The Amazing Languages of Africa - sounds, grammar and writing systems of African languages

Africa is home to amazing languages. In this entertaining video, I go on a linguistic safari around the languages of Africa, exploring their complex grammar, magnificent array of speech sounds (including the unique click consonants) and some of their home-grown writing systems.
Semitic languages span three continents and I look at how Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia, changes verbs at the beginning as well as the end and how it creates groups of words based on consonant roots.
I love the Bantu languages, with their large number of noun classes and far-reaching agreement and I look at how this works in Swahili.
The Khoisan languages of Southern Africa have an amazing array of speech sounds, including clicks, but please don't call them "click languages". They have shared these sounds with their neighbours and I took Xhosa lessons to learn to incorporate them into fluent speech. As well as clicks, some African languages have ejectives, lateral fricatives (which they share with Welsh!) and syllabic nasals.
The Ge'ez writing system; used to write Amharic, Tigre and Tigrinya; is beautiful and works in a fascinating way, whereas Tamazight looks like it was created by a minimalist designer!
0:00 Intro from Nairobi, Africa (that's a joke, by the way)
0:43 Coming up
1:07 Black History Month
2:00 There is no such thing as a primitive language
2:18 The language families of Africa
2:27 Afro-Asiatic languages
2:44 Semitic
3:00 Verb conjugations in Amharic
3:32 Consonant roots
3:56 N G R consonant framework in Amharic
4:21 Nilo Saharan languages
4:55 Niger-Congo languages
5:52 Bantu languages
6:18 Bantu grammar
6:26 Noun classes
7:25 Swahili noun class agreement
8:56 Conveying meaning using noun classes
9:25 Using noun classes to differentiate between homonyms
10:01 Comparison of Bantu names for region, person, people and language across languages
10:44 Amazing repertoire of speech sounds
11:05 The !xo language
11:35 Khoisan languages
12:17 Consonant repertoire
12:29 Don't call them click languages
13:29 English is a lisp language
14:12 Sprachbund as an explanation of how unrelated languages can have similar features
15:42 Shona whistled sibilants
16:20 Common phonetic features
16:24 Syllabic nasals
16:37 Lateral fricatives
17:13 Ejective consonants
18:23 Burnley isn't on the Tibetan plateau
18:34 Austronesian languages
18:42 Malagasy
19:39 Writing systems
19:47 Tifinagh
20:06 Ge'ez script
20:16 What's an abugida?
21:28 Outro
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Malayo Polynesian By Masjawad99 - map based on with information on primary branches extracted from Smith, Alexander D. (December 2017). "The Western Malayo-Polynesian Problem". Oceanic Linguistics 56 (2): 435-490. University of Hawai'i Press. DOI:10.1353/ol.2017.0021.., CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Do let me know in the comments below what you would like to see in future videos.

[@mandilakhekolisile5157]

You should look up professor kwesi kwa prah's work on african languages

[@Cypher-bo3pb]

I would like to see you comparing the so called Bantu languages( Pure bantu without khoi san, Cushitic langague mix) to ancient hebrew .Best place to start is with Southern Nguni groups. Please do not use the morden Hebrew which has a lot of slavic ,yiddish and mixture of turkic languages but the ancient Hebrew using strong concordance. If you can find the link between the two languages I will surely be convinced you are true scholar. Middle and ancient scholars before the 1700's found a lot of similarities that they were convinced that the lost tribes were indeed in Africa.I will subscribe and hope to see that video soon .

[@samogwang3369]

I would like to see you tease out the West African Languages. They are supposedly Bantu languages but just about anybody who discusses Bantu languages on forums like these concentrate on Banu languages of East and Southern Africa. Also, why are they classified as Niger-Congo A? What is their fundamental difference with Niger-Congo B?

[@Anna-mc3ll]

How about Navajo?

[@user-ut1np3sw1j]

the Arabic it's better💪😎

[@altopatraogee6630]

Wow! Thank you for playing a part to get rid of one of the African stereotypes. Our languages are not animalistic. They are intelligent, exciting and interesting, just like any other language on other continents.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

I’m very glad to have made a small contribution in that direction.

