Project Finished (kinda)

Hey,

Hello everyone! I have been told that my presentation went rather well and I'm proud of it. I had copies of the cards that I passed around and everyone thought that the idea was a good one. I wouldn't call this project a success but I learnt some new things and it was kinda fun.

I believe that I learnt more about the culture and history of the language than of the language itself. But learning about the culture has always been more interesting to me.

I don't plan on closing up this blog, especially since I haven't gone to kenya yet. I plan on updating as more of the news of my trip comes flooding in. So I guess I'll talk to you soon with more info about my trip.

Mary.x

Thank you cards

Hey,
So these are the cards, on the back they have a basic message talking about how I'm thankful to have met them in both English and Swahili.
I don't know if any of you know, but Asante means thanks in Swahili.
My dad is currently having them copied onto nice glossy paper, so I'll post a picture of the message later tonight.

Mary.x

The presentation

Hey, 

I've decided for the presentation what I will be doing, I will go over the basics of what I learnt (pronunciation, greetings, basic conversation) but I will include something I'm currently working on. 

I plan on making little homemade cards that have a little thank you note for the peope who are closest to my heart in Kenya this year. I hope to make them a little bit more personal after I meet them but until then I'll have a basic thank you on them.

Learning New Things

So I've experienced a little bit of Complete Swahili, and I've learnt a couple of things, I know, surprising right?

For example, everyone assumes that Jambo is the proper way to say hello in Swahili, but most people there just accept that from tourists and reply the same politely. But its regularly Mambo, or Vipi. These are used for people of similar status or close aquaintances.

Another casual greeting is Hujambo which means how are you, its simple and many people use it.

I've also learnt about the prober names for a woman, they are either Bwana, Bibi, or Mama. Bwana and Bibi are both followed by the woman's name. But, Bibi is then shortened to Bi. Mama is usually followed by the name of her eldest or last child.

Swahili is weird.

Mary.x

Complete Swahili

Well everyone, I tried Byki and it turns out computer courses just aren't for me. There are many reasons for this, 1. I can't bring my mom's laptop to school 2. I need something small and portable 3. it's so much easier to read from a book than to work off of a screen.

I recently just got a book ordered in from McNally Robinson called Complete Swahili, and I'm a lot better at working with books. This book has different sections according to different parts of the language, so I've decided that with every chapter I finish (where each chapter is based on a different part of the language such as greetings, basic conversation, etc.) I'll post a video of what i've learned, like a little performance of the language and pronunciation.

I'll update again soon, and I hope I'll have learned more by then!

Mary.x

Byki

Hey everyone! The other day I was able to download a Language Learning Software called Byki. I did do a lot of research on this and found many different interesting softwares, many cost money so that's why I leaned towards Byki!

I found it while looking at articles, I saw things like Babbel and Rosetta Stone, but when I saw Byki, and heard the recommendations, I thought that it was more my speed, I guess that is how you would put it! I'll add the information on my sources page for the Byki website.

I haven't started learning yet, but I plan to after Thanksgiving is over. I'm excited for this new interesting thing that hopefully will be useful when I go to Kenya this summer.

Mary.x

Hello!

Hi everyone! For school we were asked to make a blog that followed us while we did something called a Passion Project. This project either had to achieve a goal or create a product. I decided to reach a goal. My goal is to learn how to speak Swahili by the due date.

The reason I want to learn Swahili is because that is the language they speak in Kenya, and that is where I am going this summer to build a school! I'd love to be able to hold a basic conversation with some of the locals there.

So, follow me as I make a fool of myself and try to learn to speak something I have no experience with!

Mary.x