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How is the double "aa" pronounced? Is it like "ay" or "ah,ah,"? Or is it a long "ah"?
For (almost?) every other word you'll encounter, the "aa" will be pronounced "ah-ah", as two separate vowels, except if it's at the end of a word, in which case you'll just stress the last vowel (as opposed to stressing the second to last vowel in every other case).
Examples:
baada (after, ba-a-da)
kondoo (sheep, pronounced kon-do, as opposed to kond-o-o)
mshumaa (candle, pronounced m-shu-ma, as opposed to m-shu-ma-a)
But, for baadaye the "aa" is pronounced as "a". Also the last "e" is omitted from the pronounciation, so baadaye is pronounced like this:
aaadaye (ba-day) (day here is pronounced almost like the English word "die", not like the English word "day")
This is one of very few irregularly pronounced words in the Swahili language.
I'm not good with the phonetic language, so sorry for not providing a better pronounciation guide.
This one is kind of weird, because you normally pronounce all the vowels clearly, but it's pronounced 'bah-ah-dye' when read it looks like it should be pronounced 'bah-ah-dah-yay'.
I think the stress on the second to last syllable kind of blends the two syllables together in this word, I haven't completely figured out why though.
That's odd but not too difficult. The pronunciation of the language is much easier than I expected.
Yeah, from other people I've talked to, most people say they can read publicly within six months without too much of an issue (even if they don't understand everything they're reading).
There are some changes in pronunciation based on dialect/region (Congolese Swahili is the most different), but for the most part, they'll understand you for the most part.
Is this later as in "I will do this later" or as a casual statement when one leaves?
Later, as in "see you later".
But I think you can use it as an answer to a question like "When will you do this?", though you will more frequently hear "Bado kidogo". "Bado" means "Not yet", and "kidogo" is "a little", so I think it can be translated to "Soon", or "Shortly", but don't take people's word for it if you're in a hurry. "Bado kidogo" can mean everything from "in five minutes" to "I haven't started yet, it will take a few hours".
It can be both - used as farewell "Baadaye!" or when talking about your plans for the day.
Where is the sound (I am doing anther course simultaneously and the sound is crystal clear)??? Why is this course so poorly constructed?? I wanted to do this 5 languages ago, and every time I get put off by the chaos that this tree is! It is simply lacking in everything! I am frustrated because I love both Swahili and Doulingo, and this is THE ONLY AFRICAN LANGUAGE they are teaching; however it lookes like a poorly budgeted afterthought!!! And while they keep adding new languages, no one is fixing this one. Why??!!
