Introduction

I dansɛ! Welcome to the course! Thanks for signing up.

This introduction is for anyone that wants a larger overview of the course before diving in.

Me!

I’m Coleman. My West African adoptive nickname that I received while in the Peace Corps is Adama and my first host family’s last name was Jalo (Fr. Diallo), so some people call me “Adama Jalo.” I’m the founder of An ka taa and I’ve been learning and studying Manding varieties like Bambara and Jula since 2009 when I first arrived in Burkina Faso. I’m a linguist anthropologist by training; I received my PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania and I wrote a dissertation about an important social movement of Manding-language activists in West Africa.

Knowledge, Pace and Schedule

This course assumes that you have zero knowledge of Bambara. It can be done at your own pace.

By my estimate the course materials require roughly 30 hours of time to complete. So, if you don’t mind taking in a lot of material, you can complete the course’s materials in about one month by studying for roughly one hour a day. But that’s very fast and a lot of material to absorb, so you’ll likely want to work through things a bit slower. On the other hand, if you already know some Bambara, Jula or other Manding variety, you’ll likely be able to move a bit quicker by skipping sections or just breezing through exercises, etc.

For those that find a specific timeline helpful, I have created a 12-week schedule that you can follow.

Bambara vs Jula vs Manding

The course focuses primarily on Bambara as spoken in Mali, but it will work equally as well for those looking to learn Jula/Dioula as spoken in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. Why? Because the two varieties are 100% mutually intelligible, and because many Jula speakers today consider Bambara to be the “high form” of the language. (Actually, you’ll also notice that in a few of the Grammar and Workbook assignments, you’ll either learn about Jula differences or hear spoken Jula.) Other times in the course, you’ll hear me refer to “Manding”; this is the catch-all term for the larger language-dialect continuum of which Bambara and Jula are part. Because yes, when you learn Bambara or Jula, you are actually opening the door to a much broader language that is spoken across much of western West Africa!

Organization

The easiest way for you to grasp the organization and structure of the course is for me to show you directly via a walk-through video.

If you prefer text, keep scrolling!

Structure & Assignments

The course is broken up into four units. Each unit is made up of three sections:

1. Vocab: A cumulative list of all the Bambara/Dioula words and expressions which you are assigned bit-by-bit through the unit, so that you can easily study and learn all of them in one place by the end of the unit.

2. Grammar & Practice: The heart of each unit. Divided into specific subsections (e.g., “Verbs”, “Adjectives”, etc.) which are tackled through a mix of the following kinds of assignments:

   • Grammar: A chapter from the Basic Bambara Grammar Manual, a virtual book that combines video lectures with a written text, audio flashcards and interactive exercises.

     (NOTE: The order in which you are assigned the Grammar chapters in the course differs from their original order in the Grammar Manual itself. This is because I made the videos and their chapters in one particular order, but I find it better to teach them in a slightly different order.)

   • Workbook: A chapter from the Basic Bambara Workbook, a virtual book of audio and text-based dialogs and exercises

     (NOTE: The order in which you are assigned the Workbook chapters also differs from that of the Workbook itself. Again, this is because I made the chapters in one order, but I find it better to assign them in a slightly different order.)

   • Speaking: A video assignment where you record and submit a short video responding to a prompt and examples from me or other students.

     (NOTE: You’ll get further instructions on how this works when you get to the first Speaking activity in Unit 1. But if you are curious, here they are.)

3. Quiz/Exam: An assessment that uses audio, writing, fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice questions to make sure that you master the grammar and vocabulary of each unit and, eventually, the whole course.

If you don’t want to follow the course’s proposed order, then you can also consult the Grammar Manual, the Workbook or any of the course assignments on their own in whatever order you want. There are links on the course’s start page.

Community Spaces

To help make it easier to connect with other students in the course (for practicing the language, studying together, or helping one another), I have set up two community spaces:

• Community Discord Server: Meet up, study or practice your Manding with each other in real-time via text, voice or video chat! Learn more and join here.
• Forum Study Space: Practice reading and writing in Manding and connect with each other whenever works for you! Learn more and join here.

Solo vs Supervised (and Private Lessons)

You have signed up to complete this course in one of two ways:

• Solo: Completely on your own. In this case, you won’t get any feedback on certain free-form questions and assignments, since, a computer can’t grade them properly.

• Supervised: With feedback from me, Coleman! In this, you submit your Speaking assignments and quizzes/exam for personalized grading from me as part of your pursuit of the Course Certificate.

If you would like to switch between "Solo" or "Supervised" mode as you are going through the course, don't hesitate to do so on your own, or reach out to me for help doing so.

If you would like 1-on-1 support and a chance to practice directly with me, check out the option of Private Lessons as a complement to the course.

Spelling

The Bambara writing system used to teach this course is the Latin-based orthography that has been official in Mali since the 1980s. There are a few minor deviations from the standards promoted by the Burkinabè and Ivoirian governments, but nothing major that you should worry about at this early stage. Why? For one, few speakers of Bambara or Jula respect official Latin-based orthography and spelling when writing in the language themselves. And then, have you ever failed to understand an English language text because it was written using British spelling instead of American spelling? Probably not.

(NOTE: Through the course, whenever you need to type in Bambara, a little pop-up should appear that makes it easy to type the “special letters” [ɛ, ɔ, ɲ and ŋ] without having to download anything. But if you want to be able to type on your own from your phone or other computer programs now or in the future, refer to this page on “How to type in Bambara.”)

Final words

Ayiwa! Alright! That should be enough of an intro; good luck and thanks for signing up for the course! Ala ka bamanankan-kalan diya! May God make the study of Bambara pleasing!