Has anyone here managed to learn somali later on in life?

[abdi_]

I find myself once more at this cross road. I am 29 years old. I have accomplished most of what I have put my mind to, except for this.

I resolved to learn it twice so far and have failed twice. I dont know where I am going wrong. my social circle consists of people who speak English and two other languages, neither of which are Somali.

I have tried to remedy this many times, it seems England's Somalis and I just repel one another, I dont know what to do.

I am constantly told to mesh with Somali people, to speak with them but its not school days anymore, and finding a Somali person at my work place or neighbourhood is just never going to happen.

Registering to this forum, is my sheepish attempt at solving this problem.

Has anyone actually managed to do this, I mean to go from a complete transplant to a certified Haji.

 

[AlIshaaqi]

I find myself once more at this cross road. I am 29 years old. I have accomplished most of what I have put my mind to, except for this.

I resolved to learn it twice so far and have failed twice. I dont know where I am going wrong. my social circle consists of people who speak English and two other languages, neither of which are Somali.

I have tried to remedy this many times, it seems England's Somalis and I just repel one another, I dont know what to do.

I am constantly told to mesh with Somali people, to speak with them but its not school days anymore, and finding a Somali person at my work place or neighbourhood is just never going to happen.

Registering to this forum, is my sheepish attempt at solving this problem.

Has anyone actually managed to do this, I mean to go from a complete transplant to a certified Haji.

My somali became significantly better after I spent time with somali people. It was incidental due to work, I spent 2 years speaking somali with somalis so I became better at it.

 

[abdi_]

Yes, I suspect this is the case too. I have joined a several Somali meet up groups, I am anticapting the first meeting lol.

Did you find a common dilect that most Somalis use? I usually come across one dialect, which I understand well enough but occasionally I will come across that one guy who speaks a completely foreign Somali and they often speak very fast. I just nod and carry on...

 

[AlIshaaqi]

Yes, I suspect this is the case too. I have joined a several Somali meet up groups, I am anticapting the first meeting lol.

Did you find a common dilect that most Somalis use? I usually come across one dialect, which I understand well enough but occasionally I will come across that one guy who speaks a completely foreign Somali and they often speak very fast. I just nod and carry on...

Most somalis in my area and those I came across are from the south, but in Somalilander. I still retained my accent and the vocabaulary im used to so I speak af waqooyi, my somali just became better.

It's best if u spend time with older somalis, u will learn better then. Try going to somali masjids and speak to uncles there, get involved in the community more and u will automatically get better.

When I was a teenager I saw some of my friends started hanging out with ''FOBs'' and they became very good at somali and essentialy became almost ''FOBs'' themselves despite being born and grown up in the west lol.

 

[abdi_]

Thank you for answering my question, I do appreciate it.

>It's best if u spend time with older somalis, u will learn better then. Try going to somali masjids and speak to uncles there, get involved in the community more and u will automatically get better.

I will keep this in mind for sure.

When you say 'most Somalis in my area are from the south'. Are you residing in Somalia? I am trying to determine what proportion of this community actually lives in Somalia. Most speak English here so its hard to tell, I suppose it could be out of expedience though.

What are FOBs?

 

[AlIshaaqi]

Thank you for answering my question, I do appreciate it.

I will keep this in mind for sure.

When you say 'most Somalis in my area are from the south'. Are you residing in Somalia? I am trying to determine what proportion of this community actually lives in Somalia. Most speak English here so its hard to tell, I suppose it could be out of expedience though.

What are FOBs?

No I meant as the area I live in. I live in the west.

Most people on this forum are westerners. FOB = Fresh of the boat meaning the are recent migrants to the west.

 

[NidarNidar]

My Somali was saved by talking to my grandmother, I routinely go back home for 3-4 weeks every few years, and immerse myself in it, I push my siblings to all speak Somali when we're together.

 

[abdi_]

Okay I get it now. cheers!

