Learning which language and when-gctid237574

[Michael G.]

Htp. I'm curious about what everyone thinks here regarding the various Kmtyw languages as I see many resources listed. Besides Medu Neter, which are the most important when it comes to knowledge from the ancestors? Should I start with Akan? I hope to learn several and aid in preserving all of our wonderful traditions and culture.

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[Nana]

Kiswahili

[Obibini]

I suggest you communicate with Dr. Obadele Kambon in the Chat room. He's a linguist , and the Best Teacher of the Akan language.

KNOWing is better than beLIEving.

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

@mgraha17t, if you're interested knowledge of your ancestors, Akan (Twi), Yorùbá, and Kikôngo among others are good choices. If you want to communicate with contemporary Kmtyws in various countries of Eastern Kmt, Kiswahili becomes a choice, but less so for connection to Kmtyw indigenous knowledge, per se due to a massive infusion of aAmwic, some english, etc. As a matter of fact, I've met many Maasai and other people who lament that the spread of Kiswahili has led to the wiping out of languages and the indigenous knowledge contained therein. At any rate, your goal is good. Learn several.

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[Agya Yaw]

Pick one that interests you the most. Forget when you hear people say, "no one speaks that" or "who will you converse with?" Those are all distractions to keep you from your goal. If you're interested in whatever language you pick, run with it. Resources will come to you if you're really serious. Lots of studying ahead of you. Enjoy the journey.

[Nataki]

I'm going to start Twi soon. Here in the DC area I made a lot of people from Senegal soothing I was just with. So for practical application in this area wolof is a good choice. But I agree with and always defer to @Obadele Kambon on the subject.

Abibifahodie!

Nataki

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

BestVeganChef;237719 wrote: I'm going to start Twi soon. Here in the DC area I made a lot of people from Senegal soothing I was just with. So for practical application in this area wolof is a good choice. But I agree with and always defer to @Obadele Kambon on the subject.

Abibifahodie!

Nataki

@BestVeganChef, Are you using voice typing or are you giving Wolof grammar a shot?

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[Kwadwo Tòkunbọ̀]

BestVeganChef;237719 wrote: I'm going to start Twi soon. Here in the DC area I made a lot of people from Senegal soothing I was just with. So for practical application in this area wolof is a good choice. But I agree with and always defer to @Obadele Kambon on the subject.

Abibifahodie!

Nataki

My area where I live are people who are from Ghana (Ga mainly) but they speak Twi.  There are quite a few from Nigeria as well.

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Power is the ability to define reality and to have other people respond to your definition as if it were their own. - Dr. Wade Nobles

[Michael G.]

Obadele Kambon;237648 wrote: @mgraha17t, if you're interested knowledge of your ancestors, Akan (Twi), Yorùbá, and Kikôngo among others are good choices. If you want to communicate with contemporary Kmtyws in various countries of Eastern Kmt, Kiswahili becomes a choice, but less so for connection to Kmtyw indigenous knowledge, per se due to a massive infusion of aAmwic, some english, etc. As a matter of fact, I've met many Maasai and other people who lament that the spread of Kiswahili has led to the wiping out of languages and the indigenous knowledge contained therein. At any rate, your goal is good. Learn several.

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Great to hear this! As for what you said about Kiswahili, I will avoid it since its contributing to the loss of indigenous languages. If we all cared about what is popular we would be just as lost as the billions of muslims and christians on the planet. I prefer to use our languages and revive what was lost.

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[Heru Djet]

mgraha17t;237724 wrote: Great to hear this! As for what you said about Kiswahili, I will avoid it since its contributing to the loss of indigenous languages. If we all cared about what is popular we would be just as lost as the billions of muslims and christians on the planet. I prefer to use our languages and revive what was lost.

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I wouldn't avoid learning Kiswahili for that reason alone, as language dominance in any context imperils languages with smaller speech communities. Languages are dying everywhere on Earth due to this general pattern.

Also, language death is inevitable to some degree or another, in that languages are tethered to broader processes of societal change. Note the many ancient languages that died off in the remote past. Further, most of the processes that exacerbate this were initiated by the West centuries ago, and compounded by globalization in the present.

My point is that not learning Kiswahili will not ensure the survival of every indigenous language in East Kmt, nor does your learning it necessarily consigns some language to death. These are macro-social processes well beyond the scope of your single action. In fact, this issue is really a matter of language policy in the countries in question.

Consider whether the language you choose, whatever it is, will serve your desired ends.

