BBC Somali is a resource that I'm already leaning heavily on.
One of the reasons for this is that, as a reputable organisation, I know that I can trust the quality of language being used...certainly more so than most sources for Somali on the internet (which are few and far between already in comparison to most foreign languages that I've worked with).
I also know that by dipping into this source I'll be learning from a variety of lexical fields, and be picking up vocabulary and phrasing that is current and relevant.
Even at this early stage in my learning I'm using the BBC Somali website to push myself to read Somali. At this stage I'm just looking at headlines - short, succinct text conveying the essence of an entire article - to see what I can already understand, and what I can learn.
Learning a little about current affairs in the process certainly doesn't hurt.
Yesterday I was confronted with the following headline:
In ka badan 30 ku dhimatay weerar lagu qaaday cisbitaal
...and I must admit that I was darned proud (if a little bummed) to link one word - dhimatay - to death.
Following some of my usual vocabulary-learning techniques, I used Google Translate to get the full sense:
More than 30 killed in attached on hospital
...and to pick up some useful new vocabulary - just the basics for now (nouns):
cisbitaal - hospital (phonetic)
weerar - attack
...now I'm just hoping for some happier News to learn from!
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