Swahili
To apply for special permission for a Swahili course, contact the SILP Director, Silke von der Emde (vonderemde@vassar.edu) during spring pre-registration.
View Courses from the Vassar College Catalogue.
Beginning Swahili (SWAH 105-106)
Beginning Swahili is an introduction to conversational and grammatical patterns of Swahili (Kiswahili) for students with no or little previous knowledge of the language. Students acquire a basic level of communication in Swahili and are introduced to fundamental grammatical structures. The focus lies on listening and speaking skills to express simple ideas and maintain a rudimentary conversation about everyday life, likes, and dislikes, locations, attributes, etc.
Intermediate Swahili (SWAH 210-211)
This course is the continuation of Beginning Swahili and completes the understanding of basic grammatical structures. Communication skills are expanded and refined to include cultural topics.
Advanced Swahili (SWAH 310, 311)
Students with an advanced knowledge of Swahili refine their language skills and broaden their cultural and literary understanding through reading, writing, and oral communication.
Tutor: Connie Ndonye
Examiner: Agnes Kimokoti, Amherst College
Resources
- https://african.macmillan.yale.edu/academics/resources
The Kamusu project: The Internet Living Swahili Dictionary sponsored by the Yale Program in African Languages, also includes a grammar guide and many other Swahili and African links. - http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/kiswahili/kiswahili.html
Swahili exercises for listening and reading from the University of Pennsylvania. - http://www.freedict.com/onldict/swa.html
Swahili-English/English/Swahili dictionary online. - http://www.omniglot.com/writing/swahili.htm
Swahili alphabet and links to resources. - http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/swahili/
Great site for resources from Five Colleges.
- http://www.mwambao.com/
Swahili Coastal Culture - proverbs, recipes, pictures etc. - http://www.tanzania.go.tz/
Site of the Government of Tanzania with general information and links. - http://www.glcom.com/hassan/index.html
This site includes information about Tanzania and things Tanzanian, as well as useful Swahili words, kanga writings and recipes. - http://www.masai-mara.com/index.htm
Website with pictures from Kenya, including information about wildlife, safaris, maps and links.
- http://www.kbc.co.ke/
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. - http://www.ippmedia.com/
News, sports, live radio, in English and Swahili. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/swahili/
Swahili broadcasting from BBC.