[@BeitilNabawiya]

Who considered African languages animalistic? There are 4 different languages families in Africa alone. Afro-asiatic is more advanced than European languages. They invented writing and literature.

[@listenup2882]

@@BeitilNabawiya What makes afroasiatic more advanced than any other language? Language is language. One could argue that San or Bantu languages are more advanced.

[@BeitilNabawiya]

@@listenup2882 Because they created advanced civilization and tools. They invented writing systems, religions and more.

[@KingOfAfrica90]

@@BeitilNabawiya Afro Asiatic languages are not African. They were brought by Arabs

[@allenmaa7064]

Thank you so much for this video. As an African who lives in the West I've had an uphill battle against prejudice and ignorance about African languages. I'm from East Africa and Swahili was my second language after my mother's language. In America it has often been a joke to make fun of so-called "click languages" to represent the primitivity of Africa. I always wanted to say, if it is so primitive that means you should be able to learn it in a hour.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

My huge pleasure, Allen. What is your mother's language?

[@allenmaa7064]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages both Kipare and the incredible mixed language of Mbugu - the latter is a linguistic phenomenon. A Cushitic language in a Bantu wrapper

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

I love your description of Mbugu - I must check that out.

[@akiikigeeh7283]

"You should learn it in an hour" you are smart 😂😂😆😆

[@stephentaylor2119]

The more primitive the people (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way); the more complex their language appears to be. Look how English went from preserving grammatical Indo-European concepts of gender and noun cases in Old English to a much simplified form of the language as we went from sea raiding barbarians to living in cities. (I was impressed with Swahili when I taught myself from a book and a tape in how rich the language was, even more so when I discovered languages like Lumsaba that retained the original Bantu pre-prefix. The Nguni and languages around the Great lakes preserve this partially with an initial vowel. Another theory and I think more credible for the Bantu homeland would be the Great Lakes region where the aforementioned archaic features still exist. I have looked at a few languages from Cameroon, namely Fang and I was hard pressed to see it as a Bantu language. I only had a small vocabulary to study.

[@phillipmudavanhu690]

Thank you Dave, just to add in Zimbabwe, the Shona people we have 21 articles. Each gives an even deeper expression of character. For example a boy is called mukomana, the plural is vakomana, a small boy is kakomana, a big boy is zigomana, a group of small boys is twukomana, a bad boy is chimukomana. I could go through all the 21 and each gives a specific attribute and character to the noun.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Ndatenda Philip. Thanks so much for sharing those examples - fascinating!

[@coffeecookies286]

Thank you for sharing and I want to learn more😊

[@Xaxameti]

Mune shuwa? 21? 😯

[@saulgoodmanKAZAKH]

Is that why the people of Botswana are called Batswana in plural and Motswana in singular?

[@elnatanbubu9759]

እሰብራለህ = I break ትሰብራለህ(ወ) = you break (m) ትሰብሪያለሽ(ሴ) = you break (f) ይሰብራል = he breaks ትሰብራለች = She breaks እንሰብራለን =We break ትሰብራላችሁ(ብዙ)= you break (plu) ይሰብራሉ = they break These is the alphabet in Ethiopia and Eritrea . The conjugation of verb break. If i can help a little.

[@elashow236]

U sure?

[@elnatanbubu9759]

@@elashow236 100% sure.

[@bircruz555]

Good job. Only one little error. The first line entry should be spelled እሰብራለሁ, not እሰብራለህ (That word does not exist). You can easily correct it.

[@elnatanbubu9759]

@@bircruz555 tnx bro/sis

[@Lepua2009]

This list have a huge tense error, because in amharic there is no present tense only perfect and imperfect tenses and those are imperfect tenses translated as future tenses in English So instead of translating them as I break or he break they must be translated as I will break he will break etc

[@abdiahmed3]

As a Somali speaker who's learning Swahili and Arabic this is spot on man, great job Thank you! Or as we would say in Somail, Waad mahadsantahay!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you Abdi!

