My own journey with the Yoruba language, the second Afrikan language that I have studied, began in 2002 at a Summer Intensive Afrikan Language Institute. My teacher, Olabode Ibironke, was an ideal teacher for me. The class structure was loose enough for me to be able to ask how to ask questions in Yoruba and from there I had the keys to the language. I remember that before the institute I visited the UW-Madison where my future advisor had told me that it is impossible for anyone to learn a year's worth of the Yoruba language in the course of one summer. She was quite surprised when I returned with enough to be conversant (never underestimate an Afrikan who knows that he/she is Afrikan). Well, I enjoyed my time there and learned everything from how to insult people in Yoruba to how to express love. I also met my future teacher who I would later study with in Ibadan, Nigeria. Back at the UW-Madison, my teacher was Iya Fatuyi. She was also responsive to all of my questions and was a delightful person to study from. She got me to the point of being ready to study advanced Yoruba in Nigeria after one year of learning Yoruba. Well, my experience in Nigeria was wonderful. I studied with a master teacher of the Yoruba language Ojogbon Afolabi Olabode. Every day for hours we would sit down and study the Yoruba language. We went over Ijapa stories by the dozen (Akojopo Alo Ijapa Apa Kiini ati Apa Keji), ese Ifa and itan Ifa (Oju Osupa Apa Kiini ati Apa Keji), and read classics like Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale, Aja L'o L'eru, Agbalagba Akan and more. He got a particular kick out of taking me out to show me off as one of his students. I remember his pride in saying "Okan ninu awon akekoo mi ni!" (Here's one of my students) He would alternate this with embarrassing native Yoruba speakers for not knowing things that I knew. "Oju ti yin abi o ti yin!" (Now are you embarrassed or aren't you!) It was all in good fun and the folks would always invariably end up inspired to study their own language more that they had theretofore taken for granted. I also got a chance to travel extensively throughout Yorubaland from Ibadan to Eko (Lagos) to Abeokuta to Ekiti to Oyo to Osogbo (for the Osun festival) to Ile Ife (where I brought back some soil from Oduduwa's house for my Ancestor shrine!) to Ogbomoso and more! Well, by the time I got back my advisor was happy at the opportunity to have the perfect advertising tool. I began performing Yoruba poetry all around (taking notes from Oloye Olatunbosun Oladapo while in Ibadan) and getting sprayed with dollar bills for it! I got a chance to perform at ASCAC while lecturing on topics such as the difference between Iwa-pele and Iwa-rere. I also TA'ed two courses in the Yoruba language at UW-Madison. After finishing coursework I said I am out of Madison and came to Chicago where I've taught the Yoruba language with a subsidy from the Betty Shabazz International Charter School Community Shule. I'm also currently teaching a course in Afrikan Communications at Northeastern Illinois University with hopes of also teaching at the city colleges of Chicago where I've done presentations on the Yoruba language. So this has been the story of my adventures in learning the Yoruba language. I'm still diligent in my studies, especially since I'm responsible for others who would like access to our language as the key to our Afrikan worldview. So, these days I'm teaching Yoruba and Akan, the two Afrikan languages that I speak with the greatest degree of fluency and for which there seems to be the most demand.
Akan (Twi) was my second language and my first Afrikan language. After my first return to Ghana with my mother back in 1998, I went through a serious period of Sankofa in my life, back to the Afrikanness that I was born and raised with. I developed a burning desire to learn our languages especially after reading something about philosophy of language and how different Akan concepts are from european concepts. Well, on my second return to Ghana I was asking everybody I ran into how to say this and how to say that. I remember after saying the same thing in different ways that a brother, OkyerEma Yaw, told me that I was clever to be able to do that. I was hyped to learn. I had prepared by reading Akan language books from cover to cover and memorizing the glossary. Also I read a lot of books on Afrikan philosophy that I had borrowed from Mama Afia's community library ;). That's where I really developed my love for the etymology of words and the deeper meaning of the language found within the language instead of loose translations. By my third trip to Ghana when my mother led a group of 500 or so back to Ghana as president of the Association of Black Psychologists, I had become conversational in the languages and with my background of a lot of Akan concepts I had a bunch of good questions to find out more about. After the ABPsi conference, I stayed on in Ghana for an academic year at the University of Ghana at Legon through an undergrad study abroad program. Because I was already a more advanced student I didn't have to take the mandatory classes with the rest of the study abroad students but had a private tutorial set up with Nana Kofi Agyekum. He said, "You know Twi, but yours is more pronunciation." I could agree with that. So for the semester we read Ananse stories and poems, or rather, I read Ananse stories and he corrected my pronunciation and tones. Well the next semester I was ready to take advanced courses with native speakers who were studying the Twi language to be broadcasters and book editors and what not. So I enrolled in regular Twi classes under the tutelage of Agya Apenteng-Sackey for Use of a Ghanaian Language and Literature of a Ghanaian Language. I remember his test to see if I was really ready to work on the university level with native speakers was that he picked a random poem (called Deε mepε ara ni...I still remember it like it was yesterday) and had me explain it to him in Twi. Well, after I passed that test, I got a chance to read plays like Afrakoma and Antigone (translated into Twi), novels like Brako, poetry like Abrabɔ Mu Anwensεm, Mewɔ bi Ka, Yεsee Yεsee and more. Also, on a weekly basis I was writing essays on a different topic for each one. All classes, quizzes, discussions and exams were in Twi and I was able to roll with the Twi speakers well. At the same time I was taking Philosophical Issues in Afrikan Traditional Religion with E. Amoah. This was another course that was taught entirely in Twi and for which I ended up writing a 41 page paper on Akan proverbs in various contexts entirely in Akan (which at that point was the longest paper I had written in any language). I was also studying atumpan (the talking drums) with Osei Kwame and ɔkyerεma Kwame of the Akorɔpɔn Ahemfie (royal palace) drummers. This is when I really to appreciate that one change in tones changes the entire meaning of a word. Also, some of my best teachers were the porters, security guards, neighborhood folks, rural folks that I encountered along the way. Through my motivation and hard work in the language I became pretty popular whereever I went (people are always encouraged when Afrikans relearn our ancestral tongues) and I also inspired other Diasporan Afrikans to begin learning the Akan (Twi) language. Since then, I've taught classes, done translations, functioned as an interpreter, conducted advanced private tutorials and more in Akan in addition to functioning in the role of an ɔkyeame (spokesperson) for my mother, who is an ɔkɔmfoɔ. I also taught the Akan language functioning as Translator/Language Instructor for the 2007 Sankɔfa Journey and will do the same for the 2008 Sankofa Journey. I also teach Twi at Dusable Leadership Academy College Preparatory High School in preparation for a trip of theirs taking fifteen (15) students to Ghana, Malcolm X College and Chicago State University in addition to classes open to the community at large held at Betty Shabazz International Charter School and online at Abibitumi Kasa Afrikan Language Institute.
