As you know over the last few months I have been attempting to learn Twi, an Akan language of Ghana, where I am originally from. To do this I bought a Twi-English dictionary and the Pimsleur Twi Audio CD set. Here are my thoughts on it.
The Pimsleur Twi Audio course is a 10 lesson audio course with a short accompanying reading booklet. Each audio lesson is about 20-25 minutes long and the course is designed for you to complete one lesson a day, everyday if possible. Reading lessons are much shorter (2 – 5 minutes) and are separate from the main audio part. The reading lessons took place roughly every other day. The material covered included basic that you would encounter as a tourist in Ghana e.g.: introducing yourself, asking for directions, and buying food and drink etc.
I have to say that this is the first ever teach-yourself-a-language course that I have ever managed to complete. Usually I get bored or find the language too difficult to learn and give up. The Pimsleur course was actually engaging and enjoyable. It also went at a pace that was easy to follow. It may have helped that I was already a bit familiar with the language. However there were days that I did have to repeat because I struggled with the lesson the first time round.
The biggest surprise I found was that I found that I knew a lot more Twi than I thought I did. I had clearly been picking it up passively from family and friends around me over the last 23 years without realising it. Although I am far, far, far from fluent I think that doing the course gave me something I didn’t have before: confidence. I had my first fairly long conversation with my mum last Friday entirely in Twi. I gave myself a pat on the back for that, and she understood everything that I said. I didn’t understand everything she said though but I was able to get the gist of it.
Prior to this I had never done any reading in Twi. The reading exercises were simple and straightforward. I had been a bit worried as to how I would be able to improve my reading skills (and therefore my vocabulary) because I haven’t seen any books written in Twi other than the bible, which I knew was going to be incredibly difficult for a beginner to read. However a Google search revealed resources like dual language English-Twi children’s stories, which I’m planning to buy before I take on more advanced texts. I also found other blogs written by people trying to learn/teach Twi.
All in all I think the course was a very good learning experience (I just hope I don’t forget what I’ve learned).
Meda ase paaa. (Thank you very much)
Useful websites
Bilingual Babes Blog - has some useful links to other Twi resources like children's books
My next step - I'm saving some money to get the Nkyea Twi primer as that will give me a larger vocabulary from the 200 or so words I know at the moment, which will definitely help improve my reading.
Reading this blog has given me so much confidence that I too will be able to hold a conversation in twi one day. I was born in England but my parents didn't speak twi in the house as I have an older brother with learning difficulties who had difficulty learning to speak therefore the thought it best to stick to one language within the house.
ReplyDeleteI love my Ghanaian heritage but feel really upset that I can't understand or speak twi in any good depth. I will definitely invest in some materials to avoid feelings of outsideness on my next visit to Ghana. Thank you.