[@nuuhali2092]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Can you talk about Somali more as its fascinating language. It's easy any speak and read.

[@abdirahimmussa2708]

@@nuuhali2092 somali language is hard bro

[@midoally646]

I’ve often come across statements like “ Somali is so heard to master having probably the least foreign speakers anywhere is a testament to it“ what do you think Dave?

[@hiruthseyoum5969]

All history/ language of Africa is your inheritance no matter which part of Africa you come from. Pyramids in Somali, Ethiopia, Sudan; are pre-Egypt. Our ancestors have left their fingerprints to tell their legacies and experiences. Only When we learn of our beginning we can map our present and future. The facts are waiting to be discovered. By the way, instead of starting to learn Swahili/Arabic (top to bottom) learn Ethiopian alphabet first- the oldest from which all other alphabets are copied from . This starting point Serves like GPS to walk through to the present. Arabic/Swahili are derivative languages and without alphabet of their own.

[@Crd-eo3uc]

WHY do you have so few views in such a masterpiece?

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

I don’t know... do feel free to share widely!

[@Daggilus]

I was thinking the same.

[@nurseae4586]

We have to be the change? Share,discuss,beg,plead,pray.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

We're getting there! There was a spike in viewers on 8th February 2021 which propelled it to new heights.

[@danielkaranja7978]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages You clearly invested a lot of time to produce this episode. Very impressive.

[@MegaRanjee]

Yeah I am from Madagascar. 😍 I wish you would have spoken more about my native language "malagasy". ☺️

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Next time!

[@mahamatzene1554]

I am from Africa and surprised to know some of those strangest languages are spoken in Africa. Africa is very diverse.

[@listenup2882]

What's strange about the languages?

[@andrewfraser6064]

What a brilliant video. Your enthusiasm is contagious! I'm from a Scottish Highland family, my Mum a Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) speaker. Family left to live in South West Africa (now Namibia) when I was 2. All my friends were Khoisan kids. Then moved to South Africa. At school, I learned Afrikaans, Latin, isiXhosa, French and Nederlands. I went to university, and studied Sports Science and isiXhosa. I eventually ended up being a high school teacher, where I taught a few subjects including isiXhosa (to both mother tongue speakers and to new learners of the language, which was Nelson Mandela's home language, by the way). Am now back in Scotland, currently learning Gàidhlig. And Scots and Doric ! So your video was an absolute delight. Uyathetha isiXhosa kakuhle, Dave :-)

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow, what a fascinating story Andrew. I'm so glad you enjoyed the video. Have you seen the one I did about Scots?

[@andrewfraser6064]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Yes, I sure did. It was highly interesting and extremely well researched (giving a great historical background). And, I hasten to add, superbly presented in a very engaging, engrossing, varied and humorous way. You did it in a way that highlighted the intricate differences between English and Scots. And so educational, too. I thoroughly enjoyed that video. You've got a fan in me !

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Glad to hear it!

[@colinmacdonald5732]

My Grandfather picked up Gaelic growing up by Loch Ness, then French, finally Swahili during WW1 when stationed in Kenya.

[@bernadettemaguire2055]

Spend 20 minutes watching this AMAZING trip around the languages of Africa. Your tour guide is the brilliant Dave Huxtable. You won’t regret it!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@structuralmodellingmadesim1364]

One of the best presentations about language. Am Bantu from Kenya and I would say on Bantu you were spot on. It looks so simple to us didn't know it could be so complex.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Phares, I'm so glad you think so.

[@koketsomokone2975]

Absolutely spot on! Bantu languages are fun because you can just move from one language to the other by expanding your vocabulary. I am moTswana, I learned isiZulu relatively smoothly by learning Zulu words with a few grammatical adjustments. Same thing with kiSwahili, although it incorporates non-bantu words and stuff. Totally fascinating! Thank you!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Hi Koketso. I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the video. It’s fascinating to here about your experiences with Bantu languages. It must be fun exploring the similarities and differences and seeing the patterns emerge.