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[Nana]

Obadele Kambon;237648 wrote: @mgraha17t, if you're interested knowledge of your ancestors, Akan (Twi), Yorùbá, and Kikôngo among others are good choices. If you want to communicate with contemporary Kmtyws in various countries of Eastern Kmt, Kiswahili becomes a choice, but less so for connection to Kmtyw indigenous knowledge, per se due to a massive infusion of aAmwic, some english, etc. As a matter of fact, I've met many Maasai and other people who lament that the spread of Kiswahili has led to the wiping out of languages and the indigenous knowledge contained therein. At any rate, your goal is good. Learn several.

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Well taken point. For me it is about where i chose to live. And about being able to speak to as many people as possible. I would not go as so far as to blame Kiswahilli over english and its colonial promoters as leading to the demise of indigenous language. The desire to have ones children be communicative in the languages of commerce and power and the abandonment of traditional practices by ones parents I think has a more profound influence. Please make note that Kiswahili, although it has many colonial influences is still a bantu language. (correct me if i'm wrong) and thus speaking it itself is an act of affirmation of ones Kmtywithy. Just as speaking english with its multiple influences is an affirmation of england. I think part of the reason Kiswahili is spoken so widely is because of the common elements of kiswahili to that of all bantu languages (again correct me if i'm wrong)

Having said that I do think as a second Kmtyw language I intend to chose the language of the tribe of whose homeland I will reside in. Since I live in Wameru homeland for now that is Kimeru for the exact reason of cultural indigenous knowledge.

- - - Updated - - -

Obadele Kambon;237648 wrote: @mgraha17t, if you're interested knowledge of your ancestors, Akan (Twi), Yorùbá, and Kikôngo among others are good choices. If you want to communicate with contemporary Kmtyws in various countries of Eastern Kmt, Kiswahili becomes a choice, but less so for connection to Kmtyw indigenous knowledge, per se due to a massive infusion of aAmwic, some english, etc. As a matter of fact, I've met many Maasai and other people who lament that the spread of Kiswahili has led to the wiping out of languages and the indigenous knowledge contained therein. At any rate, your goal is good. Learn several.

Sent from my Uhuru Note using Abibitumi Kasa mobile app

Well taken point. For me it is about where i chose to live. And about being able to speak to as many people as possible. I would not go as so far as to blame Kiswahilli over english and its colonial promoters as leading to the demise of indigenous language. The desire to have ones children be communicative in the languages of commerce and power and the abandonment of traditional practices by ones parents I think has a more profound influence. Please make note that Kiswahili, although it has many colonial influences is still a bantu language. (correct me if i'm wrong) and thus speaking it itself is an act of affirmation of ones Kmtywithy. Just as speaking english with its multiple influences is an affirmation of england. I think part of the reason Kiswahili is spoken so widely is because of the common elements of kiswahili to that of all bantu languages (again correct me if i'm wrong)

Having said that I do think as a second Kmtyw language I intend to chose the language of the tribe of whose homeland I will reside in. Since I live in Wameru homeland for now that is Kimeru for the exact reason of cultural indigenous knowledge.

[Nataki]

Hmmmm, we are the sum of our actions. The world we live in is constructed by the impact of individual actions aggregated.

A great upside to being so-called "conscious", woke etc. is that, if we're doing it right, our personal ends/goals/desires are aligned (if not one) with oir desires for our people, our culture, and our sovereignty.

With that alignment, we understand that even though I might not be able to individually change the world, I can impact and can be accountable for how much or how little I personally contribute to systems and ideologies I oppose.

The masses wait for the world to change around them without embodying the desired outcome, action, choice, and behavior. We have the unique vantage point to recognize that every choice is either vote for the kind of positive elevation we want in the world or a vote for our continued oppression.

Applicable quotes
The counter argument to "my personal actions don't matter" or "just do you"

"everything and every choice is political"

Re the concept of contributing to our collective self-destruction while seeking self-determination.

"The opposite of courage is not cowardess, it's conformity."

For the record, this is an intellectual discussion and a different opinion. It's  not a personal attack.

Heru Djet;238036 wrote: I wouldn't avoid learning Kiswahili for that reason alone, as language dominance in any context imperils languages with smaller speech communities. Languages are dying everywhere on Earth due to this general pattern.

Also, language death is inevitable to some degree or another, in that languages are tethered to broader processes of societal change. Note the many ancient languages that died off in the remote past. Further, most of the processes that exacerbate this were initiated by the West centuries ago, and compounded by globalization in the present.

My point is that not learning Kiswahili will not ensure the survival of every indigenous language in East Kmt, nor does your learning it necessarily consigns some language to death. These are macro-social processes well beyond the scope of your single action. In fact, this issue is really a matter of language policy in the countries in question.

Consider whether the language you choose, whatever it is, will serve your desired ends.

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Abibifahodie!

