African Languages Programs
About the Program
The Yale program offers regular courses in three major African languages: Swahili, Yoruba, and Zulu. These are taught at Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced levels using multimedia materials. The courses are open to undergraduates and graduate students, and the small class size helps foster communicative competence.
- Beginning courses train students to converse in social settings, and to read and write short texts and dialogues.
- Intermediate courses emphasize reading and conversational fluency, by means of contemporary materials drawn from print media and literature.
- Advanced courses focus on extended discourse, and on longer texts from literature, politics and the media.
Tutorials
Tutorials are offered for a variety of African languages, depending on student demand and the availability of instructors. Some offerings have included:
- Afrikaans · South Africa & Namibia
- Amharic · Ethiopia
- Arabic · North, West & Coastal East Africa
- Igbo · Nigeria
- SeSotho · Lesotho & South Africa
- Setswana · Botswana & South Africa
- Shona · Zimbabwe
- SiSwati · Swaziland & South Africa
- Twi · Ghana
- Wolof · Senegal & Gambia
- Xhosa · South Africa
Directed Independent Language Study
DILS supports students who want to study a less commonly taught African language through self-instruction. The DILS program assists students in obtaining materials and locating a conversation partner, and supervises instruction and examining.