[@user-oz7rm6bu8t]

Koketso Mokone how many Bantu languages can you speak?

[@samutykuntathebantu8402]

@@user-oz7rm6bu8t swahili has hebres words too. Wewe ni myahudi?

[@user-oz7rm6bu8t]

@@samutykuntathebantu8402 like what?

[@samutykuntathebantu8402]

@@user-oz7rm6bu8t bayit it means house in my local language same to you. Yahudi, Elohim... etc

[@jakes2305]

Fantastic video. I would love to see next: 1)a similar exploration of the indigenous languages of North America, and 2) an exploration of tonal languages around the world (including the indigenous Mexican languages that have up to 12 or 15 tones!)

[@elizabetht1382]

Love, love, love, LOVE this video! Everything in congruence with what I as a Zambian know of my people's history too. Language is culture and I'm so glad that a non-African has researched this so well, treated this subject with respect and interest, and has shared it. So grateful! Many thanks!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Oh wow. Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Elizabeth. I had the privilege of visiting Zambia once and enjoyed it immensely.

[@planeurs]

You never cease to amaze me, Dave...

[@CharlieDmus]

Wow! I had no idea it was possible to summarise the language diversity of Africa like that. And your grasp of the phonology is impressive. I'm Ugandan, but grew up in South Africa so I can definitely confirm what you said about bantu languages. I'm familiar with luganda, lusoga, kikuyu, swahili, xhosa, zulu, sotho, tswana, afrikaans and French. So this was a very nice strole through comparative linguistics.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow, thank you so much for your comments, Charles. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

[@listenup2882]

Afrikaans isn't an African language though.

[@loreman7267]

​@listenup2882 Yes it is. The Dutch can't understand it.

[@thecaveofthedead]

it is in that it evolved in Africa among enslaved people of both African and Asian descent and contains African words. In the same way Nigerian Pidgin - Naija - is also an African language even if it's _based_ heavily on English.@@listenup2882

[@biomuseum6645]

Beautiful, I like it when people promote the many faces of Africa Not only the pitiful one the media overexplodes

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! I made a conscious effort to avoid the stereotypes.

[@nimcosuhaamqoje3809]

Thnks u 🙏 iam from somali cush 🇸🇴🇩🇯 🇪🇹🇰🇪 Horn of africa 🥰🥰

[@ube4me114]

What is different between Ethiopian 🇪🇹 and Somalia 🇸🇴? Because you are using the word Cush instead to mention your nationality

[@mysteriousDSF]

I've been learning Swahili for a year and I haven't yet found a better explanation of the noun classes, thank you!

[@elliotgordon4795]

Fascinating video thank you, great stuff!

[@matteosposato9448]

What a contagious enthusiasm and humor, that however are only the spice to some interesting content!

[@Daggilus]

Wow! I thought I already knew every odd grammr in human languages. But the Bantu word system blew my mind! Thank you for making me learn such an amazing thing!

[@stevenschilizzi4104]

Fantastic! We know so little about all this and yet it’s really amazing. Thanks for a brilliant though all too short summary!

[@damc8415]

Doctor Huxtable, you look so different from when you were on "The Cosby Show."

[@tsitsichigumba]

You sir are a gem! thank you, loved this :)

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

So glad to hear that! Thank you!

[@lovellesokan9107]

I am from Liberia..West Africa...I was already educating my US and European friends how , and that they spoke our languages..especially the Spanish/ Portuguese/ / French....yup...

[@tael9248]

It is really pleasing to see how enthusiastic you are about languages! Thank you for this video, I learned quite a lot, and just had a good time :)

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you so much Luton. I’m very glad you enjoyed it.

[@johnlocal4535]

I really enjoyed this Dave. Absolutely compelling. Loving your phonetic skills.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks John!

[@bellamcguinness9044]

Really loved this, it was presented in an accessible, fun way and insightful, with amazing attention to detail. It shows an awesome passion and talent. Thanks for the share!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you Bella!

[@KendrixTermina]

Those bantu noun classes must be fun for poetry. Or for making up sci fi/fantasy words

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Definitely!

