Lugha maswali (language questions)-gctid98476

[Heru Djet]

Hujambo Dr. Kambon? Eta sEn? Habari za jamaa yako?

Is  Wolof tonal in ways similar to Twi or Yoruba? In your experience does  tonality affect the complexity of the language, and thus the degree to  which it is difficult to learn? I've had the impression, perhaps  erroneously, that Yoruba would more difficult to learn than Twi.

Also, I've gotten the impression that folks select Kmtyw languages  to learn based on some degree of perceived cultural affinity, such as a  an Orisa devotee who chooses to study Yoruba in order to gain a deeper  relationship with the culture, or someone who marries a Twi speaker and  learns the language in order to more easily communicate with their mate  or family. Are there other major reasons that you've encountered?

Shm htp.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Sijambo. ɛyɛ o. Nzuri kabisa, je wewe?

Wolof differentiates between length of consonants and vowels more than tone. There are tone distinctions but to a lesser extent than that of either Twi or Yoruba.

Personally I found Yoruba easier than Twi or Wolof. The ease with which a student acquires one may be affected by the learning style of the student. Especially for those who learn visually, they may be more successful with Yoruba tones since they are marked in the orthography whereas they aren't marked in Twi.

Another major contingent of learners are those whose parents are native speakers but who didn't get the language for various reasons. Others are researchers who may have a language component of their research. Others may not have a specific cultural affinity to a particular language group, but are simply interested in learning any viable language to connect with a sense of being Kmtyw. Yet others are interested in repatriating to specific places and are, therefore, interested in languages spoken in those places. Other reasons exist, but those are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Sm m Htp.

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[Heru Djet]

Asante sana. This is quite helpful.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Si kitu.

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[Heru Djet]

Asante sana Ndugu.

I thought that I replied, but I don't see it. At any rate, this is quite helpful. I still desire to learn a West Kmtyw language, or at the very least a language that has a more direct connection to 1) my ancestry or 2) the place on the continent with which I might have the greatest affinity. Given that the three mentioned are the languages that you teach I thought that I'd start there, which wouldn't be a fresh beginning since I took a Twi class with you a while ago.

Tena, asante sana.

HD

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Si kitu,

Another one you reminded me of are those who do DNA testing and want to learn the language with the highest percentage.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

[Heru Djet]

@Obadele Kambon, in your experience both as a learner and a speaker of Kmtyw languages how has the difficulty or ease of Kiswahili compared to the other languages that you're familiar with excluding mdw nTr?

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

The more motivated one is, the easier the language becomes. Yorùbá is thought to be a difficult language by some due to the tones, but in grad school I had the opportunity to pursue Haunited snakes, Kiswahili, aAmwic or Yorùbá. I chose Yorùbá because it has less infiltration of eureurasian language in it. That was always my aversion to Kiswahili and part of why my mastery of it has lagged behind as this eureurasian language infusion issue has always been in the back of my mind. In other words, the "difficulty" of Kiswahili has never been as much of a technical issue as an issue of motivation in trying to make pragmatic considerations outweigh ideological ones.

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[Heru Djet]

Obadele Kambon;205206 wrote: The more motivated one is, the easier the language becomes. Yorùbá is thought to be a difficult language by some due to the tones, but in grad school I had the opportunity to pursue Haunited snakes, Kiswahili, aAmwic or Yorùbá. I chose Yorùbá because it has less infiltration of eureurasian language in it. That was always my aversion to Kiswahili and part of why my mastery of it has lagged behind as this eureurasian language infusion issue has always been in the back of my mind. In other words, the "difficulty" of Kiswahili has never been as much of a technical issue as an issue of motivation in trying to make pragmatic considerations outweigh ideological ones.

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Asante. Yes this makes sense, both in terms of the importance of personal motivation, in addition to your ideological considerations regarding the degree of Eureurasian cultural penetration in Kiswahili.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Karibu

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