The African Languages and Translation program of The Africa Institute is pleased to announce the launch of its 5-week long language courses for beginners.
This semester, we are offering pilot courses in Arabic, Amharic, Kiswahili and Hausa to faculty, fellows and staff members of the Institute.
We strongly encourage everyone to take this opportunity and sign up for one of these courses, as learning a new language is fun and gives all of us the opportunity to better understand the people of Africa and their culture.
Courses will begin in the first week of November 2022 for a total of five weeks and will be conducted online.
To not interfere with working hours, the department plans to conduct the classes either around lunch time, at the end of the working day (in the weekdays), or during the weekends.
Classes will be conducted twice weekly, and there is some flexibility to negotiate class timings and days in consultation with classmates and teachers.
The following language courses are offered this semester.
Arabic is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family that is spoken by more than 300 million people. It is the official language of several countries in the Arab world and Africa. It is also one of the official languages of the UN and a religious language for billions of Muslims globally. Arabic has several dialects including Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and several regional varieties. Arabic writing is mainly phonemic in nature, and it is written from right to left.
Kiswahili (Swahili), is a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family and it is estimated to have close to 50 million speakers in East and Central Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC Congo, and a few others. Kiswahili is one of the official languages of the African Union (AU). The language also has official status in several countries in the Eastern and Central Africa region including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The development of Kiswahili as a lingua franca in the region is closely related to its history of starting as a trade language in the coastal areas of the Eastern Africa region and gradually expanding its vocabulary through borrowing from Arabic and elevating its status as a language of wider communication.
Amharic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in Ethiopia by over 40 million people. Amharic is one of the working languages of the federal government and a major lingua franca in Ethiopia spoken in different regions of the country either as a first or second language. Amharic uses the Ethiopic writing system that is mainly syllabic in nature, and it includes 256 letters. Amharic is written from left to right.
Hausa is West Africa’s most widely spoken language. It has more than fifty million native speakers and about fifteen million non-native speakers. Hausa is mainly spoken in northern Nigeria, the Republic of Niger, northern Cameroon, and Ghana. It is also used as a trade language in West African capital cities, in some parts of Chad and Sudan, and in north and equatorial Africa. There are also significant Hausa-speaking diasporic communities in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, and new ones are already in the making in the United States and Europe. The Hausa writing tradition goes back to the Middle Ages when the Ajami (Hausa in Arabic script) literacy was developed through the Arab-Islamic school. Hausa is also written in the Roman alphabet, which is mainly used today to teach the language.
The African Languages and Translation program of The Africa Institute is pleased to announce the launch of its 5-week long language courses for beginners.
The African Languages and Translation program of The Africa Institute is pleased to announce the launch of its 5-week long language courses for beginners.
This semester, we are offering pilot courses in Arabic, Amharic, Kiswahili and Hausa to faculty, fellows and staff members of the Institute.
We strongly encourage everyone to take this opportunity and sign up for one of these courses, as learning a new language is fun and gives all of us the opportunity to better understand the people of Africa and their culture.
Courses will begin in the first week of November 2022 for a total of five weeks and will be conducted online.
To not interfere with working hours, the department plans to conduct the classes either around lunch time, at the end of the working day (in the weekdays), or during the weekends.
Classes will be conducted twice weekly, and there is some flexibility to negotiate class timings and days in consultation with classmates and teachers.
The following language courses are offered this semester.
Arabic is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family that is spoken by more than 300 million people. It is the official language of several countries in the Arab world and Africa. It is also one of the official languages of the UN and a religious language for billions of Muslims globally. Arabic has several dialects including Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and several regional varieties. Arabic writing is mainly phonemic in nature, and it is written from right to left.
Kiswahili (Swahili), is a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family and it is estimated to have close to 50 million speakers in East and Central Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC Congo, and a few others. Kiswahili is one of the official languages of the African Union (AU). The language also has official status in several countries in the Eastern and Central Africa region including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The development of Kiswahili as a lingua franca in the region is closely related to its history of starting as a trade language in the coastal areas of the Eastern Africa region and gradually expanding its vocabulary through borrowing from Arabic and elevating its status as a language of wider communication.
Amharic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken in Ethiopia by over 40 million people. Amharic is one of the working languages of the federal government and a major lingua franca in Ethiopia spoken in different regions of the country either as a first or second language. Amharic uses the Ethiopic writing system that is mainly syllabic in nature, and it includes 256 letters. Amharic is written from left to right.
Hausa is West Africa’s most widely spoken language. It has more than fifty million native speakers and about fifteen million non-native speakers. Hausa is mainly spoken in northern Nigeria, the Republic of Niger, northern Cameroon, and Ghana. It is also used as a trade language in West African capital cities, in some parts of Chad and Sudan, and in north and equatorial Africa. There are also significant Hausa-speaking diasporic communities in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, and new ones are already in the making in the United States and Europe. The Hausa writing tradition goes back to the Middle Ages when the Ajami (Hausa in Arabic script) literacy was developed through the Arab-Islamic school. Hausa is also written in the Roman alphabet, which is mainly used today to teach the language.
Subscribe to our mailing list and get the latest news from The Africa Institute
