In undergrad I would often hear students say that they could understand/read X language, but not speak it.
At that time, I wasn’t smart enough to understand the complex relationships between language comprehension and oration, so I mostly gave said people the side-eye upon hearing those words.
Nine years later, I am now that person and I owe several people an apology.
When I first started studying the Yoruba language, I thought it to be impossible. Yoruba is a Bantu language and speaking Spanish didn't help me. A month into studying, I began to pick up patterns and I could read basic sentences. I even started writing it. Several months later I even got the confidence to speak it. And realized that I severely underestimated the importance of pronunciation.
Yoruba is a tonal language. Each vowel has 3 different variations of pronunciation (high, low, medium) and I couldn’t distinguish between them so I had trouble speaking and distinguishing which word was being said when someone spoke to me.
So now, I could essentially read/write the language, but not understand it and not speak it.
Before you give me the side-eye that I know I deserve, understand that the brain processes information in patterns. I’m not a neuroscientist, but over the years, I have recognized that that is how I learn many things. (Hence why I color-code my notes).
Some people may think that one can easily get used to pronunciation of a new language by familiarizing yourself with it through music, TV, etc.
Yoruba is different.
Because the same written word may have 3 different meanings depending on how it is spoken, listening to it in context may not help you. (How will your brain remember that mo ko and mo ko are different if you hear them in different situations, but never together?).
My new strategy? Listening to my friends repeat all possible variations of the same word as I learn them, so I can begin recognizing AND mimicking the different tones. My new medium: Whastsapp voice messages.
Hopefully in 6 months I can become both a writer AND a speaker of the language. Any other Yoruba language learners (or speakers) have any tips?
** I found the author of my Yoruba book on Facebook and, one year later, he just accepted my friend request. (He doesn’t know questions are coming).