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Swahili Learning Materials? | ||
Tags: Swahili | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Lizzy92 Tetraglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4243 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German | Message 1 of 12 19 April 2013 at 11:51am | IP Logged |
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Hi everybody,
It wasn't originally on my hitlist, but I'm thinking of getting a little bit of Swahili under my belt this year. My mother was recently telling me about one of my great aunts who apparently loved driving fast cards and spoke fluent Swahili after years of living in Kenya. Sounds like she was one great lady, and I'd like to give some Swahili a go in honour of family history. So far I've located the FSI free online course, for which the sound files are luckily pretty good quality, and found the BBC Swahili webpage. There are some books-and-tape courses sold on Amazon but, seeing as Swahili isn't exactly a widely-taught language in Europe, I know nothing of these courses' reputation etc. Anybody have any advice or can report positive experiences with some teach-yourself Swahili materials? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6438 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 12 19 April 2013 at 2:05pm | IP Logged |
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Assimil Swahili is fairly good, if you're happy to read French.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Lizzy92 Tetraglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4243 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German | Message 3 of 12 19 April 2013 at 2:22pm | IP Logged |
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Just had a look at the Assimil website and the course looks like it's really good value,
thanks for the suggestion! I'd be more than happy to learn it via a French-language book, but I was just wondering if Assimil uses special techniques designed to suit the way you learn specifically through your mother tongue. But if mother-tongue isn't too much of a problem, then the course looks fantastic. Thanks again, Volte :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6438 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 4 of 12 19 April 2013 at 2:46pm | IP Logged |
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Assimil's generally fairly good to use as long as you're at at least a B1/B2 reading level in the base language (L1); it definitely doesn't have to be your mother tongue.
The course format is similar for most Assimil courses: side-by-side L1/L2 texts, L2 audio, and various notes in L1 about L2. You wouldn't want to use it for learning the L1, as there are some hyperliteral translations (as well as idiomatic ones) that show you how the target language is putting everything together when it's non-obvious. Course quality varies, but I have the Swahili course and like it. Good luck. Swahili's a really fun language. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 5 of 12 19 April 2013 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
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The grammar notes are adapted to suit French-speakers, and phonology is presented from a
francophone point of view. But since Swahili is far removed from both English and French I doubt it'll be that decisive. For the record, I would even prefer it for Romance languages. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5261 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 12 19 April 2013 at 2:56pm | IP Logged |
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I saved a link I came across for a free, online, basic Swahili course from the University of Zurich, with video and audio and English as a base language: Swiss University Basic Swahili Course. Might be worth having a look.
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| Lizzy92 Tetraglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4243 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German | Message 7 of 12 19 April 2013 at 3:25pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks very much to all of you. Really appreciate it!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4928 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 8 of 12 19 April 2013 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
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I have a few websites for grammar references/vocabulary: I unfortunately haven't taken
the time to go through them thoroughly myself yet, but you may find them of some use: Grammar Reference This one has a few other resources too. I gathered these and some others that don't look quite as promising, except maybe for a little vocabulary acquisition. As far as books, I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations, but hopefully those might get you started. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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