LEARN SHONA🇿🇼 | Dzidza chiShona

LESSON 1| English vs ChiShona Alphabet (detailed)

LESSON ONE| English vs Shona Alphabet (history)

PART 1.1 | The basic alphabet

ENGLISH ALPHABET:

A B C D E F G H I J K M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

SHONA ALPHABET

A B D E F G H I J K M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

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PART 1.2| The differences

Incase you failed to notice the chiShona (or just Shona) Alphabet does not have the consonants C L Q X. The reason why Shona does not have C, Q and X is because in some if not most Bantu languages these act as 'Clicks', and Shona dropped these in ancient times (will be touched on more later). L is not a click but was also dropped and is usually replaced by R or U depending on the word being "Shonarised" lol.

|Bantu Language Example:

The word Lala (found in Zulu, Swahili and etc.) means 'Sleep'. In Shona this word is 'rara'.

So Lala = rara.

Or the word Mlomo/mulomo (Zulu, Xhosa etc.) which means 'mouth' (or mouthy depending on the context). In Shona this word would be Muromo (or Mromo).
So Mlomo = muromo

|English Language Example:

Compliment = Komburimendi - Shona like Asian languages  also sounds a word when it is being recreated in Shona. I will use Japanese and Korean because I am learning them and understand them better.

The English word Hotel:
Japanese = ホテル (hoteru)
Korean = 호텔 (hotel)
SHONA = Hotera

|Another English Example for Shona use of L: 

Difficult = Dhifikauti - in this example L is replaced with the vowel U. Also while the word Sounds like it's English counterpart don't pronounce it like so, use the Shona tone or a.k.a African (Shona) English lol. 

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PART 1.2 | Combinations

Most languages if not all will combine Vowels and Consonants to create more sounds or further alphabetical letters in their language. This is very accurate in terms of Shona, it can also be seen in English, however English is not taught in such a way. But in order to understand Shona well you will need to understand the art of combinations.

|ENGLISH COMBINATIONS: - Th, ng, sh, mb, mp, ns, etc.

In the word 'English' alone there are 3 combinations that can be sound if it is broken down out loud. E-ng-li-sh.

Ng = is a English combination which usually makes a soft sound compared to Shona that is example Song or Sing.

Ngli = The combining -ng + gli creates -ngli-, which sounds different to when the two are separate.

Sh = is also a combination of S and H but does not make the same sound as when they are combined.

English combinations can usually sound different depending where they are seating in the word. At the start, middle or end. Example NG is the best combination to use, in the word Orange = it makes the sound nji, even in 'engine'. However, when used in at the end without a vowel in Song or sing it makes a different sound.

| SHONA COMBINATIONS:

Understanding Shona combinations is vital to speaking the language at all. This is because Shona is all about combinations and it also a phonetic language. However similar to Thai it shows you how to pronounce the words, long, short, medium etc. This is done by use of said combinations otherwise Shona would look a lot like Chinese pinyin or Vietnamese.

Chinese pinyin: Wǒ ài nǐ (I love you).
Vietnamese: Tôi mến bạn. (I love you)
SHONA: baba (father) vs bhabha (barber), tete (aunt) vs tete (skinny), haana (he doesn't have) vs hana (conscience) 

In the Shona examples above, b and bh help you understand that these letters are supposed to sound different b is a lip-smacking popping/clicking sound, while bh is equivalent to the English b in boy. The double A in 'haana' makes you extend the 'A' whereas in hana you pronounce each letter with equal time.

Shona tones or combinations determine what you are trying to say, if you don't say it right you are saying a completely different word all together.

Vava (spicy/sour/salty) vs vhara (close). Notice V is alone in Vava and accompanied with H in Vhara.

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PART 2.3| Lazy Shona - formation of New Combinations

Sometimes new combinations can be made in Shona as a result of trying to "Shonarise" foreign words that don't exist in Shona. As well as a result of Shona Speakers being lazy and shortening or elongating words or sentences.

Example| 
Mukomana (boy) -> prefix 'Mu' can be shortened to just 'M' making the word Mkomana, hence creating a new combination 'MK'.

Musikana (girl) -> Prefix Mu changes again to Msikana, creating (Ms)

These new "combinations" do not become official Shona Alphabetical combinations. However, it's important to remember this fact so that you won't get lost when you're reading Shona comments or texts. This does predominantly occur with words that have M as a prefix, this is because the prefix Mu/Ma is used mostly for Nouns. Hence why you can change Nouns but not adjectives and etc.

Mukomana (boy) can become Vakomana (poys) (plural term).
Muroyi (witch) can become Mroyi, because when plural it is 'Varoyi' (witches).

NOTE: Yes, you cannot turn Vakomana into vkomana or Varoyi to vroyi

Furthermore, sayings such as Maswera sei? cannot become 'Mswera sei?' this is because it sound unnatural in Shona.

Likewise, 'Marara sei?' also cannot become 'Mrara sei?' this is also a question asking 'how did you sleep?' not a noun. 

It only works with Mu.

However, if you say 'Mrare mushe' you could probably do this, this is because the prefix Mu is a Noun. The normal saying would be 'Murare mushe', and (Mu) is a plural 'You' used to an older person or to a group of people. While (U) is singular and used to someone your age or younger.

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LESSON ONE COMPLETE :)

Well done for making it this far. Comment to ask questions.

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