I love Bantu languages and it is amazing to see how closely related they are to each other. I've been collecting grammars and dictionaries of various Bantu languages for some time now including Kikuyu, Luganda, Shona, Lingala, Kirundi, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana and Herero. Of course, Swahili is in my collection too, though it is a very simplified Bantu language, whereas all the rest are so much more complex.
This is super interesting. I'm from South Africa and my native tongue is Zulu which automatically means I can fully comprehend Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele. Arguably the 4 languages are different dialects of one language. I've been learning Swahili for about 2 months or so now and I'm fascinated by the similarities in our languages.
I can't believe you learning my native language. You would love Rwanda you can get the chance to speak english, french, Swahili and maybe even ugandan in one day. i also have a great interest in language and would love to teach you some kinyarwanda.
You really should make more videos like this. I find it so interesting if you can recognize similarities in languages through the same language family or even from another.
"Molo mfondini!" :D A very interesting video about the beautiful Bantu Languages! I must, however, correct a mistake you committed. In Xhosa the infix "-diya-" doesn't exist. The "-di-" is part of the 1st person subject concord (SC) "ndi-". "-ya-" is the present tense infix. So "ndi-" means "I", "-ya-" representing the present tense, "-ku-" meaning "you (sg.)" and "-thanda" meaning "love (verb)". Thus you say "úyakuthanda" (ú-ya-ku-thanda) when saying "he/she loves you", and not "ú[di]yakuthanda". The infix "-ya-" is, however, not always used in the present tense. When an interrogative takes place in the sentence, such as "ntoni" meaning "what" the infix "-ya-" doesn't appear. For example: "Ùfuna ntoni?" meaning "What do you want?" Here the infix "-ya-" isn't used, because an interrogative takes place in the sentence. Thus you say: "Ùyafuna" = "You want", but "Ùfuna ntoni" = "What do you want?". The same happens when an object follows: "Ndiyasifunda" = "I study it (Xhosa)", but "Ndisifunda isiXhosa" = "I study Xhosa", since the object "isiXhosa" follows. The infix "-ya-" always appears after the conjunctions "kodwa" (but), "kuba" (because), and "ukuba" (if/that). However, it is never used after the conjunction "xa" (when/whenever). I hope this was informative for "bonke abantu" (everybody); if so, please like. - Fellow Xhosa learner (I've studied for two weeks)
Kinyarwanda is not one of Uganda's languages. Don't mislead people. The same with Congolese people. In Uganda kinyarwanda is spoken to themselves Rwandese Tutsi. Ugandans cant construct a word in kinyarwanda if you didn't know. So annoying..
Hey Tim. Your lesson regarding sharing grammar and pronunciation across a family of languages was very interesting. It led me to wonder if you have any insight or information about why mother is Ma/mama/mom/momma/mum/umma/madre/mommy/mummy/etc and father is pa/baba/papa/padre/etc across the world, for a significant proportion of languages and cultures??
I think this correlation to basic words like "mom" and "dad" is, for the most part, only noticed in Indo-European languages (which still constitute a TON of languages)
Zack Root It's consistent in most if not all far East Asian languages as well! (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Bengali, Nepali, Hindi, Filipino...)
Zack Root www.mothersdaycelebration.com/mother-in-different-languages.html the "ma" in mom is consistent for nearly all of the languages included in this list, which include isolated indigenous ones...most definitely consistent outside of Indo-European languages.
Nancy Cui It is thought that these words are similar across multiple languages due to the nature of language acquisition. Sounds like m,n,p,b, t,d, which are commonly used for mother and father words, are thought to be the easiest sounds to make and are amongst the first sounds that babies make when they babble.
Thanks for the cool video! I am an isiZulu teacher in South Africa, Zulu and Xhosa are very similar but with differences like: Me or I in Xhosa is "ndi" but in Zulu is "ngi"
huh i've always wondered why i could understand some of the words from other bantu countries that i've never been or don't know the culture of. i am burundian and today i learned something. thanks!
