Student’s Corner: Learning Somali 

by Demetria Mack, Undergraduate Student

If I could choose one word to describe my semester in Somali 001 it would be worthwhile. I was considering which foreign language I wanted to take for this semester and I told myself I could take a language that was common (ex: Spanish., French, etc. ). However, I wanted to give myself a challenge and learn a language that was not very common and comes from an African country.

After learning that this was the first year that Howard introduced Somali into the choices for foreign language courses, I was compelled to learn the language. My Professor’s patience, and willingness to aid me in learning Somali truly made this course enjoyable and intriguing. Although I struggled sometimes having to take this course online, I still feel like I was able to learn and retain so much of the Somali language. Every time I had a question Professor Maryan Ali would make sure she broke it down so I could fully understand it even if that meant cutting into our lesson. Aside from teaching us the fundamentals of the Somali language my professor also took the time to teach us about Somali as a country which truly made the course more pleasurable. I would encourage more students to take Somali as my experience was very positive and I hope to take the second Somali course for the spring semester.