Looking for a list of 100 topics

[Querneus]

Since I was clearly wrong about there not being sufficient Swahili text with audio for me, I'm not as motivated to create the material. I might do it just to get some experience with creation though.

You might want to just give the speakers a topic at a time, let them figure out some ideas about what to say, and then record them as they speak naturally. Just as it is done in the speaking section of language exams sometimes. It'll be easier for both you and them to do this. Try asking Speakeasy about his experience trying to create some audio materials. He ended up running out of budget while trying to get it done, having underestimated how difficult it is for a typical (literate) native speaker to read something fluently and sound natural. People who can do that are less common than you'd think.

Recording spontaneous speech means that you'll end up recording false starts, filler words ("uh, y'know, uhhh"), and occasionally mistakes. Perhaps you can mitigate this by playing the recording to the natives and encouraging them to point out any obvious mistakes, so that then you can re-record those little bits. While editing the audio, you can remove most or all of the false starts and filler words as well.

By the way, I have found I'm actually unable to read something fluently without mistakes myself. I've made a few recordings of Spanish and Latin before, and what I do is to try to notice when I make mistakes as I'm recording, and simply re-read the sentence immediately. Then I edit out the bad sentence afterwards. This is always a lot better than trying to get the whole thing right in one go.

[leosmith]

You might want to just give the speakers a topic at a time, let them figure out some ideas about what to say, and then record them as they speak naturally.

Thanks for your ideas! I think we're more or less on the same page. They'll take the topic, maybe do a preliminary discussion and make some cue cards with bullet points on them, and then have the conversation. Afterwards they can edit if necessary, and finally create the transcript. They'll be paid per completed topic rather than hourly, so I doubt there will be budget problems.

[Querneus]

Thanks for your ideas! I think we're more or less on the same page. They'll take the topic, maybe do a preliminary discussion and make some cue cards with bullet points on them, and then have the conversation. Afterwards they can edit if necessary, and finally create the transcript. They'll be paid per completed topic rather than hourly, so I doubt there will be budget problems.

I'm not sure how much effort they'll make if you want them to do everything though. You might want to check those transcriptions closely yourself, as they're likely to only partially transcribe them and to not edit the audio at all, leaving the recordings with problems, unless they're enthusiastic language types (which is unlikely).

(That said, I'm only suggesting you do more work here, but you've got your priorities, and lower-quality resources are always helpful too.)

[Axon]

http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/PAST_P ... _INDEX.htm

This website in general has several thousand questions on hundreds of different topics. It's a little hard to navigate, but look at the Part 2 and Part 3 sections as well.

I have no idea how to search for it, but there are very likely some IELTS preparation resources in Swahili that may have question banks translated into Swahili.

[leosmith]

You might want to check those transcriptions closely yourself

A native speaker will check them.

[leosmith]

Well I listened to a good portion of the first lessons in Learning by Ear, and although I still think it's a great resource, it's unfortunate they used Kenyans with some regional rather than standard pronunciations. J really sounds like Y and fairly frequent blended speech that I wouldn't hear in Tanzania, at least not where I lived. So the good news is that I've decided to go through with the material creation

[leosmith]

I thought you guys might like to hear some of the demos; I've received 3 so far and am expecting 2 more soon.
1) https://vocaroo.com/i/s1S62l0lmn1U (no transcript)
2) https://vocaroo.com/i/s1iFCGuErsaA
Transcript:
A Good Afternoon! Habari za mchana!
B Good Afternoon! Nzuri.
A How are you? Uali gani?
B I am fine. Salama.
B And you? Na wewe?
A I am fine. Salama.
A Thank you. Asante.
A Good bye! Kwaheri!
B See you later! Nitakuona baadae!
A Good luck! Kila la kheri!
Formal At a language school Between strangers
A Excuse me! Samahani!
A What is your name? Jina lako nani?
B My name is Tom. Jina langu ni Tom.
B What is your name? Jina lako nani?
A My name is Mary. Jina langu ni Mary.
A How old are you? Una miaka mingapi?
B I am 25 years old. Nina miaka 25.
B How old are you? Una miaka mingapi?
A I am 40 years old. Nina miaka 40.
A Nice to meet you. Nimefurahi kukufahamu.
B Nice to meet you, too. Nimefurahi kukufahamu pia.
Formal At a language school Between strangers
A Hello! Habari!
B Hello! Nzuri!
A Excuse me! Are you Tom? Samahani! Wewe ni Tom?
B Yes, I am. Ndiyo, ni mimi.
A My name is Kim. Jina langu ni Kim.
A Are you from the UK? Umetokea UK?
B No, I am from Germany. Hapana, nimetokea Ujerumani.
B Where do you come from? Unatokea wapi?
A I am from South Korea. Ninatokea Korea ya Kusini.
Formal At a language school Between two colleagues
A Excuse me! Samahani!
A Do you know that girl's name? Unalifahamu jina la yule msichana?
B Yes, I do. Ndio, nalifahamu.
B Her name is Rose. Jina lake ni Rose.
A Can she speak English? Anaweza kuongea Kiingereza?
B I don't know. I am sorry. Silifahamu, samahani
A No problem. Hamna shida.
A Thank you very much! Asante sana.
B You're welcome! Karibu.

[leosmith]

3) https://vocaroo.com/i/s13JRfV9SsgB
Transcript:
A: ah rafiki yangu jana ulikuwa wapi?
B: ah jana nilikuwa mitaa ya nyumbani
A: nilikufuata lakini sikukuta wala nini, ulikwenda wapi?
B: ah nilitoka kidogo, nilikwenda kwa jirani yangu moja hivi,
A: jirani gani?
B: bwana abwaro
A: mimi ninamjua kweli huyo
B: ah huyu bwana ni mgeni kidogo, sidhani kama utakuwa unamjua
A: ha ha ha unanichekesha kweli rafiki yangu
B: ha ha kwanini sasa?
A: bwana bwaro si yule wa mtaa wapili?
B ndio huyo huyo
A: huyo ninamjua
B: ah
A: na rafiki yako juma alikuja?
B: rafiki yangu juma alikuja pale amekaa amekusubiri sana sana, tukapigia simu yako haukupatikana, sijui kwanini?
A: jana nilikuwa nachaji simu
B: ah, karibu sijui ulikuwa na tatizo gani?
A: sina tatizo nimekuja kukuona
B: ah karibu sana rafiki yangu
A: asante sana
B: haya

[tuckamore]

Well I listened to a good portion of the first lessons in Learning by Ear, and although I still think it's a great resource, it's unfortunate they used Kenyans with some regional rather than standard pronunciations. J really sounds like Y and fairly frequent blended speech that I wouldn't hear in Tanzania, at least not where I lived. So the good news is that I've decided to go through with the material creation

Good luck, leosmith!

If I had my druthers, I’d prefer learning from Tanzanian varieties (as I also lived and first learned the language in Tanzania). But, realistically, I’ll take whatever I can get. Just a quick listen to the clips you posted has fired me up. Thanks for sharing!

[leosmith]

Good luck, leosmith!

If I had my druthers, I’d prefer learning from Tanzanian varieties (as I also lived and first learned the language in Tanzania). But, realistically, I’ll take whatever I can get. Just a quick listen to the clips you posted has fired me up. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for you encouragement! Hopefully I'll come up with some useful stuff before you get too advanced to use it