learnyorubanew

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		Welcome.

		We are very happy that you are
		interested in learning the Yoruba
		language. We on our own part are
	Yoruba translation of the English	ready, able and willing to help
	text on the right to follow.	you achieve your objective.
		Before we begin, we would like to
		first of all give you some pointers
		that will make your learning of
		Yoruba on this website easy and enjoyable.








Yoruba School



L M N O Ô P R S ß T U W Y


			First and foremost, Yoruba is a tonal language. Its written form therefore requires placement of the appropriate intonation marks (mainly the "acute" and "grave" signs) on the letters of its alphabet when indicated. This is essential in that it makes it possible to convey the correct meaning of the text to the reader. It may appear confusing and discouraging to the beginner who sees a formidable array of acute, grave and other diacritical marks in a document. We at Bis Bus International developed a color-coding scheme to facilitate recognition of the tonal structure of the language to alleviate this problem. Thus, syllables pronounced with a high tone (pitch) have an acute sign on the vowel are rendered in red, those spoken with a low pitch have a grave sign on the vowel are rendered in blue and those with a medium tone require no intonation sign and are rendered in green. This, with the time-honored "do-re-mi" musical notes familiar to generations of Yorubas learning the language combine to to give the beginner a very useful tool.
			dò - re - mí
			It is instructive to note that coincidentally, the three syllables
			that form the word Yoruba can be indicated with the three
	Yoruba translation of the English		basic colors:
	text on the right to follow.
			re - dò - mí = YO - RÙ - BÁ

			Secondly, the conventional (orthographically correct) way of writing Yoruba frequently differs from the way it is spoken. It is very common when speaking to add an extra vowel to the end of some words in a sentence depending on its context. Thus: "Yoruba Language" is written as "Èdè Yorùbá" but pronounced "Èdèe Yorùbá" The extra "e" is necessary to lend fluency to speech. In order to make it possible to learn to speak Yoruba properly from reading Yoruba text and save the beginner from the error of developing "staccato speech", we have departed from the convention on occasions and inserted this extra vowel to the written text for teaching purposes. This extra vowel that has to be pronounced as a terminal slur is indicated in *italics* with the font size of the letter reduced to draw attention to it. Thus: "Èdè Yorùbá", pronounced "Èdèe Yorùbá" is written as "Èdèe Yorùbá". We intend to try to add sound clips as much as possible to the Yoruba text on this site as time permits. In order to derive full benefits from what we have to offer it is recommended that you join our "Yoruba Readers' Club of North America". A password-protected section is currently being developed for members who will enjoy special privileges (for a small fee) in their quest to learn Yoruba. Watch out for further details.