This post is taken from my newest website project, www.learnchichewa.com. Chichewa is the national language in Malawi, but variations of it are also spoken in Zambia and Mozambique. There tips are based on advice I received about learning Chichewa, but probably apply to learning any language. Hope you enjoy.
1. Learn a Few Words Every Day
Whether from conversations, listening to the radio, attending church, or whatever, just try to pick out a few new words every day that are in regular usage. Write them down and then ask someone, or check your dictionary, to figure out what those words mean. This is the fastest way to improve yourfunctional vocabulary, which is really what language learning is all about.
2. The Golden Rule
If you can say it in Chichewa, say it in Chichewa. This is the most important thing you can do. Once you learn how to say something in Chichewa, never say is in English again. If you learn some greetings, then greet everyone in Chichewa. If you learn to order food in Chichewa, then never order in English. Every time your Chichewa improves by 0.5%, your daily Chichewa usage should increase by 0.5% too. Don’t worry – if the conversation breaks down, you can always switch to English. But at least try to use your Chichewa, at every opportunity, or you’ll never get anywhere.
3. Have Long Conversations
Having the same short conversations over and over again will help build your confidence, but it won’t push your Chichewa further. Sure you can order food…now what? With language learning, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut.
To combat this, make a point of having longer conversations with a couple people every day. Ideally these will be people who don’t speak English, so that you have no choice but to rely on your Chichewa. The elderly and children generally make good conversation partners for this, as they tend to have a lot of patience, and will talk to you at length regardless of if you’re making sense. However, all kinds of people will enjoy your attempts to converse with them, especially as your Chichewa improves.
4. Learn the Basic “Question Words” Quickly
Question words will allow you to do two things. Firstly, they will allow you to ask questions – pushing conversations further, and also helping you with tip 3above. Secondly, they will be the single most useful clue towards understanding what other people are saying to you, and responding accordingly. Even if you only understand about 20% of what someone said, knowing what type of question they are asking you can help immensely when formulating your response.
Who?: Ndani?
What?: Chiyani?
Where?: Kuti?
When?: Liti?:
How?: Bwanji?
Why?: Chifukwa Chiyani? (literally: because what?)
5. Find a Teacher, but Drive the Lessons Yourself
A teacher can really help with learning Chichewa. However, there is a very big difference between a Chichewa Teacher, and a teacher who speaks Chichewa. Make sure you find someone good, don’t waste time or money with someone who’s not helping you. Further, drive the lessons yourself. If you want to learn something, ask for it. Understand your own learning style and direct your teacher appropriately.
Too many people get caught in ineffective lessons. Some get caught on one extreme of difficulty (learning the alphabet) or the other (learning extremely complex grammar), when they really need to be learning basic speaking skills. Others get caught with a teacher who doesn’t understand their learning style, and dictates to them rather than giving them a chance to speak and practice. Don’t get caught – drive the lessons yourself.
Also, whatever you do, don’t rely fully on your teacher – use them as one more tool in your learning toolbox. For instance, you can use them to help you with new concepts, words, or expressions that you’ve encountered during the week, or to help you better understand written resources you’re using. But make sure that you are also studying on your own, and PRACTICING (remember the golden rule!).
6. Find an Associated Activity
The more time and energy you focus on learning Chichewa, the better you will do. Still, it doesn’t all have to be painful conversations and disciplined book learning. Find something you like doing, and try doing it in Chichewa. For instance, like playing music? Learn some Chichewa songs. Then you’re not “studying Chichewa” you’re “playing music”, just with the spin-off benefit of improving your language skills as well. Depending on the activity, you might also make some new friends along the way.
7. Don’t Ever Let the Conversation Die…Ever
Say something…anything. As soon as you let a Chichewa conversation stop, you lose out on the chance to keep learning. Even if you only understood 15% of what was just said to you, respond anyways. You might look like an idiot (learn to laugh at yourself – an essential skill for language learning), but every now and then you’ll get something right, and the conversation will keep going. And when you mess up, you’ll remember the situation, and be that much more driven to learn and do better for the next time.
Another trick: if you didn’t understand anything of what was just said to you, either repeat it with a slight questioning intonation (this will at least help you remember some of the words for later), or throw a question word back. Asking “why?” (“chifukwa chiyani?”) or “who?” (“ndani?) is a great follow-up to a tough sentence, because not only does it keep the conversation going, but it also gives you a second chance to understand what your conversation partner was talking about in the first place.
8. Learn a Lot of Vocabulary
No matter how well you understand Chichewa grammar, there is no substitute for having a large vocabulary. Study from a dictionary or a learning guide. Don’t worry about memorizing everything perfectly – the more times you hear a word, the more it will stick with you. Studying vocabulary will help you pick out individual words during a conversation (even if you forget what they mean), which will then allow you to go home and learn them for the next time. (See tip 1 above).
9. Study Every Day
Fifteen minutes every day is a lot better than doing a few one hour sessions each week. Build a little Chichewa studying into your daily routine. Carry a dictionary with you to look up new words. Listen to podcasts while you’re on the bus or out for a jog. After a few weeks you’ll be amazed by your progress.
10. Commit, and “Embrace the Suck”
Learning a language is hard, it can be frustrating, and it is a long term commitment. Sometimes you’ll be making progress quickly, other times you’ll be stuck for weeks without feeling like you’re getting anywhere. Sometimes people will respond positively to your Chichewa, other times they’ll respond to your attempts by immediately switching to English.
Just when you feel like you’re making progress, a conversation partner will respond to your greetings with a long and incomprehensible flurry of…something you don’t understand. Just when you feel like you’re holding your own in a conversation, you’ll say something stupid and everyone will laugh at you.
But…that’s the fun of it. Learning a language is hard, embarrassing, fun, and empowering – all at once. It takes a long time. But speaking Chichewa will dramatically alter your lifestyle in Malawi. The better you get, the more fun living here will be. So keep it up, embrace the suck, and commit from the beginning, understanding that it’s not going to easy. The results will speak for themselves.
Acknowledgements
Almost all of these tips were given to me by other people, and I’ve even copied parts of them verbatim. Credit to: Paul Slomp, Mike Kang, Duncan McNicholl, and Graham Lettner.
Barefoot Economics 