Well done. I wish more of these would be produces especially by native speakers like myself. For our languages to thrive like European languages we need to allow these academic comparisons and education. This will also assist us understand that we are a people beyond borders that were placed by other foreign people, yet they keep us divided.
waaoohh you are amazing person,, am a Swahili person and I can say you speak perfect and I like kinyarwanda its very similar to my mother tongue in Kenya like numbers 2-6.thanks for sharing Be blessed
Hey Tim, I discovered about your talents on the THINKR channel and thought of the multiple languages you have learned, thinking what you should learn next. I thought you could maybe learn a nordic language, like maybe Finnish, Hungarian or Estonian (they are in the same language group). I myself have learned 3 languages fluently (Finnish, French and English) and have been learning Japanese for 4 years now. Wish you luck, Väinö
Neat! Try picking up on the Cushitic language groups as well like Somali or Oromo. Amharic is also a wonderful semetic language to pick up on with millions of speakers! :)
thank you for this, i did not know that there is languages similar to my language Xhosa other than the ones spoken in South Africa, I am so interested in trying Swahili and seems easy,.. #happy
English =eyes Xhosa =matcho Swahili =macho English =mouth Xhosa=mlomo Swahili =mdomo English =hair Xhosa=inyele Swahili =nywele English =white Xhosa =nyaupe isZulu =nyaupe Swahili =nyeupe Welcome brother.. You may correct me if am wrong for some of it.. Am from Tanzanian -East Africa.
Wow, this is amazing. I speak Kirundi which is very similar to Kinyarwanda and I am astounded by the way you speak with so much ease. I wanna learn Xhosa and any online resources you may suggest?
hi Tim! your future will be great!!! i don´t know if you want to be a linguist, but i´m really sure if you wanna be one you´ll be the best in this area!! btw, thanks for all your videos, i came across to many books because of you and actually i´m studying arabic and indonesian just because of your first video!! you are my inspiration!!
thank you for making bantu language videos, we need more. as previous commentators have said, there is an error in the Xhosa explanation: the subject prefix in Xhosa is "ndi" and not "n". Thus the word is structured as such with 5 distinct morphemes: ndi + ya + ku + thand + a
Hi! This is super awesome. I'm wondering where you get your resources for learning languages in the Bantu family? I'm really interested in learning these languages, but I find resources are much harder to come by for them than say, romance languages.
That's really interesting. You should totally do more videos like this. Maybe I'm weird for finding the grammar of languages really interesting. haha How's your Japanese coming? Still working on it?
Hey, I've recently been inspired by your videos to actually get off my ass and finally learn Hebrew more than the alephbet. How did you get started and do you have strategies for learning words and grammar specifically?
Omg you should learn my first language, Somali. I want to learn Swahili seeing as how I was born in Kenya & might visit Mombassa soon. Everyone says it's an easy & fun language to learn.
Vizuri kabisa rafiki yangu, siku moja nataka mazungumzo na wewe kwa kiswahili kwa sabau mimi mwanafunzi cha kiswahili lugha pia!!! Hongera na salama kaka yangu :)
You should try learning Norwegian, since most Scandinavian languages are similar you will most likely get Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish :D keep up the good work dude!
OMG, I lived in South Africa for four years and my goodness, I chose French over xhosa because it was very difficult for me. Hearing your pronounce xhosa so easily is like what? I tried to explain the clicks to a friend and she said "they all sound the same..."
POST MORE VIDEOS TIM! Btw how does one keep themselves on track and avoid losing motivation? Every time I start a language I learn the basic then quit. I wish I would stick to it. Maybe if learn why this is important for me?
I am not Tim but I think that having a strong motivation is important. Find something REALLY exciting in a language and if you feel like quitting try to remember why you started to learn it in the first place. You could also create some small goals that will not be too hard too achieve but will encourage you to continue. It pretty much works for me. Good luck in your language learning!
I love Bantu languages and it is amazing to see how closely related they are to each other. I've been collecting grammars and dictionaries of various Bantu languages for some time now including Kikuyu, Luganda, Shona, Lingala, Kirundi, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana and Herero. Of course, Swahili is in my collection too, though it is a very simplified Bantu language, whereas all the rest are so much more complex.