[@bornforthegreatestpurpose9221]

Poetry in Kiswahili is called USHAIRI Poem is called SHAIRI

[@teacherlwazi7414]

This has an incredible amount of depth. The research is excellent and accurately represented Dave.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you Lwazi. So glad you appreciated it.

[@TheKahota]

So fascinating!

[@Ethcharm]

Amharic speaker here... interesting to learn more about other African languages

[@altopatraogee6630]

Im from Zimbabwe and i speak shona. But one time on a road trip through Mozambique, we passed through an area in the Sofala Province far from Zim, were i could almost understand everything the locals there were saying. And they didnt even know that an extremely similar language is also spoken in my Zimbabwe. Twas exciting.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

How fascinating! It must have a been a real surprise. Thanks for sharing the story.

[@camerons.7164]

I could have watched this for hours! Phenomenal

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow. Thanks for your lovely comment, Cameron. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

[@rjendall2711]

A fascinating and fun insight into the mind-boggling world of languages in Africa. Congratulations on your practical phonetic skills - some very challenging sounds executed with great attention to detail.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Richard! I had fun, especially with !xo

[@planeurs]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages This video should come with a duty-of-care warning "Please do not attempt to produce those sounds with mash potatoes in your mouth"

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

@@planeurs Is that from personal experience?

[@maya-pena-lobel]

I have watched a LOT of linguistics videos on KZbin but this is by far the most interesting one I've seen!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow. Thank you Maya. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

[@jacksonp2397]

I'd love for you to make more videos like this!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Jackson. There will be more!

[@prisoner_of_hope8386]

This is such a fantastic video!! Thank you for all this information. Your passion and absolute love for the subject matter just shines through!!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow thank you Natalie. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

[@mbwiloublog3874]

Thank you for your content! It is so refreshing!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

[@Makhinyembezi]

What a great teacher , keep it up

[@iMacxXuserXx485]

This was a lot of fun! I think more videos like this would be great. I am interested in knowing more about the Slavic language family and the Indo-Aryan language families. I am thinking of learning a Slavic language (probably Czech) and Bengali. It's cool that you brought up Malagasy. I have been learning Tagalog, and I was so fascinated that there is a language in Africa that is connected to the languages of the Philippines.

[@rodaguirre1016]

Very interesting. You know your subject well Dave.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@RA-qq8nf]

Am quite fascinated actually and am thinking to start learning about linguistics!

[@diegonochebuena2416]

I keep coming back to this video. Truly amazing work!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Lovely of you to say so Diego.

[@thilohesse8883]

Absolutely fascinating and wonderful. Thanks for posting!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you Thilo!

[@ChefRafi]

Great coverage of such a diverse and fascinating topic! One of my favorite things about these languages is their rich proverb lore. 👍

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! What’s your favorite proverb?

[@ChefRafi]

Dave Huxtable, Inc That’s a difficult question. We filmed videos in over 100 languages and for most of them we chose our favorite Proverbs for each one (in their original languages of course). The African proverbs are the most colorful.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Sounds fascinating. I’ll check those out.

[@jairbonilla7519]

I like this type of videos, well done

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Jair. What should I do next?

[@user-vm6ru9kn8q]

Wunderschön, Danke Für Dein Video Herr

[@scottieglot]

Thanks for sharing! This was well fascinating!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks ScottieGlot! My pleasure.

[@acanpc333]

Super cool video!! Thank you for making this. I really appreciate the in-depth look at how Bantu grammar works with the example of Swahili. I have loved languages since I was a little kid and in grade 3 I spoke Swahili for show and tall LOL. For fun I listen to the Bible app with different audio versions, including lots of different African languages just to hear them because I love the sound diversity. Mankanya, Mwani, Tamasheq, Senoufo. So cool! I appreciate your knowledge and passion!

[@acanpc333]

Would love to know more about “Nilo-Saharan” languages. And Berber languages!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you so much for your kind words! How cool that you did a show and tell on Swahili.

