BASICS OF YORUBA LANGUAGE
Greetings to everyone, I am someone that likes to talk a lot about my country. So today i decided i will be teaching some basic words of the Yoruba Language.
The Yoruba are a major tribe in my country Nigeria and as such the language is widely spoken by a high percentage of the population.
Major languages in Nigeria
- Yoruba Language
- Hausa Language
- Ibo Language
- English Language
There are lots of places to start from but today I will be showing simple greetings in the Yoruba Language. Greetings are very important in making good first impressions.
ENGLISH - GOOD MORNING
YORUBA - E KAARO
This is pronounced as " eh kah ah roh" , with the roh sounding as you say roh in "rum or run".
In the Yoruba Language context matters a lot in your sentence depending on who you're talking to.
For a friend, young person or someone you're very familiar with like your colleagues you simply say 'Kaaro' with the 'eh' sound at the back removed.
'kaaro'
But to older people you have to say it fully as it can be taken as a sign of disrespect, so the 'eh' sound is still added.
' e kaaro'
ENGLISH -GOOD AFTERNOON
YORUBA - E KAASAN
This is pronounced as 'eh kah son', which son pronounced as you say son in song.
As in the previous case, the same context is used. Dropping the 'eh' sound when speaking to friends and younger people and adding it when speaking to older people.
ENGLISH - GOOD EVENING OR NIGHT
YORUBA - E KAALE
This is pronounced 'eh kah leh' with the leh pronounced as you say 'leh' in levitate. E KAALE is used for both evening and night.
I believe at this stage you already know when to add and when to remove the 'eh' sound.
And you are now equipped with the basic greetings in Yoruba Language. Looking forward to seeing you visit Nigeria.