Sharing is caring.
Which one is the most complex? I didn't know Swahili was a watered down bantu language.
I speak Luganda which is a Ugandan language, it is so similar tokinyarwanda.
This is super interesting. I'm from South Africa and my native tongue is Zulu which automatically means I can fully comprehend Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele. Arguably the 4 languages are different dialects of one language. I've been learning Swahili for about 2 months or so now and I'm fascinated by the similarities in our languages.
Nailed that click sound in Xhosa💯
as a native shona speaker I'm so excited to see you're doing Bantu languages! have fun learning :)
Ahhh man those languages are so beautiful!
But they seem hard to pronounce.
They are, but that's one part of the beauty.
@ንጉሥ ትግራይ I used to find them ugly, but once I started watching those videos now I find them beautiful and I definitely want to learn swahili.
@መን እየ? No one asked what you honestly think but thanks for being honest I guess haha
Oh my God! Someone who is learning my language, I am so touched
Kikuyu
1. Imwe
2. Igiri
3. Ithatu
4. Inya
5. Ithano
6. Ithathatu
7. Mugwaja
8. Inyanya
9. Keda
10. Ikumi
Alsmost similar to kinyarwanda 😂
This has really made me interested in looking into some of these languages!
I can't believe you learning my native language. You would love Rwanda you can get the chance to speak english, french, Swahili and maybe even ugandan in one day. i also have a great interest in language and would love to teach you some kinyarwanda.
I'm really happy that you have started posting videos again! You are a very interesting person and it is cool to see how you learn languages!
These languages sound really efficient with verbs. I like it!
You really should make more videos like this. I find it so interesting if you can recognize similarities in languages through the same language family or even from another.
wow! Im learning luganda which is also a bantu language and one the languages that you mentioned have almost the same numbers expect for six.
That is kinyarwanda, it is so similar to Luganda.
"Molo mfondini!" :D
A very interesting video about the beautiful Bantu Languages! I must, however, correct a mistake you committed. In Xhosa the infix "-diya-" doesn't exist. The "-di-" is part of the 1st person subject concord (SC) "ndi-". "-ya-" is the present tense infix. So "ndi-" means "I", "-ya-" representing the present tense, "-ku-" meaning "you (sg.)" and "-thanda" meaning "love (verb)". Thus you say "úyakuthanda" (ú-ya-ku-thanda) when saying "he/she loves you", and not "ú[di]yakuthanda".
The infix "-ya-" is, however, not always used in the present tense. When an interrogative takes place in the sentence, such as "ntoni" meaning "what" the infix "-ya-" doesn't appear. For example: "Ùfuna ntoni?" meaning "What do you want?" Here the infix "-ya-" isn't used, because an interrogative takes place in the sentence. Thus you say: "Ùyafuna" = "You want", but "Ùfuna ntoni" = "What do you want?". The same happens when an object follows: "Ndiyasifunda" = "I study it (Xhosa)", but "Ndisifunda isiXhosa" = "I study Xhosa", since the object "isiXhosa" follows.
The infix "-ya-" always appears after the conjunctions "kodwa" (but), "kuba" (because), and "ukuba" (if/that). However, it is never used after the conjunction "xa" (when/whenever).
I hope this was informative for "bonke abantu" (everybody); if so, please like.
- Fellow Xhosa learner (I've studied for two weeks)
Ufundaphi ke wena isixhosa ??
Ngubani igama lakho ,,liphi ikhaya ??
Kinyarwanda is not one of Uganda's languages. Don't mislead people.
The same with Congolese people.
In Uganda kinyarwanda is spoken to themselves Rwandese Tutsi. Ugandans cant construct a word in kinyarwanda if you didn't know.
So annoying..
A lot of nouns and verbs in Shona are the same as Swahili, like kuenda in Shona means to go, and Kwenda in Swahili
This was amazing. Truly appreciate it.
awesome! nice to see you back doing videos Tim
Truly amazing!! Well done that you are learning so many bantu languages. Nice to emerge in other cultures.
great video Tim! kinyarwanda sounds really complex but fun to speak
The word, "Kuimba" in Swahili is exactly the same for "singing" in Chishona in Southern Africa...mainly Zimbabwe...so is "kuona".
