#gadangme

[dangmelearner]

jɔlehi - boyfriends

[dangmelearner]

Mawu na la a, nɛ la a muɔ e hɛ. - Dangme Bible

“And God saw the light, that it was good.” -KJV

[dangmelearner]

akpasotsɛ - wizard

[dangmelearner]

I met my Dangme teacher first time face to face. It’s funny to know someone for years before actually seeing them face to face.

I was able to speak some Dangme with him and also introduced him to my boss who finally agreed to speak some Dangme. We have only been using English for some reason.

So excellent oral practice day. Really boosted my morale. I feel like I’m getting somewhere.

[dangmelearner]

20 days language learnign challenge

Day 13: How many languages are spoken in your country?

In my country of origin we have two official language: Finnish and Swedish. In some parts of Finland Sami is also a national language.

My current home country (I’m hoping to get citizenship) Ghana has about 80 languages. Governement promotes 11 of those. They are:

Akuapem Twi

Asante Twi

Fante

Dagaare

Dagbanli

Ewe

Dangme

Ga

Nzema

Gonja

Kasem

I am actively learnign Dangme and passively Fante (meaning I’m just catching some phrases from my friends but not really making any effort.) I used to study akuapem Twi (through Ma Yensua Twi book) and Ashanti Twi (through Pimsleur Twi) but didn’t get very far.

Today I went to church and after that studied some policy documents for work (and fell asleep doing so. 💯 would recommend for insomnia).

Then we went for a long walk and I was teaching my child some Finnish through “I spy with my little eye “ while doing so.

And While my kids were playing at basketball court I did a bit of Anki but not a whole lot.

Here’s a picture of the place where I studied. My child calls this her favorite tree. She talk to her (yes, a girl tree) and waters her every time she comes here. ❤️

Then I had a call with my mom. Always good to talk with mom. Miss her. It’s hard to live in a different continent than your family sometimes. 😭 Anyway, kids got to practice their Finnish with grand mum. That’s always good.

I’m so bad at remembering to use Finnish. English just comes easier for some reason. Like my brain is reprogrammed. If I try to even write a diary in Finnish it just takes so much longer and I can’t find the words to express myself. Weird. Not good. Have to re-learn my own goddamn mother tongue.

Now I think I will watch the Jesus movie in Dangme and maybe some Finnish content too and call it a day.

[dangmelearner]

20 days language learning challenge

1st day

Day 1: Which languages can you speak besides your native language

- I can speak English pretty well. :)

- I can speak a bit of Swedish and French. Like I think I could order food. Then again I might not understand their response😅 (Edit: i take that back. I would need a refresher course in Swedish. But not now. Right now my target language is Dangme.)

- I can speak Dangme like a three year old. Pointing at objects babbling endearingly.

Image description: pile of notebooks and two bibles.

[dangmelearner]

Post inspired by the video above.

Study like it’s 1999.

📚 Get yourself a big ass dictionary and any book you can take hold of. Actual. Book. And chances are you won’t find one you actually enjoy, so suck it up.

💿 Then add a cassette or a cd to the picture. Hope it’s a good one. You will be listening to that bad boy again and again and again and again…

✉️ If you’re really adventurous look for a penpal. Overseas penpals was a thing. It was exiting to write the letter using a dictionary, walk to post office to send it (and hope your mom gave you enough money for the stamps because it would depend on the weight of the letter and you would have no clue) and then wait for a month for the letter to come back from Egypt.

⌨️Or you could have correspondence via email if you were into computers. I hated computers back in the 90s. I used to say I would never touch one. Oh how the turns table.

📻 Long wave radio stations was a thing. I used to listen to Russian stations for fun. Didn’t really learn anything.

📼If you were learnign something commmon like French or English you might some vhs from the rental store. Learnign Swahili? Fat chance.

Those were the days.

🗺️ I’m still kinda stuck in the 90s in that the language I learn doesn’t have much online resources. But there are some. And imagine if I had tried learnign Dangme in the 90s. Would have had to move to Ghana to do that! … oh wait… I did move to Ghana…

[dangmelearner]

My Dangme learning journey and how to learn rare languages.

Circa 2006 i got a little tourist vocab. And i mean it when I say little. It’s ridiculously small and, to be frank, sucks. Really bad. I had no idea how to learn a language with so little resources and my husband was not helpful so I just learnt a handfull of survival phrases.

Things got slightly better when we moved to Ghana. But then we did not stay in Dangme area and so my interaction with the language was limited.

A few years ago one person began to teach Dangme in youtube and I started again. He makes helpful little vocabulary drills. He even organised a WhatsApp group where Dangme learners can come together to learn together.

Here are some other resources I have:

Grammar: I have found some academic articles about the grammar and this has been revelational. If you’re studying a small language definitely go to Google scholar to look for articles.

Vocabulary: I only resently found a sort of dictionary for Dangme. Well, its a pdf glossary but I tell you, this is a game changer. Another helpful source is glosbe. They have a database of texts that exist in Dangme and English. Very helpful.

Listening comprehension: comprehensible input videos are kinda hard to find but some great sources are religious materials (mainly JW and Jesus film) and some medical outreach videos.

Reading comprehension: I have found reading Bible is my best option. I know the stories by heart pretty much so there’s that. I also ordered a few children’s books from Booknook but they are stories that I’m not familiar with and the language is surprisingly tricky. I will hold on to those and use them when I have a bit more practice under my wings.

Speech production: I meet my in laws a couple of times a year and they are the best people to practice with because they won’t slip into using English. The younger Dangme speakers usually know English and won’t insist on using Dangme which makes it too easy to just switch to English.

Bonus: I try to keep the studies interesting by combining it to my other interests, namely drawing and fandoms. I wish I studied a language with more interesting sources like blockbuster movies and dubbed series but alas, that is not my path. (Sometimes I take a break and do something fun in French. Oh the options are endless.)