Observations of a new African language learner....

[Ekundayo]

Mo ki yin, For the past few days I've felt like I did when I was in Mrs. Reynolds first grade class some 35 years ago. Learning the rules, grammar, uses and misuses of english like every little black boy and girl. Some things I've observed about myself in my beginning days of learning Yoruba. I've developed some tips to assist me in my work:1. move your mouth-African languages are hell on the lazy2. sing, don't say-one of the things I first learned practicing Ifa is when singing for orisa it doesn't matter if you can sing or not, it is about your intent. same here3. use as little english as possible (don't try to mix them-use one or the other)4. use your Yoruba (or whatever the language is) whenever you can. growing up in philly I have several muslim associates. they always use their arabic (to each other and others. when you call their phones you are greeted by some arabic of some sort. they even "mistakenly" use arabic when talking. going back and forth. code switching I think they call it)5. get your hands on everything you can written in the language of your choice. books, recordings, videos, kwk.....6. master the fundamentals. i've challenged myself to, at the very least to practice my alphabet and my tones often, every single day. a quick story, when I was in college I had the absolute pleasure of being in the presence of Theophille Obenga is one the foremost living Afrikan thinkers and a master at Mdw Ntr. what i learned about Dr. Obenga is that every single summer he picks up Gardner's "Egyptian Grammar" and starts at page one like he was a beginner. amazing. there are others, i just have locate them in my notes. i look forward to others sharing their experiences. O digba.

[Obadele Kambon]

I was just having a conversation with a student about language learning. I told her, I'm the teacher who flunks you if you DON'T make a mistake and at least 5 mistakes are required each conversation. If you're not making mistakes, you're not actively learning, you're recycling. Juumte jombul jaam - mistakes aren't inappropriate for human beings.

It's good that you are using the language in more contexts as that gives you more opportunities to learn.

I appreciate your sharing your experiences on the subject and......I'm off to pick up Egyptian Grammar!