REFORM THE LATIN SCRIPT!!!

[Khaem]

Would keeping the Latin script really make other languages like English and etc more easier to learn? We’re from two completely different Language groups

Besides. This is somali. Why do we care about making foriegn languages like English or German easier to learn? I don't understand this argument used in favour of Latin script. Even though it's BS anyways.

I can learn Korean script in a weekend which is easiest in the world yet Korean language itself is one of the hardest.

 

[hinters]

Would keeping the Latin script really make other languages like English and etc more easier to learn? We’re from two completely different Language groups

Yeah cause learning a script is one of the first things you do when learning a language

 

[bohom]

Why do we care about making foriegn languages like English or German easier to learn?

The question should be why not?

 

[Khaem]

The question should be why not?

It's our language. Why change the script just to make another language "easier" to learn.

 

[Zak12]

Good suggestion even though I prefer Wadaad. Somalia is in need of higher literacy rates and keeping (and improving) the Latin script for Somali would the best way forward. Its why Siad Barre's literacy campaign was so successful.

 

[Ahmedahmed5000]

So essentially going from the English use to a more European use of the script. I think we're to entrenched in the English version to switch, plus with the fact that many of our diaspora live in the Anglo sphere it'd make little sense. It is better though.

Using latin script is better in the current world, and is more easy to use.

 

[Ahmedahmed5000]

Instead of double vowels a macron, i.e, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū

Soomaaliya would become Sōmāliya

Or it could vowels with diaeresis, like ä, ë, ï, ö, ü

The double vowels are an aesthetic nightmare. They were born out of necessity, british and italian typewriters had no special symbols for vowels, but in the age of the Internet there's no excuse.

Bro they aslo need to standardise the language and start using only somali words for ideas, like todobaadle instead of wiig usbuuc or sitimaan. Borrowing lots of words could curropt the grammar.

 

[Khaem]

Using latin script is better in the current world, and is more easy to use.

1.4 billion Chinese have no issues.
Japan is the 3rd largest economy and have 3 unique scripts for their language and they are doing one if the best in the world.

I don't see why we must use a European script

 

[Ahmedahmed5000]

We have already done that in Far wadaad. Some more changes to make it more suitable would be nice. As the other user said, most in somalia who have had at least a little bit of education in quran can read and write Arabic script, so this isn't gonna be too hard. Siad barre switched to Latin in the 70s and a majority of thr population became literate in it in a few years.

Osmanya is also a good contender although it would have to get some extra letters and some changes to suit the dialects. My main issue is that is has no history and is relatively new.

If the rest of the Horn is gonna adopt Ge'ez like Oromo and Afars switching banc to it. I wouldn't mind Somalis using it. End of the day we are one civilization and race. You see east asians have scripts descended from Chinese. Europeans have scripts descended from Greek such as Latin and slavic Cyrillic.
The horn all adopting Ge'ez script would be good.

Somali case is just like turkey, when the ottoman empire was falling during the 1910-20 only 10% of people could read, arabic orthography is complex compared to latin and its good for semitic languages which are based on root words كتب كاتب مكتب etc somali on the other hand has more vowels, tuug/thief and tuug/beg are spelt the same but are pronounced with front & back vowels, the writing systems just needs some adjustment instead of writing with arabic which is bad for a language like somali.

 

[Khaem]

Somali case is just like turkey, when the ottoman empire was falling during the 1910-20 only 10% of people could read, arabic orthography is complex compared to latin and its good for semitic languages which are based on root words كتب كاتب مكتب etc somali on the other hand has more vowels, tuug/thief and tuug/beg are spelt the same but are pronounced with front & back vowels, the writing systems just needs some adjustment instead of writing with arabic which is bad for a language like somali.

Why adapt Latin script when we have osmanya which was created for Somali. wouldn't Ge'ez be suitable also?

Arabic on its own is bad for Somali yet we managed with it and created an adapted version centuries ago.

 

[Ahmedahmed5000]

Why adapt Latin script when we have osmanya which was created for Somali. wouldn't Ge'ez be suitable also?

Arabic on its own is bad for Somali yet we managed with it and created an adapted version centuries ago.

Which should look to turkey and finland for inspiration on how to modernise the langauge. And use less loanwords like icelandic.

 

[Ahmedahmed5000]

Why adapt Latin script when we have osmanya which was created for Somali. wouldn't Ge'ez be suitable also?

Arabic on its own is bad for Somali yet we managed with it and created an adapted version centuries ago.

Geez is an abugida were a consonant & vowels are written together. Arabic is an abjad, an alphabet like the latin script suits Somali.