Math with Steve
  • Math With Steve
  • Precalculus
    • Functions and Graphs
    • Polynomials
    • Exponents and Logs
    • Trigonometry
    • Parametric Equations and Polar Graphs >
      • Roue de Paris
    • Conics
    • Matrices
    • Vectors and 2D Numbers
    • Higher Dimensions
    • Series
    • Review
    • Calculus
    • Group Algebra
  • Travels with Steve-Blog
  • International Study-Students
  • Help!

Setswana

3/31/2013

4 Comments

 
Here is a video of my camera-shy friend, Malebye, speaking some Setswana.
The Bantu language group is quite large and contains many languages across Africa.   It is similar to the relationship of French, Spanish, Italian, etc. in the Romance languages.  They are not mutually intelligible, but the structure is similar and if you can master one, learning the others becomes easier.  Amongst the Bantu languages Zulu is considered to be relatively easy, Xhosa (the “click language”) is one of the hardest.  Most people in the Northwest province, where I am currently staying, speak Setswana. 

An aside: “Setswana” is the language; the country of “Botswana”, neighboring South Africa, is literally the “land of the Tswana.”

Bantu languages have several interesting features.  They tend to be tonal languages, which means that saying something with a rising, falling, or neutral inflection changes the meaning of the world.  It also gives the languages a sort of musical quality.  In Setswana, like Spanish, the accent is generally placed on the penultimate syllable, which also adds cadence.  As one Tswana speaker said to me, “English is flat, Setswana rolls.”

Bantu languages also have many noun classes.  If you know Spanish or French then you can understand feminine or masculine words as noun classes.  Bantu languages tend to have anywhere from 10 to 20 noun classes, and unlike Romance languages, verbs conjugate differently with nouns from different classes.  In addition, conjugation can take place at either the front or the end of the verb, so you have to train your ear to listen for the verb stem in the middle of the word.

If all this is too abstract, try reading through the examples below and you will see what I mean.

Go tshameka - to play
ngwana - a child
bana - children
ngwana watshameka- the child plays
bana batshameka - the children play
monna- man
banna-men
Go bona - to see
monna obona ngwana- the man sees the child
banna babona bana- the men see the children
monna obona bana batshameka – the man sees the children play

4 Comments
Charles
3/31/2013 04:43:38 am

Interesting.

Reply
Sylvie Finn
4/1/2013 11:18:04 am

Wow! That seems extremely confusing to me. Can you communicate in Setswana easily or is English your preferred language to use?

Reply
Emma Denman
4/9/2013 01:16:10 pm

so you have to listen for the conjugation before you even hear the verb! that seems so hard, and how does one train themselves when they've done it differently for so long! English must seem just as foreign at first too, crazy to think about.

Reply
Anya
1/4/2020 07:13:15 am

Based on these examples, it seems like nouns change when they are singular or plural, but not when they serve a different grammatical function in the sentence (bana is children when they are the subject and when they are the object). I wonder if this is always true.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    ACCESS
    Accra
    African Directions
    African Time
    Afrikaans
    Ajaria
    Animals
    Apartheid
    Azan
    Black Sea
    Blue
    Bophothatswana
    Botlhabelo
    Cafe Culture
    Caucasus Mountains
    Chefchaouen
    Chellah
    Church
    Click Language
    Coloured
    Cows
    Cultural Presentations
    Desert
    Directions
    Driving
    Eggs
    Elephants
    Farm To Table
    Five Pillars
    Food
    Free State
    Game Park
    Ga-Rankuwa
    Georgia
    Georgian Military Highway
    Gergeti
    Ghana
    Harmattan
    Home Stays
    Islam
    Johannesburg
    Kazbek Mountain
    King Abdullah
    Landscape
    Language
    Mandela
    Map
    Market
    Marrakesh
    Medina
    Moletsane
    Monkeys
    Moroccan Classes
    Moroccan Culture
    Moroccan Education System
    Moroccan History
    Mosques
    Moulay Idriss
    Muslim
    Nmmu
    Oukasie
    Oxen
    Persia
    Pigs
    Polyglot
    Prayers
    Queen Rania
    Qvervi
    Religion
    Russia
    Sandisulwazi
    School
    Setswana
    Sheep
    Singing
    South Africa
    South Ossetia
    Soweto
    Students
    Sun
    Supra
    Svaneti
    Symmetry
    Tamada
    Tamar
    Time
    Township
    Trinity Church
    Turkey
    Tweespruit
    Ubuntu
    Unicom
    University
    Volubilis
    Water
    Wine
    Xhosa

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    March 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2013
    March 2013
    March 2012

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.