These are three of my favorite Bantu languages. The others are Tswana-Sotho and Chewa-Nyanja.
Yay!!!! Make more videos, you are so interesting!
I think you should learn Shona, it is similar to Swahili in some ways, it is is a language spoken in Zimbabwe, where I live. Pretty easy
You guy you are a language genius..I speak Kinyarwanda and your pronunciation is on point. You are a good teacher!!
totally learning one of these languages now! the grammar seems so cool!
Glad to see you're making videos again Tim; them make me very happy! I am doing Well with my Serbian which is the language i chose for the challenge.
Such an incredible video, I'm from Rwanda and I enjoyed it,
you're a beast man! keep up the great work
I will say it again and again n again that YOU ARE AWESOME MAN!!! Mashallah 👍🏻👍🏻 😍😍
Great job! i am half rwandese and this was well done!
Hey Tim. Your lesson regarding sharing grammar and pronunciation across a family of languages was very interesting. It led me to wonder if you have any insight or information about why mother is Ma/mama/mom/momma/mum/umma/madre/mommy/mummy/etc and father is pa/baba/papa/padre/etc across the world, for a significant proportion of languages and cultures??
I think this correlation to basic words like "mom" and "dad" is, for the most part, only noticed in Indo-European languages (which still constitute a TON of languages)
Zack Root It's consistent in most if not all far East Asian languages as well! (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Bengali, Nepali, Hindi, Filipino...)
Zack Root www.mothersdaycelebration.com/mother-in-different-languages.html the "ma" in mom is consistent for nearly all of the languages included in this list, which include isolated indigenous ones...most definitely consistent outside of Indo-European languages.
Nancy Cui It is thought that these words are similar across multiple languages due to the nature of language acquisition. Sounds like m,n,p,b, t,d, which are commonly used for mother and father words, are thought to be the easiest sounds to make and are amongst the first sounds that babies make when they babble.
Nancy Cui Huh....I never knew that. I spend most of my time with Indo-European, so I had no idea it was that diverse :P
This is awesome. It's kinda cool when you find simillar words in other languages, you should do more of these vieos they're interesting to watch.
This was very interesting! :) please make more videos like this! ~~
The Tim Doner!
I admire you since I was twelve (I'm fifteen now).
Instant subscriber.
Thanks for the cool video! I am an isiZulu teacher in South Africa, Zulu and Xhosa are very similar but with differences like: Me or I in Xhosa is "ndi" but in Zulu is "ngi"
Similar with a number of Kenyans language of Bantu linage: kisii , kikiyu Meri , kamba , Embu.. kisii is by the closest most related to Kinyarwanda.
Thank you for the very interesting lessons.
huh i've always wondered why i could understand some of the words from other bantu countries that i've never been or don't know the culture of.
i am burundian and today i learned something. thanks!
You're a great teacher. I'm actually getting it.. Wow
You're smart, kid! You should do a whole video series on African languages!
Wow,,,this is so informative 👍🏾 Asante Sana!
Umefundisha vizuri sana, umenipa motisha wa kujifunza kinyarwanda.
Well done. I wish more of these would be produces especially by native speakers like myself. For our languages to thrive like European languages we need to allow these academic comparisons and education. This will also assist us understand that we are a people beyond borders that were placed by other foreign people, yet they keep us divided.
waaoohh you are amazing person,, am a Swahili person and I can say you speak perfect and I like kinyarwanda its very similar to my mother tongue in Kenya like numbers 2-6.thanks for sharing Be blessed
That was awesome, thanks!
Hey Tim,
I discovered about your talents on the THINKR channel and thought of the multiple languages you have learned, thinking what you should learn next. I thought you could maybe learn a nordic language, like maybe Finnish, Hungarian or Estonian (they are in the same language group).