[@nicolecollier2028]

Very interesting! I leaned so much. Very well done

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Nicole. Any ideas for my next video?

[@czas4]

Great video! Looking forward to seeing new topics.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Coming soon!

[@ostrogoten]

Yay! I really liked that!

[@sebtube1285]

it is Ethiopia language በጣም ተመችቶኛል ጥሩ ጥናት እንዳደርክ ያሳያል።እንደዚህ አይነት ሌሎች ቪዲዮችን እንደምትሰራ ተስፋ አደርጋለሁ thanks

[@bekaluendrias5282]

ባክሽ አታሽቃብጪ😂

[@spaniardspeaks]

Awesome work, Dave! Keep it up!!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@polyglotpower2405]

I like the discussion of the fascinating diversity of sounds one hears across the continent!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@mahatmaniggandhi2898]

man this video was so good i already miss it i hope you have more :)

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

More to come!

[@dreamingoffluency1519]

This was amazing! I just want to know oh so much more about the languages of Africa :D You seem to have a lot of knowledge and would be so awesome to see more of what's up in your brain.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks so much! There is definitely more to come.

[@dreamingoffluency1519]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Can't wait! :)

[@Lisa224224]

wow this was so interesting and entertaining at the same time! your german skills are so impressive, you sound like a native!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Lisa - and good to hear that my German is not too rusty!

[@NorthSea_1981]

This is fantastic - very informative, *very* well explained! Thank you.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mcamara488]

Thank you very much for the video!! Great information on African languages and learned so much.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Glad it was helpful!

[@thapelomasuhla2953]

Lesotho is a country Mosotho is a person Basotho are people Sesotho is a language

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Thapelo. Are you a Mosotho?

[@thapelomasuhla2953]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Of course

[@flavinmkabicyp]

And you speak sesotho.

[@thapelomasuhla2953]

@@flavinmkabicyp Yep. I speak Sesotho.

[@ciceroalexandar6184]

How that goes for Somalia?

[@hemsoncrispin]

As someone who of English/Welsh descent who lives in an IsiZulu environment, I really appreciate the thoughtful way you speak about these fascinating languages and do not use stereotyped terms like 'click languages'. Something I would add is my experience of listening to a friend who grew up in a rural area speaking IsiZulu on the phone - just remarkably expressive, using the full range of register, volume and the variety of consonants.

[@usa_kenyan]

Wonderful job! To make such complexity accessible to a bozo like me is no small task.

[@Anna-mc3ll]

Truly fascinating! Thank you for sharing this information!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Anna-mc3ll]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Many thanks! It would be great if you could talk about other interesting (and rare) languages!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

That's definitely the plan for the future of this channel.

[@iMacxXuserXx485]

My favorite parts were learning about the noun classes, learning about that very smart writing system for Ge'ez.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you. Yes, I find those fascinating too! Thank you for the idea about Slavic languages. I speak Russian.

[@tamerintube6313]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages i can speak Ge,ez actually Ge,ze language Angeles language and magical !

[@tomahawk5357]

Pulaar of Senegal got 21 noun classes.

[@andrewthmas]

Its interesting to see the parallels in my language Luganda with the many of other languages of our brothers and sisters across sub saharan Africa.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

I'm so glad you found it interesting.

[@wildmanmike100]

utterly fascinating

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you. Glad you think so!

[@lizettemuna3234]

Thank you! Just subbed. Truly enjoyed your content.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Awesome, thank you!

[@Draculia]

I grew up in East Africa and I must say this is so cool to see somebody explore African languages and I wish National geographic or Discovery Channel would show this to a bigger audience

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Hi Cesar. Yes, that would be my dream job.

[@Draculia]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages love your videos, they inspire me to explore beyond ny horizons and i pray they give u a show deserving of your talents.

[@MarcoCastilloVideos]

Hey thank you, you got yourself a suscriber!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wonderful!

[@user-ii5kd9fi9p]

Your videos are a jewel in this sea of content! It's nice to see a man so invested, so passionate about what he does. Please keep on making new videos, there are interested people like who enjoy them immensly!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow. Thank you so much for your encouragement!

