Where Can English Speakers Learn African Languages?
The African Language School
English speakers who want to learn the African language could tap the services of an African Language School. One school in particular has been established by the Caribbean African Reunion project. The school is situated in the Eastern Part London. The African languages taught there include Twi and Ga of Ghana, Yorubo and Ibo of Nigeria and Amharic of Ethiopia. There are also other East African languages taught like the Swahili.
There is a plan to expand the school locations to the different strategic areas of London as well as the United Kingdom. All types of nationalities are welcome in the school. People from all races, socio-economic class and religion will be accommodated. All they need is the willingness to learn. Adults will be charged �10 per session or �120 per term while children will be charged �7 per session, or �84 per term. You can either advance the payment for the whole term or opt to pay on a weekly basis.
The school also looks at summer vacation as an opportunity to enrol more students. That is why they organize additional classes. Children and teenagers ages six to sixteen years old can enrol and classes will range from those for novices to intermediate and advanced classes. Regular classes are spread across a 13 week term. There will be 3 terms each year.
Online Language School
Online language schools is also another way to avail of an African language course e.LearningYelloPages.com for instance offers a free directory of different language course and tools for a wide variety of African language such as Afrikaans, Sotho, Zulu and Swahili. There are several learning programs that these online schools offer. For instance they have the Rosetta Stone Language Learning. This is a highly regarded teaching methodology wherein the course supports the natural ability of a person to connect with a new language. This is learning through associating the newly taught word to familiar items and ideas. This method uses both drawings, text & native speakers to impart language learning so that language proficiency can easily be mastered. No need to memorize words tediously. It would be easy to learn the African language though the Rosetta Stone methodology.
Another language teaching methodology used by online language schools for African language is the Transparent Language method. There will be a voice over done by a native speaker for each one of the thousands of word you are set to learn. One can record, playback and compare the foreign words, phrase and sentences to learn to speak like a native speaker. There is also a video immersion available as well as translation dictionaries & software that are part of the package.
Wits Language School
Wits Language School is another well-known institution wherein one can learn different African languages. This school was established only in 1997. It is a branch of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Witwatersrand. Aside for African Languages, the school also offers other language studies. One can also learn Asian and European languages at Wits. There are also English language courses offered by the school.
Since there was demand from both private & public sectors, the school also offers language studies designed specifically for an organization's needs. Language policy advise is also offered by the school to different institutions.
The school has highly qualified teaching personnel. It only serves the highest standards of language courses that have been based on many years of tedious research. There are quality standards being maintained for all courses and the teaching methods are based on extensive research on teaching principles. All the language courses in the school are taught by native speakers.
Subject Matter Websites for African Languages
- Afrikaans-English and English-Afrikaans On-Line Dictionary
- Classification of African Languages
- Stigting vir Afrikaans