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Thoughts and quizzes and word lists and tips and what have you, all dedicated to learning Sesotho, or Sotho, my mother tongue.
...to http://basotho.wordpress.com (Sotho)
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Posted by
Rethabile
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7:54 AM
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From the hands, mind and hard work of KSU’s own President Emeritus Dr. Betty Siegel and her institute, The Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character, a "Seboka" has been developed in South Africa. Seboka is a Sesotho [Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa] word meaning a group of people meeting for a common cause.
[source...]
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Rethabile
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4:41 PM
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Labels: S, vocabulary
"Molora" is the Sesotho word for "ash."
[More...]
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Rethabile
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10:27 AM
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Labels: M, vocabulary
This is a Powerpoint presentation of the world as seen from the skies. Some of the images are quite stunning. The comments are in Sesotho. Whether you're a learner or not, enjoy it, and pass it on.
Posted by
Rethabile
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7:32 AM
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Labels: Lefatše, Powerpoint
Like a bird rushing to catch the fattest worm, Lucas Nonyana surged early
and left his opponents eating dust as he pounded the 42,2 km Two Countries
Marathon route from Zimbabwe to South Africa to win the 10th race last Saturday.
As his namesake - Nonyana is a bird in Sesotho - the Liberty Life Athletics
Club athlete rushed forward to lead the other 45 runners as soon as the Musina
Local Municipality's Mayor Caroline Mahasela pulled the trigger at 7.00am to
start the annual race from Beitbridge to Musina. [Source]
Nonyana belongs to noun class number 9, just like thuhlo (giraffe) and kolobe (pig) and many other animals. The plural of nonyana is linonyana in Lesotho and dinonyana in South Africa. Same pronunciation, though: /dee-noh-nyanah/. Two giraffes are lithuhlo (dithuhlo), and two pigs are likolobe (dikolobe).
Here's a Sesotho proverb with the word "nonyana" in it: sehlaha sa nonyana se okamela boliba (bodiba), a bird's nest overlooks an abyss. Can you guess the meaning? Sesotho Web puts it down as a riddle, though.
Other mentions of "nonyana" are: eslweb.net , websters-online-dictionary.org , nonyanariverestate.co.za.
Posted by
Rethabile
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4:51 AM
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Labels: N, vocabulary
"Neo in Sotho means a gift and this is a token the whole of South Africa will hope to receive as Neotel, the second fixed-telephone line operator, rolls out its services. [Source]"
The first three letters of the company name, Neo, are pronounced approximately /NAY-oh/ and indeed do mean "gift." The plural is lineo in Lesotho and dineo in South Africa, same pronunciation in both countries: /dee-NAY-oh/.
I guess Telkom now has a real rival. Will it bring prices down? What I hope, is for the people of South Africa to receive a real neo. Neo or Lineo is also a forename. The first one can be for girls or boys, whereas the second is mainly for girls, like my daughter. I don't know a boy named Lineo.
Posted by
Rethabile
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8:12 AM
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Labels: N, vocabulary
You were wondering about what it takes to learn Sesotho, right? Well, using the wiki program through Wikihow ("The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit"), I've managed to put it all down in black and white. So, finally, here's how to learn Sesotho.
The steps are a mixture of my experience as a language learner (especially of French), as a paedagogue and as a native speaker of Sesotho. Good luck.
Posted by
Rethabile
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12:52 AM
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In Sesotho, the toilet is ntloana (or boithomelo, if you want to be uppity about it). Ntloana literally means a small house. When you gotta go, you gotta go, right? But how do you declare such an intention? How do you ask those around you to show you where the small house is? Nothing simpler. Remember the following language practices, however: [1.] In Sesotho you add -ng or -eng or -ing to a noun, if you want to turn the noun into "the place of + that original noun." Here are a few examples:
The second thing to remember is that [2.] Politely does it. Ke kopa ... is the formula you want to learn, and use over and over when asking for things. Say it like this: / key-coop-uh / It is the equivalent of "May I..." or "Please..." One day we will look at how you can say, "give it the f*ck to me!" But not right away, ahem.
There is also ak'u mphe..., another polite phrase when asking for things. It is rather informal when compared to ke kopa ..., and sounds something like /AH-comb-PAIR/. AH-comb-PAIR pampiri, or "can you give me some paper?" If you learn some verbs, you can take this quite far, indeed.
Ak'u mphe lijo (please give me food),
Ak'u nkise sepetlele (take me to the hospital please),
Ak'u nthuse (please help me),
Ak'u thole (please be quiet).
You can literally ak'u anything. Toilets are often plain outhouses in the smaller villages of Lesotho (hence the name of small house, of course). In America they call them outhouses. Modern toilets with running water are a city luxury. There are no taboos that I can think of regarding toilets and toilet-going. Basotho regard toilet-going as something essential that has to be carried out, full-stop. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Here are the two phrases to remember: key-coop-uh and ah-comb-pair.