Nataki

[Nataki]

I was using Voice to text sorry. lol
When I was actually trying to say was

"I'm going to start Twi soon. Though here in the DC area I meet a lot of people from Senegal including the Uber driver I was just with. So for practical application in this area, the Washington DC metro area, Wolof is also a good choice.

But on the subject of learning languages, I agree with and always defer to @Obadele Kambon on the subject ."

Obadele Kambon;237720 wrote: @BestVeganChef, Are you using voice typing or are you giving Wolof grammar a shot?

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Obadele Kambon;237720 wrote: @BestVeganChef, Are you using voice typing or are you giving Wolof grammar a shot?

Sent from my Uhuru Note using Abibitumi Kasa mobile app

Abibifahodie!

Nataki

[Agya Yaw]

BestVeganChef;237719 wrote: I'm going to start Twi soon. Here in the DC area I made a lot of people from Senegal soothing I was just with. So for practical application in this area wolof is a good choice. But I agree with and always defer to @Obadele Kambon on the subject.

Abibifahodie!

Nataki

Join our online Akan Twi group here when you are ready. 2nd/4th Sundays @ 1pm ET.

[Heru Djet]

BestVeganChef;238044 wrote: Hmmmm, we are the sum of our actions. The world we live in is constructed by the impact of individual actions aggregated.

This is a great upside to being so-called "conscious", woke etc. is that, if we're doing it right, our personal ends/goals/desires are aligned (if not one) with oir desires for our people, our culture, and our sovereignty.

With that alignment, we understand that even though we might not be able to individually change the world, I can impact and can be accountable for how much or how little I personally contribute to systems and ideologies I oppose.

The masses wait for the world to change around them without embodying the desired outcome action choice and behavior. We have the unique vantage point to recognize that every choice is either vote for the kind of positive elevation we want in the world or a vote for our continued oppression.

Applicable quotes
The counter argument to my personal actions don't matter

"everything and every choice is political"

Re the concept of contributing to our collective self-destruction while seeking self-determination.

"The opposite of courage is not cowardess, it's conformity."

For the record, this is an intellectual discussion and a different opinion. It's  not a personal attack.

Abibifahodie!

Nataki

Language death is an inevitable reality. The loss of epistemic knowledge due to this death is unavoidable, and has been since humans began using spoken language to communicate. There are ways that groups have used to resist this process. There are notable, even heroic attempts that have been made to resurrect "dead" languages. These efforts and their role within the inescapable cycle of language death, formation, decline, and revitalization are significant.

Languages are also tools. They are, among other things, facilitators of ideation and repositories of epistemic knowledge or worldviews. Kiswahili has been used, perhaps more effectively than any modern Kmtyw language as a tool for the advancement of Pan-Kmtywism. One of the things that is implicit within Pan-Kmtyw Nationalism--that is the understanding the Kmtyw people comprise one united people, and that we must forge our destiny together--is that it problematizes the micro-nationalisms that would privilege ethnic, local, or even regional interests over our collective interests as a people. This is a degree of sacrifice, the loss of micro-nationalist impulses to a greater good.

I would argue that it is no different here. The potential of a Pan-Kmtyw language, a medium of communication that unifies us as a people, that conveys our oneness is absolutely vital to our political and economic survival in a world characterized by Pan-eureurasiaan, Pan-eurasian, and Pan-aAmw predation. Our unity is our must assured means to survival.

The embrace of Kiswahili or any language as a Pan-Kmtyw language will necessarily imperil the survival of other languages. One reason is that, as a matter of survival, people tend to seek to learn the language that optimizes their survival chances in society. A second reason is that smaller and ethnic-specific language communities generally lack the economic, political, and educational resources to prioritize the effective transmission of their languages to the subsequent generation in a manner that enables it to survive alongside dominant languages.

While I agree that our individual actions matter. I am also clear that our individual actions, unless wedded to larger structural transformations, are often limited in their capacity to counter broader macro-social forces. For instance, I cannot counter gentrification alone by not selling my home to a white neo-settler. Their actions are backed by the real estate industry, the banking industry, the home building industry, property tax laws, and other policy arrangements. I can, however, more effectively resist if my actions are linked to a broad-based coalition that has also resolved to resist the enemy's incursion into our space. My point is that isolated actions cannot change the world, only forces in concert.

The same is true with regards to language. If I elect to learn a declining language, especially as an Kmtyw in the U.S., it is quite doubtful that it will impact the conditions on the ground within the communities of native speakers that are eroding that language's integrity. These are issues pertaining to educational policy, curricular formation, teacher training, media, the labor market, economic policy, national policy, grassroots mobilization, and so on. If I am not influencing those things, then my actions, though well-intentioned, are largely negligible in their effect.