 

[queasyian]

any update on a plan sxb? in the same boat and age, and going to somalia for more than 2 weeks isn't feasible giving the only holidays permitted are 25-30 days ( as is generally for most employees in the west)

 

[Idilinaa]

You are not going to learn Somali via this forum , unfortunately. You can become expert fluent in any language in your adult life, if you understand the basics of language learning.
Watch this:


You can follow this full proof strategy for learning Somali that i gave someone else.

Yes because people learn languages through input not through output. You see the ''hooyo maatalo'' we love to make fun of, is someone who tries to learn Somali at home from speaking to his parents, very limited input from his surroundings.



Learn basic words and phrases here https://www.youtube.com/@afsomali101/videos

Then after you got that down, you can just hit up news sites to read like Hiraan, Horseed or BBC Somaliya, and read free books here https://archive.org/details/booksbylanguage_somali , listen to Somali TV like SOMTVMN and Somali dubbed shows here https://www.fanprojaflaam.com/

 

[abdi_]

I went to two separate meetups for two Somali groups but it was mostly disappointing, it seems they were just looking for dating opportunities and were not interested in anything else, they sparsely spoke Somali, mostly English.

I also started to just force it, by speaking what little Somali I know around my family, just simple things like "war dumashi, mafecantahey. Shekadha edeeb!" but I would just be laughed at.

Of all the advice I got on this, my sister in law's advice is so far helping me the most, her advices was that I start watching Somali media regularly, especial current affairs, news etc. Apparently that is how she learnt Arabic.

I spent most of my days programming anyways, so this suits me rather well. I wish I could go about it in more effective ways. But none the less, I am seeing progress.

I need to find quality material though, the stuff on YouTube is around 15-20 minutes long only and I feel there is better stuff out there.

So saxib, my advice is that we start getting acquainted with the man they call Farmajo and whatever arch nemesis he may have.

I am thinking of starting a online only meetup groups of members found on this site, based on a common interest. With just a few ground rules (no women being the obvious one) but I am new here and it may take some time get it up and running. I will be sure to run it by you though.

Good luck!

 

[Idilinaa]

I went to two separate meetups for two Somali groups but it was mostly disappointing, it seems they were just looking for dating opportunities and were not interested in anything else, they sparsely spoke Somali, mostly English.

I also started to just force it, by speaking what little Somali I know around my family, just simple things like "war dumashi, mafecantahey. Shekadha edeeb!" but I would just be laughed at.

Of all the advice I got on this, my sister in law's advice is so far helping me the most, her advices was that I start watching Somali media regularly, especial current affairs, news etc. Apparently that is how she learnt Arabic.

I spent most of my days programming anyways, so this suits me rather well. I wish I could go about it in more effective ways. But none the less, I am seeing progress.

I need to find quality material though, the stuff on YouTube is around 15-20 minutes long only and I feel there is better stuff out there.

So saxib, my advice is that we start getting acquainted with the man they call Farmajo and whatever arch nemesis he may have.

I am thinking of starting a online only meetup groups of members found on this site, based on a common interest. With just a few ground rules (no women being the obvious one) but I am new here and it may take some time get it up and running. I will be sure to run it by you though.

Good luck!

The youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@afsomali101/videos) i link is to memorize the basic words, sentences and phrases, after that all you need to do is read more and listen more.

You will pick up new words and phrases from the surrounding context of what you hear or read with the help of the basic ones you have already memorized. It's that simple. You are not going to learn simply by speaking to other Somalis, input not output.

No need to bore us with long essays explaining your situation , learning Somali is not complicated at all.

 

[Abu Hesi]

@abdi_ do your parents speak Somali?

 

[abdi_]

@Abu Hesi
No, its mostly Brawa but with some Somali. I live on my own in a different city anyways.

 

[Abu Hesi]

You are not going to learn Somali via this forum , unfortunately. You can become expert fluent in any language in your adult life, if you understand the basics of language learning.
Watch this:


You can follow this full proof strategy for learning Somali that i gave someone else.

did you try this method with a new language?