So starting September 1st, I will be doing the 30 Day Record Yourself Challenge for Swahili (and if you would like to learn about it, here's a good video)! I will be putting my daily videos here, and similar to Darija, I will edit all the videos together with subtitles at the end of the month.
Why am I learning Swahili? I planned for September to be my Chinese month, but then it was brought to my attention that my alma mater is now offering Swahili as a course! That made me so happy (and so jealous), so I had to get in on the fun as well!
I'm driven to learn Swahili for deeper reasons too (not solely due to envy). I want to learn Swahili because:
I love learning about the history of Eastern/Central Africa, and Swahili is spoken along that coast (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, etc.).
Swahili just became the official language for the 16 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Now, 24 countries in Africa will have Swahili as a formal language, making it almost HALF the countries in Africa!
I would like to travel to the countries where Swahili is the predominant language.
Some may say that I don't know any African languages yet (Arabic is debatable...).
I have a background knowledge of Arabic, and Swahili has been highly influenced by Arabic.
Ngugi wa Thiong'o tells me that "knowing only English and French creates an attitude that knowledge comes from outside [the continent of Africa]... You can see it has created a mentality in Africa where even African leaders look for validation from the West." If we believe that colonizers were intentional in forcing their languages onto the colonized, then it's safe to say that we must be equally as intentional with reclaiming those languages to assume the culture of our ancestors and our kin across the pond (Fanon, 17). It was illegal for African slaves in the United States to speak their mother tongues, but those laws no longer hold true.
Here is a video of my first day ever learning Swahili, and using every word that I know (08/29/19):
Here are the prompts for the month:
And here are my videos:
Day 1- What language are you learning and why?
Day 2- Where do you live and what is it like there?
Day 3- What other languages do you speak or want to speak?
Day 4- Where have you traveled or want to travel?
Day 5- What regional accent are you learning?
Day 6- Describe your favorite hobby.
Day 7- What music do you listen to in your Target Language?
Day 8- How do you improve your speaking in your TL?
Day 9- What level do you want to reach in your TL? Why
Day 10- What is your job/dream job?
Day 11- What's your morning routine?
Day 12- Do you learn languages in class or self-taught?
Day 13- If you could be any animal, which one and why?
Day 14- How do you improve your listening in your target language?
Day 15- Choose your own topic!
Day 16- What is your biggest life goal?
Day 17- What is the weather today like?
Day 18- What books have you read in your target language?
Day 19- What keeps you motivated to learn your TL?
Day 20- You prefer the city or country?
Day 21- What is your biggest struggle with learning languages?
Day 22- How do you improve your reading in your target language?
Day 23- What is someone that bothers you?
Day 24- Say a tongue twister and explain it.
Day 25- What is your favorite subject in school?
Day 26- Have you been to a country that speaks your TL?
Day 27- How do you learn new vocab?
Day 28- **Choose your own topic! ---> Describe your house
Day 29- How do you improve your writing?
Day 30- What resources do you use to learn languages?