Learn the five Swahili vowels
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Pronunciation Series, lesson 2 - The Pronunciation of Vowels in Swahili. I’m Gabriella. |
| Medina: Jina langu ni Medina. My name is Medina. Listeners, did you practice the sounds from lesson 1? |
| Gabriella: We have a few more sounds for you this time! 5 vowels. |
| Medina: And these are very easy! |
| Gabriella: Yes, and they aren't that different from English sounds, actually. So this lesson will be short and sweet. Okay, shall we get started? |
| Medina: All right! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella: Now, if you’ve got the lesson notes, it’s probably a good idea to read them as you listen, so that you can see what sounds we are talking about. |
| Medina: The first thing to remember is that there are 5 vowels in Swahili—the same as those in English. Yes, 5! So make sure to practice and remember them well! |
| Gabriella: What we’ll do is compare them to sounds in English. Okay, the first one is the letter -A. |
| Medina: /a/ |
| Gabriella: A is pronounced like the [ah] in "father." never as the [a] in "cat." Some example words in Swahili are... |
| Medina: abiria |
| Gabriella: "passenger," and... |
| Medina: saa |
| Gabriella: "clock." The next vowel is -E. |
| Medina: /e/ |
| Gabriella: E is pronounced like the [eh] in "best." For example... |
| Medina: embe |
| Gabriella: “mango," and... |
| Medina: tembe |
| Gabriella: “tablet.” Next is the letter -I. |
| Medina: /i/ |
| Gabriella: It’s pronounced like the [i] in "fit." For example... |
| Medina: sita |
| Gabriella: “six," and... |
| Medina: pita |
| Gabriella: “pass.” Next is the letter -O. |
| Medina: /o/ |
| Gabriella: It’s pronounced like the [o] in note. Now don’t make a [u] sound here. We just want a round “o”. For example... |
| Medina: soda |
| Gabriella: “soda," and... |
| Medina: kiboko |
| Gabriella: “cain.” The last vowel is the letter -U. |
| Medina: /u/ |
| Gabriella: This is pronounced like the [u] in "duke." It can also be like the [oo] in "book." For example... |
| Medina: ule |
| Gabriella: “him" or "her," and... |
| Medina: mume |
| Gabriella: “man.” So I guess this basically covers all the vowel sounds that exist in Swahili. |
| Medina: Yes, that’s right. It's very easy, isn't it? |
| Medina: Just finished this lesson? Wondering what to study next? |
| Gabriella: We’ll guide you through. While you’re on the lesson page, click on “Add Course to Dashboard.” |
| Medina: This course is now added to your SwahiliPod101.com dashboard where.. |
| Gabriella: You can see which lesson to study next.. |
| Medina: And you can easily jump back into your lessons the next time you log in. |
Outro |
| Gabriella: That’s all for this lesson. Thanks for joining us everyone! Keep practicing that pronunciation, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Gabriella: Goodbye. |
| Medina: Kwa heri |
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