Anothing thing to remember is that the /k/ and /c/ sounds in these two phrases are exactly the same. I have made them different because I wanted to use recognisable English words for the purposes of facilitating memory. But they are the same, and are a hard /k/ sound with as little aspiration (or expiration, you know, that little air that escapes when you say /c/ in English) as possible. If you say them like the English words they are, everyone will understand you, but you'll sound like a foreigner.
Posted by
Rethabile
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7:33 AM
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Many white South Africans still hold misinformed perceptions about living with black people in a black township. To counter that misconception, Fanie Kruger left his family in Pienaarspoort and moved in with black people in the Mamelodi township.
Fanie Kruger has been living in Mamelodi for the past twenty years and still enjoys every moment of his stay. 'Bra Fannie', as many people call him, says he cannot believe how quickly he managed to learn the Sotho language in the first year of living there. By the sound of his accent, it is not easy by any stretch of imagination to think he is not an original Sotho speaking person.
"I enjoy my life and staying here and everybody loves me," says Fanie. He is a mechanic by profession. "I do not like working for other people, I enjoy working for myself," he says. He works from his home in Mamelodi East where he repairs vehicles with engine and break problems. "I like working with people but the problem is that most people here like to complain, especially when I have to charge them a fee after repairing their vehicles. I then just laugh and finally we have to reach a compromise."
He says he grew up on a farm in Pienaarspoort where most of his friends were black people. "With that background, it was easy for me to adapt to the lifestyle of the people in Mamelodi," he says. About his personal life, Fanie says he has been blessed with a child with his black girlfriend. "I am not planning to rush into marriage yet," he says adding that ba boletse bare, nyala o tla nyela, which means life turns out to be a bit more difficult when you are married. [www.rekord.co.za]
Posted by
Rethabile
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6:49 AM
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Labels: N, vocabulary
Posted by
Rethabile
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8:22 AM
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Labels: learning

Posted by
Rethabile
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1:13 AM
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I just couldn't help putting this up for those of you who speak or are learning Sesotho. It's a PowerPoint document that you need to download (ho theohelisa) and run through your favourite anti-virus program, just for good measure. Or just open it online. And enjoy. U tla e fumana atereseng e latelang: http://r.masilo.free.fr/tse_ling/mahe.a.linotsi.pps
Posted by
Rethabile
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1:12 AM
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Clothes/Vêtements: Sesotho Crossword Puzzle. Enjoy it.
Posted by
Rethabile
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12:42 AM
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The Face/Le Visage: Sesotho Crossword Puzzle
Enjoy it. I'm hoping to put up a puzzle or a quiz per week. Do come back, and keep trying to learn or teach Sesotho. Don't let it go the way of the dodo.
Posted by
Rethabile
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10:47 AM
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Lumela in Lesotho and Dumela in South Africa are the Sesotho greeting. Literally, the word means "agree," though it isn't clear what the greeted person is required to agree with. Lumela is singular and lumelang is plural, or respectful what addressed to one person. Which of the responses in this quiz are inappropriate?
Posted by
Rethabile
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10:48 AM
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Labels: L, vocabulary
Posted by
Rethabile
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12:37 PM
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Know a proverb in Sesotho? Sure you do. Why don't you leave one or two proverbs for the world to see? Other languages have lots of proverbs contributed by various native speakers of those languages. Sesotho needs more representation.
Posted by
Rethabile
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5:15 PM
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"Media reports say a team of linguistics experts participated in the creation of a glossary of more than 3 000 Kiswahili words for computer terms. The interface pack, LIP is designed to enhance access to technology by people in a language that is familiar to them and celebrates the beauty of cultural diversity. Already Microsoft has in South Africa entered into partnership with various stakeholders to develop software in isiZulu and Afrikaans. This was achieved last year and plans are afoot to expand this to seSotho, seTswana, isiXhosa and Tshivenda among other languages in that country."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200512210482.html
Posted by
Rethabile
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4:46 PM
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For a while and until I sort things out, posts about Sesotho will be at my other blog, Sotho. I cannot say how long that will last, but this blog isn't at all dead.
Posted by
Rethabile
at
7:01 PM
Likhomo tseo! That's the literal translation of the above title: those cows. In Sesotho, however, the phrase is a greeting uttered to an adult, usually a male adult. Cows hold a special place in a Mosotho's heart. They are riches and food, and fuel, and clothing, and beasts of burden. Cows are everything to us.
Riches because they are collateral-lobola-milk-beef rolled into one; fuel because we dry dung and burn it; clothing because traditionally we wear their hide, and beasts of burden because they carry our heavy loads and pull our ploughs to till the land.
So go ahead and try the greeting, preferably with a raised hand, Likhomo! Or Likhomo tseo! And if there are children around, or in the family, Likhomo tseo le manamane a tsona! The latter greeting means, Those cows and their calves. It is a greeting of respect.
