Iftiin Learns

Hambalyo sanadka cusub! Are you interested in learning AfSoomaali this year, but don’t know where to start? Or are you like me, someone who has learnt on and off for several years, still dreaming of mastery one day? In this post, I want to reflect on my experience and my journey so far and offer some advice to beginners starting their journey. Aan bilowno!

First of all, why am I learning Somali?

Quite simply, I have some Somali heritage and growing up, I was exposed to the language through wider family members but it wasn’t spoken at home. Before I started learning by myself, I only knew at most 10 words like ‘biyo‘ or ‘istaag‘ and now I can speak a little (although I make so many mistakes)! I’d also love to be fluent in multiple languages and if I can speak a little Spanish and Arabic from school and university, why not my own ancestral language?

Defining your own motivation: why are you learning Somali?

When setting out to do anything in life, setting out your goal beforehand and thinking about why you want to do something is important. Are you aiming for 100% mastery of the language or happy to pick up a few phrases and sample the language? What does learning Somali look like for you? I strongly recomend you to think about this as Somali is a difficult language to learn if your native language is English. It will take a significant amount of time, effort and energy, all which is 100% worth it! I am self learning, going through textbooks by myself, I acknowledge adds to the challenge of learning Somali. However, when it’s got a bit difficult, I think of how happy my family members are when I can understand something or respond. This encourages me to learn more and keep on going.

Consistency is key

Doing a little bit each single day or at the very least every week is very important if you want to make consistent progress. It means that you don’t have to continuously go over concepts again and again. I definitely made more progress when learning every day in the summer, than just weekends during the term. But what does learning every day look like? I certainly couldn’t be bothered to crack open the textbook every day! You could listen to 1 song (for me, 1 song quickly becomes 4 as Somali music is so good!) and TRY to pick up a couple of words, or do the same for a youtube video, or an article. There’s also lots of vocab videos on Youtube! I know it’s hard as there’s not a lot of beginner friendly content (yes, there are folktales in Somali for diaspora kids – but that’s not enough to sustain myself long term) but we need to perservere. I enjoyed watching Arday and SomaliReact and vloggers like Ismahan Dahir.

Talk before you walk

With it being hard to instinctively pick up languages past the age of 14, I would recommend speaking and practicing Somali early on. With hindsight, I would have first learnt common phrases and vocab more suited for every day life and then move on to using Colloquial Somali and focussing on grammar and high level vocab then. It’s because I used Colloquial Somali first I got disheartened as it is a difficult textbook to access because I don’t think it’s geared towards self-study and more for learning Somali in a class. I think if I practiced speaking through phrases first, then I would feel more confident speaking Somali. Don’t get me wrong, I still highly recommend using Colloquial Somali but using youtube videos (like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkqKAYhis8Y) or phrasebooks (like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Somali-English-English-Somali-Dictionary-Phrasebook-Hippocrene/dp/0781806216?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE) has helped me to be conversational in Somali. Ultimately although it’s pretty cool to be able to read articles in Somali, I want to first be conversationally fluent, and I think using phrasebooks and speaking more has helped me make some progress.

Why has my progress been so slow if I’ve been learning since Covid?

I’ve ‘technically’ been learning Somali for 6 years now? But the thing is, I haven’t been consistent. School and my other studies have always been my main priority so during exam periods or heavy terms, Somali sadly takes a setback 😦 I started learning in school and I was using free resources and then trying to digest and breakdown Colloquial Somali as a teenager. I’m in university and I still find it hard as I’m self learning and not a linguist!!!! Also have been balancing Arabic and Spanish and I’ve also recently started learning another, non-European language. However, Insha’Allah, I hope to reach B1 level in Somali by the end of 2026.

Ultimately, learning Somali is challenging but so worth it. The journey is long and will be different for each learner but I hope this post has inspired you and helped you potentially avoid any of the pitfalls younger me made.

Nasiib wanaagsan and hambalyo sanadka cusub to you all! 🎉