t an affiliate link and nobody is paying me to promote any of the services I will be sharing with you this week.

My only desire is to promote the Uyghur language and give a spotlight to the few tools available to learn it. Please support me by participating in this contest…or at the very least sharing it with your friends. Thanks!

7 Comments

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  • Chris Brown said:
    September 14th, 2010 at 10:21 am

    I have wanted to study Uyghur for years. I initially became interested in Uyghur language and culture when I lived in Beijing and Jilin City in 1988-1991. I took Kyrgyz at the University of Washington in the mid-nineties because that is the closest I could get to enrolling in Uyghur courses at the time. Since I have studied Kyrgyz since 1996, it’s about time I study the Central Asian Turkic language that I wanted to study in the first place.

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  • Steve White said:
    September 14th, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    Can’t claim to have Chris’ sustained interest in the language but in October a mate and I will spend two weeks biking in the Tien Shan northwest of Kuqa.

    A smattering of Uyghur would be mighty handy, especially as, unlike Chris, we have no Kyrgyz at all. Or Mandarin . . .

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  • ksa said:
    September 14th, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    I wish I knew you were having a contest to win a book before I bought my three copies. Oh well now I have one for my translation company, one for my personal study and one for a friend.

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  • Michelle said:
    September 15th, 2010 at 11:51 pm

    This is amazing! I am a graduate student studying US foreign policy in relation to Uyghurs and Xinjiang would love to be able to learn Uyghur. I am trying to also find additional information for Uyghur courses at Xinjiang University- do you know if they offer summer intensive language study?

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  • Michelle M said:
    September 16th, 2010 at 2:10 am

    I would love a copy of one of these books! I am a graduate student at Drexel University and am writing my thesis on US policy and the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Central Asia and this would be extremely helpful.

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  • Mamutjan said:
    February 23rd, 2012 at 9:03 am

    Michelle, there should be Uyghur language courses designed for foreigners in Xinjiang University. A few years back I knew an American who was studying Uyghur there. You may wish to contact the Institute of Humanities through the university website. You can google it.

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  • Oqya said:
    March 2nd, 2012 at 6:15 am

    http://www.uyghur.co.uk

    official website of Uyghur Language Studies

    Good Source for Multilingual Uyghur Language Studies

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