It seems one of the primary objectives of language learning is communication--opening doors to conversations, travel, literature and media, and beyond.
Many of us have studied languages that have limited resources, are endangered, or even are extinct or ancient. In those cases, recording the language or learning and using it can be a beautiful way to preserve a part of human cultural heritage.
However, what about the reverse--languages that may NOT be meant to be learned or recorded by outsiders?
There has been historical backlash toward language standardization, particularly in oppressed minority groups with histories of oral languages (Romani, indigenous communities in the Americas, etc). In groups that are already bilingual with national languages, is there an argument for still learning to speak it? I think for some (like Irish or Catalan), there are absolutely cultural reasons to learn and speak. But other cultures might see their language as something so intrinsically tied to identity or used as a "code" that it would be upsetting to see it written down and studied by outsiders.
Do you think some languages are "off-limits"? If so, which ones that you know of?
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