Subtitles are laid down on the next "An ka taa" video :-)

Happy to share two big updates to the "An ka taa" learning platform 🚀

Subtitling!

Classes start next week! Sending out syllabi with first homework assignments this week 😬

I ni ce! The Bambara/Jula-English-Dictionary was used by 877 people last month :-) The top English search terms were: 1. night 2. water 3. cute 4. professor 5. girl

Back from a month back at home in the US. Time to get ready for the fall semester and do a million other small online business things 🫡

Aw ni ce! Friendly reminder (while on vacation 😴) that I am teaching live online Bambara/Jula courses for small groups of students this fall 🙂 There are still spots available! More info at ankataa.com/live-courses

I'm teaching a few small-group online Bambara/Jula language courses this fall :-) Registration is open now if you're interested: ankataa.com/live-courses

Who else got a marketing email form the Social Security Adminstration today? 😵‍💫

En 1904, deux savants se rencontrent à la mosquée al-Azhar du Caire, un lettré musulman du Borno, al-Hajj Musa et un linguiste amateur allemand, Rudolf Prietze, tous deux en Égypte pour poursuivre leurs études, ils collaboreront pendant dix ans produisant des centaines de pages de textes en kanouri.

Trying to come up with a course schedule for students at various levels, with various preferences, across various time zones 😵‍💫 I kind of want to give up and just propose what works for me, but it's the difference between 0 students and 3 students signing up 😭

I'm teaching live online Bambara, Jula, and Maninka courses this Fall! These are cohort-based and mix self-paced homework with real-time sessions. Tell me what times work for you so I can build the schedule 🙂 forms.gle/qrAY3GX9bmKn...

6 out of 7 AKT audience members say they wouldn't survive a gbaka ride 😂

Krass! Und in Hamburg :-)

I have a new blog post that tries to lay out just what is at stake with Trump's attempted fascist takeover of higher education. Check it out and share widely! educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2025/05/13/t...

I just released a new "Na baro kè" episode: Getting Around Abidjan. It’s all about wôrô-wôrôs, gbakas, taxis, and buses—what people prefer and why. And it's all in Jula/Bambara with subtitles in English and French ;-) youtu.be/LDI3-g9qH3g

That sweet sweet feeling when you lay down the subtitles are HOURS of transcribing and translating and proofreading 🙂 Now back to editing!

Why do i post on both Twitter and BlueSky? Blargh

Just finished transcribing and translating for the subtitles of next "Na baro kè" street interview video. I think it took me at least 3 hours to do 11.5 minutes 😐

Woohoo, I just finished the 2-3 hours that it took my to transcribe a rough cut of the next 12-minute episode of "Na baro kè"

Some stills from the next episode of "Na baro kè" which I am working on :-)

Sounds with "g" are tricky for Manding learners because they can be pronounced a lot of different ways regionally, so I made a video lesson to help people :-) youtu.be/J2UjLBvfijY

Excited for this upcoming assignment in my Intermediate Bambara seminar 🤓

Really excited for this upcoming assignment in my Intermediate Bambara seminar :-)

It's always funny when I go through a Manding language recording and compare with a fellow scholar's expert transcription in a book and I'd make minor adjustments to like 30% of the lines 😬

Excited to read about "dugawu" soon

Just taught the first session of my new Adv. Beginner Conversation course and it's funny how the students don't want a bunch of activities and breakout rooms, they just want to talk in Bambara/Jula in a virtual circle with me leading and writing down our convo in real time 🙃

Just taught the first class of this spring's live edition of my Beginner Bambara course :-) Feeling psyched about the new warm-up activities that I rolled out 🙃

Hello I have jetlag and a 1-year-old 🥴

Feeling like a dork because I'm excited about the new assignments that I'm adding to my syllabi for Bambara/Jula courses this semester 🙃

I just completed a new chapter in my Advanced Beginner Coursebook for Bambara/Dioula learners :-)

14k subscribers on YouTube 🙃

I'm teaching live Bambara/Jula courses for small groups this spring starting March 10: - Beginner - 4 spots left - Beginner Booster – 1 spot left - Adv. Beginner Conversation – 1 spot left - Intermediate – 1 spot left If you’ve been thinking about joining, let me know :-)

Visiting your local mobile money "transfer" vendor to buy cellphone credit, get an online, deposit your savings, withdraw cash or send money to your family is a huge part of daily life in West Africa, so I asked people about it www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKDi...

The sweet sweet feeling when the subtitles are finally laid down on an edit is back 🤩 Now time to edit more 🙃

Drafting a survey for a potential short-term Bambara/Jula language study abroad program in Abidjan :-)

I want to tweak one thing in my digital "Advanced Beginner Bambara" coursebook and I am now looking at a week of work I think haha

Yes, I also sometimes think it is crazy sometimes 🙃

Back in Paris after my trip to Abidjan! It was amazing and I can't wait to dive into the footage and share some new videos with subtitles for Bambara, Jula and Maninka language learners 🙂 "Aw ni ce" to all the new and old friends that were willing to spend time with me and share a bit of their life!

Listening to this new album of "donso" hunter music from Nfaly Diakité. (The book for the album includes a translation of the lyrics into English 👀 -- excited to have a look!)

Back in Abidjan and I just ate 5 brochettes with a plate of fries and the biggest pile of piment that I've ever seen (with a big Castel to boot)

Torn between my desire to offer courses that I have already created and taught before so that my life is more peaceful and my desire to keep on creating new ones for returning students who never stop wanting to learn more 😵‍💫😂

Just sent out my wrap-up email to each class that I taught this semester and damn it feels really good to know that I am not teaching any live classes or lessons next week for the first time since mid-August 😴

I finished another 12-week semester of teaching Beginner Bambara! Proud of the 4 people that stuck with a fast-pace and a lot of materials :-) Also, I guess being a teacher is a good fit for me because I am both inspired and tortured by what I could improve 🙃

I added a new "Flashcards Focus" feature to the "An ka taa" course/Library platform :-) You click on the "Expand and Complete" button below the flashcards and you get a "focused" view on just the flashcards, which is nice for concentrated reviewing and makes for a better mobile experience!

Some people don't know how to pronounce "n" when it appears at the end of a word in Bambara, Jula and Maninka, so I made a video to help :-) youtu.be/U-L-ZfrUauU

Ceci est une annonce de geek, c'est un peu une niche j'en ai bien conscience : j'organise jeudi et vendredi à Bordeaux des rencontres sur les usages de l'histoire du monde mandé en Guinée Linguistes, politistes, anthropologues, historiens au programme : Sékou Touré ; Kurukan Fuga et ses 1r versions

Thinking about the participles "-len", "-tɔ", "-bali" and "-ta" in Bambara/Jula

Back in the "Na baro kè" archives and smiling when I come across some of my favorite responses to my questions about Bobo vs Ouaga 🙂

Interesting coverage in the Le Monde about West African parents in Abidjan that struggle to transmit their native languages (like Jula) to their children www.lemonde.fr/intimites/ar...