Having been on my Somali language journey for some time now, I have seen Youtube turn from an arid desert of Somali language resouces into an almost flowering garden! There aren’t a lot of channels specialising in Somali compared to other languages and a lot of these channels are intended for Somali speakers to learn English rather than the other way. Still, all these channels have useful lessons which have added to my knowledge, so I’m sharing it with you guys today.
Somali With Abzi – easily the best youtube channel to learn Somali!
This is run by a native Somali teacher, who creates vocab and grammar lessons. His channel is specifically targeted to the diaspora or beginners of the language, which is very much helpful! With over 220 videos, there is so much to help you learn and I wished his amazing channel was around when I started! Teacher Abzi has other courses and online live lessons, which I haven’t used myself personally but if you were interested it’s there!
Somali Language Translation – handy videos to help you learn common phrases!
This channel is run by a native speaker of Somali, who has content targeted to Somali speakers learning English (and some for learning Arabic and Turkish!) although the way the teacher has formatted her videos (English and Somali translations) it is accessible for anyone. I really love her phrases videos!
Afsomali101
This is also a useful channel with dialogues for basic conversations and also phrases and common vocabulary.
Learn Somali
This channel isn’t really active but there are a few useful lessons on grammar and vocabulary. It is apparently geared for kids but I learnt a lot anyway!
Somali to English
This channel is again geared to help Somali speakers speak English and vice versa. Some of the Youtube Shorts are helpful and have useful phrases.
Fail and Safar
Fail and Safar is Arabic for do and travel. This channel is run by a Somali-American (?) who made useful grammar lessons, vocab lists and dialogues for beginners. He hasn’t uploaded any more videos, which is a shame but his other videos are useful and I absolutely would recommend!
Sam of Somalia
Unlike the rest of the channels, this channel is not run by a native Somali speaker. Still, Sam has made some helpful videos on Somali conversations, grammar and culture. He hasn’t uploaded any lessons recently but his previous videos, including advice on how to learn Somali is useful.
I hope you find these youtube channels helpful in aiding you on your Somali language journey! Nabad gelyo!
Somali words used today alongside Arabic loanwords
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Fun ways to learn Somali
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