Languages taught in the Boston Area

-Languages
-Linguistics
-Literatures

from Amharic through Zulu

Amharic
Arabic
Bamanankan
Capeverdean
Hausa
Igbo
Kanuri
Kiswahili
Lingala
Nama
Setswana
Yoruba
Zulu

Njooni tujifunze, tule, tunywe na kufurahia pia !!

African Language Program
Boston University
African Studies Center
270 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 358-5137 / 5138

Languages of Africa at Boston University

How broad is your horizon?
How rich your cultural perspective?
Is your foreign language no longer foreign?

Looking for classes of a more reasonable size? Tired of language classes where you can’t get a word in edgewise? Enjoy fulfilling your language requirement through the African Language Program. Become fluent in a language and in a culture. The importance and the value of being multilingual and multicultural will become clear to you. Make the world smaller by making your world larger.

As a National Resource Center for African Area Studies, the African Studies Center at Boston University can offer you an important selection of African languages - you are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn to speak an African language and to become culturally literate, with an African teacher, in a small group.

Africa is not as Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone as the British, French, and Portuguese would like us to think. Learn how to interact with Africans in their own languages, so that when you visit Africa, or go there to live or to work, you will have a totally different experience. Americans have been known to require visitors to their country to speak to them in understandable American English. Africans, on the other hand, are pleasantly surprised when they find that a visitor has made an effort to learn their language, and then extremely encouraging no matter how many mistakes you make.

Today there are more and more opportunities for study and work abroad in Africa. Boston University has a semester abroad internship program in collaboration with the University of Niamey, Republic of Niger.

Did you know that:

There are as many as 400 languages spoken in Nigeria and multilingualism is so common that the majority of the population speak at least one of the three major languages Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

In Bamanankan, one way of saying goodnight is: K’an kelen kelen kunun! or May we get up one by one. To say good morning to one another you say: I ni s_g_ma. (You and the morning), to which girls and women respond Nse, and boys and men respond Nba. Learn that the direct object comes before the verb whereas the indirect object comes after the verb.

The Bantu languages like Kiswahili, Setswana and Isizulu do not have masculine and feminine nouns like French and Spanish, but instead have more than ten different genders or classes of nouns, half of them singular and half plural, as indicated by a prefix on the nouns. Any other words associated with them in speech then take the same prefix resulting in an alliterative effect as in this Kiswahili sentence:

Watoto wadogo hawa walikuwa wazuri.

These little children were beautiful.

Kitabu kidogo hiki kilikuwa kizuri.

This little book was beautiful.

Vitabu vidogo hivi vilikuwa vizuri.

These little books were beautiful.

Nyumbani padogo hapa palikuwa pazuri..

This little place of the house was beautiful.

Did you know that Swahili is spoken in more countries and by more speakers in Subsaharan Africa than any other language? Burundi, the Comoro Islands, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Zaire, Zambia.

Find out why you say "I grab your ankles." (shikamoo) as a respectful greeting to an elder.

What does "Hivyo, ndivyo, ilivyo" mean?

In Hausa there are two second person singular forms of you, one kai or ka used to address men, and the other ke or ki used to address women. Through a rich system of verbal derivation, the same verbal concept may be used for two different verbs, as in:

suma faint sumar knock down

kwanta lie down kwantar lay down

sayi buy sayar sell

ci eat ciyar feed, nourish

By adding an -o at the end of a verb the meaning may change so that the action is carried out in a direction towards the speaker, or back to the place focused in conversation.

fita go out fito come out

shiga go in shigo come in

sayi buy sayo buy and come

back here

You can learn why it is a taboo in Hausa culture to rest your head in your hand. Learn why when upon greeting certain people you touch your hand to your chest, whereas with others you don’t. Why is the same root used for train, boat, and airplane?

The Yoruba language is a tonal language whereas English is a pitch accent language. Learn to pronounce the same sounds at three or four different levels of tone with three or four different meanings!

- Yoruba is spoken in Cuba and Brazil in ceremonies of the Lucumí and Candomblé religions.

- The meaning of the title of Sonny Ade’s biggest hit song means My head, fight for me! Orí mi, jà fún mi.

African Language Program

The African Studies Center offers courses in several African languages, including Arabic. Also,the Boston University African Studies Center collaborates with the Department of Africa & African American Studies at Havard University and makes it possible to cross-register for African Language courses. Those interested in a language not offered at their own institution should make arrangements for cross- registration with the African Language Coordinator.

Students benefit from learning in small numbers from African instructors in a comfortable environment with emphasis on their communicative and functional proficiency. African languages may be used to satisfy both undergraduate and graduate language requirements. The core of regularly offered languages can be studies through the third-year advanced level.

All students interested in spoken language courses are advised to consult with the Center's African Language Coordinator to verify the current offerings.

CLA LA 111-112 1st Year Hausa
CLA LA 211-212 2nd Year Hausa
CLA LD 111-112 1st Year African Language Study
CLA LD 113-114 1st Year Mandinka/ Bambara
CLA LD 115-116 1st Year Zulu
CLA LD 117-118 1st Year Setswana/ Sesotho
CLA LD 211-212 2nd Year African Language Study
CLA LD 213-214 2nd Year Mandinka/ Bambara
CLA LD 215-216 2nd Year Zulu
CLA LD 217-218 2nd Year Setswana/ Sesotho
CLA LD 311-312 3rd Year African Language Study
CLA LE 111-112 1st Year Swahili
CLA LE 123-124 1st and 2nd Year Intensive Swahili
CLA LE 211-212 2nd Year Swahili
CLA LE 311-312 3rd Year Swahili
CLA LO 111-112 1st Year Yoruba
CLA LO 211-212 2nd Year Yoruba
CLA LD 491-492 Directed Study in African Languages and Linguistics

Intensive Summer Language Programs and Study Abroad

Intensive instruction in a wide range of African languages is available during the summer at BU and through a cooperative program with a consortium of other African studies programs. These programs are held both at American and African sites. Boston University's School of Education has recently established a Study Abroad/Internship Program in Niamey, Niger. A study abroad program is also available in Dakar, Senegal. Information on these programs is made available to students through the African Language Program.

African Language Night

Once each fall and spring semester, the African Language Program celebrates African language night. Students, teachers, and the African Studies community gather for an evening of African food, dance, and theatre. Each African language class performs a skit in its African language. It has become institutionalized as an event which should not be missed.

Faculty

Zoliswa O. Mali, Coordinator of Southern African Languages
Judith Mmari, Lecturer, Kiswahili