Senior Lector
Director, Program in African Languages at Yale

I am originally from South Africa where I studied African Languages at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Later I studied at the University of London´s School of Oriental and African Studies and at Yale. I have taught in a number of countries in Africa and Europe, and my teaching positions in America have been at Harvard´s Kennedy School of Government and at Yale, where I have taught since 1989.

My colleagues and I at the Yale Program in African Languages are dedicated to training a new generation of Africanists who are able to communicate directly with the people whose community and culture they research. Previously in southern Africa, the ability to speak and read Zulu, or some other southern African language, was not considered essential in order to be considered an expert on that region. In the past ten years, however, Yale is proud to have graduated some of the finest young historians, anthropologists and environmentalists whose work in southern Africa has been strengthened by the insights and access they gained through language study.

Courses : I teach all levels of Zulu, the most widely spoken language in southern Africa. Where necessary, we help students make the transition to closely related languages such as Ndebele (Zimbabwe), Swati (Swaziland) and Xhosa (E. and W. Cape).

I also offer tutorials in other southern African languages, such as Sesotho, Swati, Chinyanja, Chishona, Xhosa and Afrikaans. Last year, I tailored a course for an Advanced level Zulu student who wanted to compare Zulu with Xhosa. I also taught a comparative course on standardized Afrikaans and "Kaaps", the home dialect of the Coloured people of the western Cape.

Current Projects : Together with Nonhlanhla Mbeje, African Languages Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania, and with techinical support from Yale´s Center for Language Sutdy, I am developing IsiZulu Sanamuhla (Zulu for Today), an online Zulu course for Elementary and Intermediate level students. Starting in Fall 2003, the course will be offered from Yale as a distance learning course to students at institutions that make up the Connecticut Consortium for African Languages Online. IsiZulu Sanamuhla is an interactive program based on multimedia materials such as online video of everyday conversations and situations with Zulu people filmed in and around Durban. For a sample lesson please click here.

Zulu Summer Group Project Abroad : We currently hold a second three-year Fulbright-Hays grant from the US Federal Department of Education. This grant funds an intensive summer Zulu language program in South Africa each summer for intermediate-advanced students selected from universities throughout the United States. Successful applicants spend 8 weeks in KwaZulu-Natal, taking a specially designed instensive course at the University of Natal-Pietermaritzburg, and living with Zulu families in an urban and a rural community. For comments from participants, and more information on the Zulu GPA see our webpage.

Summer Zulu in the US : Yale underwrites the teaching of Zulu at the Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI). This insitute, which began at Yale in 1993, offers intensive instruction, and is hosted by a different institution each summer.

Zulu Resources at Yale : Yale has extensive resources in African languages, paticularly in Zulu and other southern African languages. We have materials in video, CD-ROM, film and audio cassette, and our Sterling Memorial Library resources are the largest of any US university. In addition, Yale Divinity School´s Day Missions Library houses a large collection of 19th century works by missionary linguists. For more information, visit the webpage of the African Collection Curator, Dorothy Woodson. If you would like immediate access to online Zulu resources, see our new Yale Guide to Resources in African Languages and Literature.

Contact Information :

Sandra Sanneh
Director, Program in African Languages
Yale University
P.O. Box 208206
New Haven CT 06520-8206

Tel: (203) 432-1179
Fax: (203) 432-5963

email: sandra.sanneh@yale.edu