A language learners’ forum

Le Baron wrote:Aha, so you're starting TY Swahili.

Yes, doing one lesson in Colloquial, then one in TY, then back to Colloquial, and so on.

So, in Djibouti, a regularly available crappy beer (read: light lager) is Tusker. If you like Corona or Becks, you'd like Tusker. I did not like Tusker, but many of my colleagues did.



Today I pulled out of my t-shirt drawer one from the bar we had on base in Djibouti, The Wardroom. The symbol was taken from the label of Tusker. Haven't worn this shirt in months.



Today I started lesson 8 of Pimsleur. If you've listened to Pimsleur in any language, you'll know about where I am: time to ask the lady to dinner, or out for drinks. I'm learning Swahili words for beer, tea, coffee, etc. During the exchange today I heard a word that sounded like taska. I thought, that's an odd sounding word. Then the narrator explained that it is "Tusker, a popular beer in Kenya."

On the day I'm wearing the t-shirt with the symbol stolen from the label of the beer Tusker. Insert Twilight Zone music here.

Found another Swahili resource today, Ling Swahili, somewhat like Duolingo. I'll give it a try this weekend perhaps. I also signed up for SwahiliPod 101; friend of mine had rave reviews. We'll see if I keep it up after the first month.

Deep into Colloquial lesson 2. Nice how I'm getting different things from both TY and Colloquial, not to mention Pimsleur. I cycled back to lesson 6 in Pimsleur; I was getting annoyed in lesson 10. She doesn't want to have a drink with you!

I've also started Swahilipod. It's ok. Unsure I'll keep it after the first month.

IronMike wrote:I cycled back to lesson 6 in Pimsleur; I was getting annoyed in lesson 10. She doesn't want to have a drink with you!

Thanks IronMike, for taking Swahili off my plate!

luke wrote:

IronMike wrote:I cycled back to lesson 6 in Pimsleur; I was getting annoyed in lesson 10. She doesn't want to have a drink with you!

Thanks IronMike, for taking Swahili off my plate!

All Pimsleur is the same. No matter what language you study, the guy will be asking the woman over and over to go out with him, so don't let my comment sway you from learning Swahili!

Apparently in Pimsleur she never wants to have a drink with the guy no matter what language he speaks. And they never give you the means to say: 'Okay, p*** off then, I'll get a drink with someone else!'

Edit: Mike beat me to it.

IronMike wrote:

luke wrote:

IronMike wrote:I cycled back to lesson 6 in Pimsleur; I was getting annoyed in lesson 10. She doesn't want to have a drink with you!

Thanks IronMike, for taking Swahili off my plate!

All Pimsleur is the same. No matter what language you study, the guy will be asking the woman over and over to go out with him, so don't let my comment sway you from learning Swahili!

A few of the courses do avoid the pickup conversation, like the Ojibwe one (which IIRC was commissioned by the Red Lake Band and thus had to have the content approved by them) or the Pashto and Dari ones (which do contain one-on-one conversations between a male foreign and a female Afghan speaker, preceded a couple of times by disclaimers about how unlikely and/or inadvisable that situation is to actually occur in most of the country).

IronMike wrote:

luke wrote:

IronMike wrote:I cycled back to lesson 6 in Pimsleur; I was getting annoyed in lesson 10. She doesn't want to have a drink with you!

Thanks IronMike, for taking Swahili off my plate!

All Pimsleur is the same. No matter what language you study, the guy will be asking the woman over and over to go out with him, so don't let my comment sway you from learning Swahili!

Once you realize that "play tennis together" is a euphemism, Pimsleur changes completely.

Started in the Swahili Grammar book today (Mpiranya), despite planning on waiting till I was farther along in Colloquial & TY. Good first lesson, and I found online at Routledge the key to the exercises. 100% correct on the application exercise in chapter one. w00t!