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The Africa Institute’s African Languages and Translation program successfully executes its pilot five-week-long language courses for beginners.

Being an interdisciplinary academic research institute, The Africa Institute is dedicated to the study, research, and documentation of Africa and the African diaspora. The Institute is working to establish its programs that will include a robust and dynamic African Languages and Translation (ALT) Program.

“We share a lot in our history, and language is one medium that binds us together. The Africa Institute Languages program builds its curriculum to teach selected African languages, encouraging learners to fall in love with the process of learning a new language as well as facilitates a platform to better understand each other and our culture,” said  Binyam Sisay Mendisu, Associate Professor of African Languages and Linguistics, The Africa Institute.

Starting earlier this November 2022, the ongoing program features selected languages, namely Arabic, Amharic, Kiswahili, and Hausa, that were made available to a preliminary group of over 25 participants. Each language program was dedicated to 15 hours of coursework.

The program comprises two levels of Arabic; Arabic I and Arabic II, designed for beginner and intermediate levels respectively. Arabic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family that is spoken by more than 300 million people. Moreover, it is the official language of several countries in the Arab world and Africa. Arabic was taught by Dr. Munther A. Younes & Dr. Bilal Al-Omar from Akadimiayyat Arabiyyat al-Naas.

The second language taught was Kiswahili (Swahili), 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. The comprehensive 15-hour course was taught by Professor Aldin Mutembei,Institute for Kiswahili Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam.

The third language offered was Amharic, 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. The course was taught by Binyam Sisay Mendisu, The Africa Institute.

The fourth language was West Africa’s most widely spoken language, Hausa. 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 the 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 program was taught by Aliyu Mustapha Lawal, Lecturer, African Languages and Translation, The Africa Institute. 

“This was a good opportunity for the program to run different courses in different modalities (online, face-to-face and hybrid) and it took stock of the learnings from the pilot stage to improve its programing and delivery,” added Professor Mendisu.

The Africa Institute’s African Languages and Translation program successfully executes its pilot five-week-long language courses for beginners.

The Africa Institute’s African Languages and Translation program successfully executes its pilot five-week-long language courses for beginners.

Being an interdisciplinary academic research institute, The Africa Institute is dedicated to the study, research, and documentation of Africa and the African diaspora. The Institute is working to establish its programs that will include a robust and dynamic African Languages and Translation (ALT) Program.

“We share a lot in our history, and language is one medium that binds us together. The Africa Institute Languages program builds its curriculum to teach selected African languages, encouraging learners to fall in love with the process of learning a new language as well as facilitates a platform to better understand each other and our culture,” said  Binyam Sisay Mendisu, Associate Professor of African Languages and Linguistics, The Africa Institute.

Starting earlier this November 2022, the ongoing program features selected languages, namely Arabic, Amharic, Kiswahili, and Hausa, that were made available to a preliminary group of over 25 participants. Each language program was dedicated to 15 hours of coursework.

The program comprises two levels of Arabic; Arabic I and Arabic II, designed for beginner and intermediate levels respectively. Arabic is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family that is spoken by more than 300 million people. Moreover, it is the official language of several countries in the Arab world and Africa. Arabic was taught by Dr. Munther A. Younes & Dr. Bilal Al-Omar from Akadimiayyat Arabiyyat al-Naas.

The second language taught was Kiswahili (Swahili), 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. The comprehensive 15-hour course was taught by Professor Aldin Mutembei,Institute for Kiswahili Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam.

The third language offered was Amharic, 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. The course was taught by Binyam Sisay Mendisu, The Africa Institute.

The fourth language was West Africa’s most widely spoken language, Hausa. 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 the 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 program was taught by Aliyu Mustapha Lawal, Lecturer, African Languages and Translation, The Africa Institute. 

“This was a good opportunity for the program to run different courses in different modalities (online, face-to-face and hybrid) and it took stock of the learnings from the pilot stage to improve its programing and delivery,” added Professor Mendisu.

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