I myself have learned 3 languages fluently (Finnish, French and English) and have been learning Japanese for 4 years now.
Wish you luck,
Väinö
Interesting! I also enjoyed languages. I'm brazilian and speak portuguese, english and read aramaic, hebrew, greek and latin.
Neat!
Try picking up on the Cushitic language groups as well like Somali or Oromo. Amharic is also a wonderful semetic language to pick up on with millions of speakers! :)
I think Amharic is the best sounding Semitic language that I know.
ecykixx Awww thank you!♥ It is very soft sounding.
StarFlower Sunz currently learning Amharic. It’s an awesome language. Sadly there’s not much resources to learn it.
thank you for this, i did not know that there is languages similar to my language Xhosa other than the ones spoken in South Africa, I am so interested in trying Swahili and seems easy,.. #happy
Sive Pendu Do it, Swahili is AMAZING! :)
HAKUNA MATATA TUTAKUFUNDISHA BILA YA SHAKA YOYOTE......
English =eyes
Xhosa =matcho
Swahili =macho
English =mouth
Xhosa=mlomo
Swahili =mdomo
English =hair
Xhosa=inyele
Swahili =nywele
English =white
Xhosa =nyaupe
isZulu =nyaupe
Swahili =nyeupe
Welcome brother.. You may correct me if am wrong for some of it.. Am from Tanzanian -East Africa.
I really enjoy your videos
you r even talking my mother tangue
Your a genius
Awesome! Unfortunately, I couldn't do the Polyglot Challenge. But I can't wait to see the winners! :)
Boy I'm impressed with your repertory...
excellent video. It has inspired me to possibly learn one of these languages too. My list just gets longer and longer.
Wow, this is amazing. I speak Kirundi which is very similar to Kinyarwanda and I am astounded by the way you speak with so much ease. I wanna learn Xhosa and any online resources you may suggest?
www.unisa.ac.za/free_online_course/ For the online Xhosa course. Enjoy ;P
Axel Ntwari Connect with me, I have a lot of Xhosa resources for you :)
Rudeboy Jackson Nice one. Let's do it
Ayee I’m Rwandan and we have the same name
I can understand Swahili but I can't speak it, this taught me a lot about my language I forgot how to speak many years ago
Very informative video 👍 love living in the 21st century sometimes, the world is so big yet i'm exposed to so little of it
Well researched and as a Rwandese I salute you
hi Tim! your future will be great!!! i don´t know if you want to be a linguist, but i´m really sure if you wanna be one you´ll be the best in this area!! btw, thanks for all your videos, i came across to many books because of you and actually i´m studying arabic and indonesian just because of your first video!! you are my inspiration!!
Almost all your examples were similar to Luganda, languages are so interesting
Kigiryama:
2- mbiri;
3 -t'ahu;
4- ne;
5 -tsano;
6- t'andahu...
Shoma - read
Ni-na-shoma = I read
Ni-nda-shoma = I will read
Please help me, kigiryama tribe found in which country?
@@lilianluhasi5053 at the Coastal region of KENYA. Luhasi!
@@qerysir4410 The words are so similar to kikuyu.
Include Shona in there you will see how related bantu languages can be...
2..mbiri
3..tatu
4. ina
5..shanu
6..tanhatu
Wow...so close to Swahili. Mbili...tatu...nne...tano
in isiXHosa (2-mbini, 3-ntathu, 4 ne, 5 ntlanu, 6-ntandathu)
The Bantu languages are so fascinating.
Weird yesterday I found out the Language in Rwanda was called Kinyarwanda it seems pretty nice Tim keep trying your best remember I'm on your good!
thank you for making bantu language videos, we need more.
as previous commentators have said, there is an error in the Xhosa explanation: the subject prefix in Xhosa is "ndi" and not "n". Thus the word is structured as such with 5 distinct morphemes:
ndi + ya + ku + thand + a
Hi! This is super awesome. I'm wondering where you get your resources for learning languages in the Bantu family? I'm really interested in learning these languages, but I find resources are much harder to come by for them than say, romance languages.