[@sueffun]

Nkosi is a Nguni word for King, Chief or Lord. The African languages are fascinating but really hard to learn especially the writing. Many South Africans are polyglots as they speak several African languages, English and Afrikaans which always amazed me. In the gold mines in Johannesburg they developed a language called Fanagalo a vernacular, based on Zulu with English and Afrikaans influences. Do look up the “ click song” sung by Miriam Makeba it’s pretty amazing.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

I love all the things you mention. It was the lyrics to the Miriam Makeba song that the Xhosa teacher was teaching me.

[@sueffun]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages I sent a link of this video to my hubby as he loves language and even whilst reading will stop and check what a word means. He is fluent in German, English and Afrikaans, fully immersed himself in each language from very young. He went to a German primary school, English high school and Afrikaans university. I only speak English sadly.

[@MomentofCorrection]

Fascinating research Dave. I get your limitations since there's a lot of uncharted territories in African languages. I'm Somali Canadian and I speak Kiswahili and Arabic as well.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@nkosiemahlangu1158]

You did a great job. Ngikushayel' ihlombe 👏🏾

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Enkosi kakhulu! I’m grateful that you think so.

[@joshwilliams4583]

This was an amazing video hats off to you!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! I’m so glad you thought so.

[@THESURAFELB]

Wow I am impressed, Sir. Especially, your demonstration with the Khoisan and Geez sounds.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you very much!

[@khamisjuma5046]

Inapendeza sana mzuri.sana 👍🇹🇿

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Asante sana!

[@khamisjuma5046]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages karibu kwetu. Tanzania and zanzibar tuna kushukuru sana very much

[@rimnimukherjee6400]

Greetings from an Indian! I found the video really helpful and thoroughly enjoyed your enthusiasm and love for the diversity of languages.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Greetings Rimni! Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

[@Paula-133]

Brilliant explanations and insights for those who trying to understand Thank You

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

You're very welcome

[@indi__]

coming back to say that this is a criminally underrated video. first watched it when it had like 30k views or something. dave, you're a gem!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! I don’t know why I didn’t see this comment at the time.

[@samyrandome425]

Wow your french accent is impressive.. also that small bit was hilarious lol

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@dubagentselekions8221]

South African New to your channel, great staff very clear and informative. I speak Sepedi, Sotho, seTswana, Ndebele, Tsonga, Afrikaans, Khmer, Zulu, Korean, Flemish, patwa....and many more

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! What an impressive list of languages. There was a certain pattern emerging until I got to Khmer. How did you come to learn that?

[@msoptimistic4365]

Dissapointed no mention of the Iraqw language of tanzania

[@strafrag1]

Fascinating. Thanks.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@gastonmartinez6316]

I am very pleased with what KZbin has given me as a suggestion! Your material is amazing I have just showed this video to people I know that are also interested in languages because you totally deserve more followers Keep up the good work!!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow, thank you! Somehow I missed your comment till now.

[@hosannahyonatan6608]

Great video 👍🏾 from Ethiopia 🇪🇹

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@carlsanchious8192]

Such a wonderful subject matter in which to include in the commemeration of Black history month. A broad and intermediate level as it is....it does in this context allow one to examine the different groups of language families facilitating the understanding of regional commonalities, grammatical rules and phonetic structures. It's beautiful to see someone immerse himself in such a monumental undertaking for the purpose of exposing information not before put in the grasps of the general public.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you!

[@CanaldoMiauOfficial]

Those videos are nice, and so underrated.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you. Yes, I wish I had more views. Please share as much as possible.

[@user-xn7nv4sf4q]

Amazing video

[@wendyarnold6803]

Really interesting, you polyglot!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Glad you thought so Wendy.

[@OfAllThingzFooty]

Great video. You’re so knowledgeable and it’s great that more people know more about African languages now because of you. One small thing though, the sound effects were REALLY loud. I jumped a few times watching this with my head phones 😂

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you! I’m so sorry I made you jump. I am much better at keeping the volume constant these days.

