I am in Somaliland! Travel went smoothly, and now I’m getting settled in. I’ve realised already that because my work context is in English (compared to Ethiopia, where it was in Amharic), I’m going to have to go out of my way to practice and use Somali on a daily basis. Of course, that’s my plan — I can’t imagine spending a year here and not continuing to study and learn Somali!
In any case, I think the next set of useful vocabulary will be about daily routines. I’ve learned how to conjugate the past tense for most verbs, so I’m going to try and learn vocabulary which can be useful (in connection with that).
- eat (verb) = cun
- breakfast (verb/noun) = quraac
- lunch (noun) = qado
- dinner (noun) = casho
- clean (verb) = nadifiin
- work (noun) = shaqo
- work (verb) = shaq
- make (verb) = samee
- read (verb) = akhri
- write (verb) = qor
- tea (noun) = shaah
- flatbread (noun) = laxoox
- bring (verb) = keen
- arrive/reach (verb) = gaadh
- be quiet (verb) = aammus
- then = dabadeedna
- teach (verb) = bar
- learn (verb) = baro
- take (verb) = qaad
- be sick (verb) = bug
- now = imminka
- talk = hadal
Ta-da! Hopefully those will help me communicate about my daily routine, and things that I did.