That's really interesting. You should totally do more videos like this. Maybe I'm weird for finding the grammar of languages really interesting. haha
How's your Japanese coming? Still working on it?
I find it really interesting too - you're not alone! Haven't had time for Japanese recently, but planning on going back to it over the summer
Hey, I've recently been inspired by your videos to actually get off my ass and finally learn Hebrew more than the alephbet. How did you get started and do you have strategies for learning words and grammar specifically?
Omg you should learn my first language, Somali. I want to learn Swahili seeing as how I was born in Kenya & might visit Mombassa soon. Everyone says it's an easy & fun language to learn.
Vizuri kabisa rafiki yangu, siku moja nataka mazungumzo na wewe kwa kiswahili kwa sabau mimi mwanafunzi cha kiswahili lugha pia!!! Hongera na salama kaka yangu :)
You should try learning Norwegian, since most Scandinavian languages are similar you will most likely get Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish :D keep up the good work dude!
Tim, I recall you talking about going to a Arabic language camp. Where exactly can I go to one, never heard of such a thing.
Tim When will you learn spanish?, I'm so curious for hearing you speaking in my native language!
Learn Hungarian! One of the hardest languages out there, you should try it. ;)
Hey I'm learning Xhosa! I was also wondering if you are supposed to put subtitles on your video, or should it be completely unedited?
feel free to put in subtitles (I strongly encourage it, in fact.) Good luck!
Ndonwabile ufunda isiXhosa umhlobo wam.Ndafunda isiXhosa esikolweni kodwa ndicinga kunzima kakhulu.
i'm Xhosa native if you still learning the language can maybe add me on skype for some chats (dualcore306),
I, I am learning spanish now.
Tim, what book you had got, when you started study Swahili?
Thank you
What resources are you using to learn Kinyarwanda? I'm headed to Rwanda at the end of the month and want to pick up some local lingo before I go.
OMG, I lived in South Africa for four years and my goodness, I chose French over xhosa because it was very difficult for me. Hearing your pronounce xhosa so easily is like what? I tried to explain the clicks to a friend and she said "they all sound the same..."
wow. just wow... bantu is connected... they all sound like kamba languages n some mix of gikuyu languages spoken in kenya...
Hi Tim I think u should try somali as its close to Arabic and Swahili and it's a very big African language, thanks loved all your videos.
Hey Tim I was what program(s) you are using to learn all these language please respond
So inspiring🤗
You're back!!!!!!
I am really surprised about you, I hope you can give me some advices to learn vocabulary and many langages at the same tme as you do
Amazing
Where do u find the resources to learn these langauges? I wanna learn albanian but cant find any good resources
xxxxxXCARLXxxxxx i found online and free books for learning Albanian
Great vid I really wanted to join the CHALLange but I'm learning french In school and I'm doing turkish at home so I don't want to overcrowed myself
POST MORE VIDEOS TIM!
Btw how does one keep themselves on track and avoid losing motivation? Every time I start a language I learn the basic then quit. I wish I would stick to it. Maybe if learn why this is important for me?
I am not Tim but I think that having a strong motivation is important. Find something REALLY exciting in a language and if you feel like quitting try to remember why you started to learn it in the first place. You could also create some small goals that will not be too hard too achieve but will encourage you to continue. It pretty much works for me. Good luck in your language learning!
I like the idea of making small goals. I'll try that. Thank you Leszek!
you're awesome, Tim *_*
Hi, do you now Norwegian? Could you do a video on Norwegian? :)
Any book recommendations (or even you tubers) to learn kiswahili?
this guy has talent
This is great
Bantu languages is a language family?
My main language is Spanish but I also speak fluent English. I've always wanted to learn French. Any tips?
Thanks bro
Just starting to take Russian learning seriously, any tips to get started?
بصراحه ماشاء الله مبدع احاول اتعلم لغة وحده بس ما اعرف
يارب اديني العقل الي فيك
عندي سؤال كيف لوغتك المصريه ؟
happy sabbath every body around the world.
wow he's very good keep it up
Wewe ni msomi mzuri sana,nimefurahika.
Good job!