[@suzanakaleb2286]

One of the coolest videos in the internet!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow, what a great compliment. Thank you so much!

[@ombelle5284]

Amazing job, thank very much, dear !

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank you too!

[@ridwaankhan7578]

Great video, needs more views honestly. 😂 South African here. I only speak English and Afrikaans though.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thank Ridwaan. Time to learn more?

[@ridwaankhan7578]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Definitely, currently learning Portuguese, would like to learn Zulu.

[@altopatraogee6630]

Maan the Afrikaanar English Accent is the dopest! The one time i heard it in person i was blown away. Its soo gritty, deep sensing and commanding. Really incredible. At that time i was travelling with sm1 from 'Latin' europe who told me that the english he loved the most was south african english😅

[@Andrew-mj5rf]

Excellent video. Although to be honest I can't see a problem with calling Khoi-san languages click languages. Languages that use tones are called tonal languages and that's not a problem. The reference to the use of th in English is used here in France and I find it quite appropriate as none of my French or foreign colleagues have it in their languages. Some of my colleagues asked me how to say the two forms of th and there's nothing wrong with that.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Hi Andrew. Glad you liked it. I can see your point about the term ‘click language’.

[@aussieboxer9776]

This is superb.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Thanks Robert!

[@cadenceenglish]

This is the coolest thing ever. Bravo to you sir !

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Wow. Thank you so much!

[@boss8079]

Wow your Amharic is great kind of sounds like Russian too

[@rachelmidwinter6810]

Wow! Your knowledge of African languages is so impressive! I’ve been trying to learn Shona for the past year and have mastered quite a bit of grammar but mostly verbs and tenses, prepositions, plurals etc. I’m getting there with all the noun groups...... I’ve cautiously looked at other Bantu languages and have started to spot similarities so it’s great to watch this and see my suspicions confirmed. If I ever properly get my head around Shona I’ll take a look at Luganda next as I have friends in both Zim and Uganda. Wish I had as extensive knowledge as you. I can manage French and a little Italian and Spanish but I wanted to try a whole different language and Shona is definitely giving me a good linguistic workout!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Hi Rachel. How fascinating! Do you get to practise your Shona regularly? It will be great once you have enough of a grounding to start to explore related languages.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

Hi Stephanie. It is harrowing to hear about cultural genocide and attempts to eradicate people's languages. I'm sorry that I I was unaware of the extent of this in North Africa or that it was so recent. I'm afraid I assumed it had all happened long ago. Thank you for drawing this to my attention.

[@rachelmidwinter6810]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Hi Dave, thanks for your reply. I don’t get to practice Shona as much as I’d like, especially speaking it. I have friends in Zim and I message them so strangely my reading and writing are better than my spoken language. I’ve made very good use of Spotify to listen to and learn songs. I find these very helpful as they have repetition and rhythm which help with learning. More and more I can listen to a song and tell a bit of what it’s about. If I’m able to find the lyrics online I try to translate them. I like the structure of grammar so I use a textbook I got from Amazon and I also set myself additional exercises which I check with Google translate..... not always infallible but generally good for every day stuff. I desperately want more opportunities to speak the language but the current lockdown situation makes it hard to even meet people locally, let alone get anywhere near to Zimbabwe.

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

@@rachelmidwinter6810 I admire your commitment! It's interesting how songs work. There's something about music and rhyme that makes things stick in our minds, so songs are great for language learning. I also find people can imitate pronunciation better based on songs. I notice there are some Shona teachers on Italki,com Have you ever tried that?

[@rachelmidwinter6810]

@@DaveHuxtableLanguages Thanks for the tip Dave. Definitely something I’m going to follow up on. I work in a Primary school so things are a little hectic right now so I’ll do my research but not make any commitment until I know I have the time (and energy) to spare. Meanwhile I’m working my way through your videos 👍

[@katherineben780]

Awesome video, it was a joy to watch!

[@DaveHuxtableLanguages]

So glad to hear that. Thank you!