subject: 3 Common Misconceptions About Learning The Twi Language [print this page] Seeing how not to learn the Twi language can help you to see more clearly. Here are 3 common misconceptions about learning to speak Twi.
Learning Twi is very difficult: Some people seem to think that the Twi language is very difficult to learn, and that you need countless hours of CD-based audio lessons or some grammar books and dictionaries to speak it fluently. These materials most of the time do not work leading most beginners to abandon the ambition in the end. But Twi is not difficult at all to learn if you follow the right techniques and methods. You'll learn the Twi language much more efficiently with an Asante girlfriend or boyfriend than with several years of grammar at school.
You need to learn a huge word list: Twi vocabulary, beyond the first 100 words, is best learned in context. Ask what the word means. Look it up in a Twi software such asNkyea Twi Primer, which shows example sentences of more than 1000 Twi words. Try to guess its meaning. But some people will tell you to learn huge word lists. That technique doesn't work. You won't be able to use Twi words you learned in lists, they would never come to your mind quickly enough.
You have to learn the grammar book by heart: Ask a six year old Asante boy to explain to you how pronouns relate to verbs in a Twi sentence and you may not get a word from him. But the same boy will tell you Medware' meaning I bath and never Modware'. Twi grammar is best learned by seeing examples and imitating (inferringthe rule) until your ear recognize what sounds right and what does not. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to learn the Twi grammar book by heart, and here you are, you have all you need! It just doesn't work that way.
In our next article, we shall see the best way beginners can learn the Twi language.
3 Common Misconceptions About Learning The Twi Language