The following link goes to the Lesotho Prime Minister's Speech on the 25th Anniversary of the Central Bank of Lesotho. The last words he utters, right at the end of his talk, are... link.
Posted by
Rethabile
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9:38 PM
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Nkoe,
Nkoe ke phoofolo
E maroborobo;
Ha e bona motho
E ea mo tlolella -- e se mo tlolelletse!
Ea qaqapolotsa
Letlalo la hlooho,
Motho ke bohloko,
A be se a pota...
A batla motoho,
Motoho oa matekoane.
See if you can translate the words in red into English, French or Swahili. I'll symbolically reward the "winner" with two Gmail accounts. How about that?
Posted by
Rethabile
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1:31 PM
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Posted by
Rethabile
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1:53 AM
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A popular BBC series, Keeping Up Appearances, is going to get a Sesotho version. It will be broadcast by SABC2 under the name Mponeng, which literally means "See me" but could be the equivalent of "Attention j'arrive" or "Look at me, everybody!"
The verb, to see, is ho bona. A well-know Sesotho proverb proclaims that Ho tsamaea ke ho bona, or To travel is to see.
Posted by
Rethabile
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5:07 PM
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"Gracious God, remind us today that "ours" is really Yours, that giving is a joy, that you invite us to trust you and care for each other over and over again. Bless us that we may build your realm wherever we may be. Amen.
In the Sesotho language of Lesotho, a person who is wealthy is called a ‘morui.' However, not all forms of wealth are equally respected. One who is rich in cattle is more highly respected than one who keeps his wealth in a bank account or household property. The reason for this is that cattle can benefit not only the owner but the whole community. The true morui will place some of his cattle in the care of others in the village so they, too, can benefit from them, loan them to others for use during the plowing season and sell them to those in need, with the price depending on the circumstances of the one in need. Money in the bank or household property is considered a selfish form of wealth, whereas cattle can help transform the whole community. A man with money ‘only helps himself'; a true morui ‘knows the poor.' A morui is a vital part of village life and productivity, not someone detached and separated from it.
How at odds this understanding of wealth is with the way it is usually perceived and practiced in Western cultures. Instead of wealth being something which frequently divides people, here we have an understanding where wealth provides for people. How much better off the world would be if more people invested their wealth in directly productive assets which could benefit the poor. Without meaning to oversimplify the solution to world poverty, surely there is something to be learned from this example in Lesotho, and a challenge to us in our own uses of wealth. Perhaps the Basotho can help us to develop our own understanding of wealth!
As far as we know, Jesus did not own any cattle and would not qualify as a morui in the usual sense of the word. But he surely was one who knew the poor and taught extensively about wealth. Let us seek wisdom from God's Word and Jesus' teaching to use our wealth wisely.
Mark Behle, UCC/Disciple missionary in Lesotho
Adapted from In Mission 1999/2000: A Calendar of Prayer for the United Church of Christ, United Church Board for World Ministries & United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, November 14."
[ Source... ]
Posted by
Rethabile
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11:03 PM
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What and where exactly is Barotseland? And what's its relation to Sesotho and Basotho?
Posted by
Rethabile
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7:57 AM
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The blurb says: "A manual that bridges the gap between pure grammar and practical speech. A step-by-step guide that provides examples in Sesotho, English and Afrikaans. The book is aimed at both first- and second-language speakers of Sesotho, and covers all aspects of grammer and has a detailed list of vocabulary. Every chapter begins with an orientation to help the learner. The pictorial vocabulary in Chapter 1 enables easy reference and visual associations."
[ Source... ]
Posted by
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10:10 PM
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South African author and play director, Nape 'a Motana, has published a book called Sepedi (Northern Sotho) Proverbs. It is a collection of proverbs in the Northern Sesotho language. I haven't yet seen the book, but many of the proverbs must be the same as our own Southern Sesotho proverbs.
[ Read more... ]
Posted by
Rethabile
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7:22 AM
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One of the most complete resources out there is Jako Olivier's pages. If you haven't yet gone to see and learn, what are you waiting for? Learn forms of greeting, basic phrases, and a lot more. If you have questions, try to write to him here: jako at cyberserv dot co dot za.
Posted by
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1:15 AM
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Since 18 April 2004, the nation's isiXhosa, isiZulu and SeSotho speakers, have had the option of transacting on all, except a third, of Absa's ATMs in their home language, therefore addressing and reducing the risk associated with transacting in language not familiar to customers. Absa is the only South African bank to offer this facility.
Posted by
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9:56 PM
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Republican: Bush (Incumbent)I wasn't really surprised that Blount County in East Tennessee voted 68% for Bush. I should know... I went to school there. I was rather surprised, however, that the whole country leaned that way. Well, not the whole country, really; more like a little over half. As President Bush said, "America has spoken." What is it saying, though?
33,240
68%
Democratic: Kerry
15,042
31%
Independent: Nader
204
1%
Other: Badnarik & Peroutka
134 & 88
0%
[ Source... ]
Posted by
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6:29 AM
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