Hi, everyone! I hope you like the video! Be sure to grab Atlas VPN at the special Christmas price of just $1.70/mo (plus 6 months extra) before this deal expires: get.atlasvpn.com/Langfocus And yes, I know I said that Lagos is the capital. The capital is actually Abuja, so I should have said that Lagos is the largest city.
As a native and a first degree holder in Yoruba language and history there's a fair lot of things you got wrong and I will be willing to help if you are willing to have it but great video and thanks for shining a light on African languages
Though I appreciate you need sponsors to be able to make these videos, promoting a VPN by listing all the illegal things you can do with it might not be the best way...
As a Cuban I feel a deep connection to this language, which here we call Lucumí, the language of the gods. Ashé for my Yoruba brothers and sisters 🕊️💙🤍💚
I'm a black American (Decendents of slaves) and I've recently did my ancestral DNA and I'm 85% West African and I done my ethnic tribe research and my highest tribe is Esan and Yoruba, I am trying to reconnect my lost African heritage and trying to learn Yoruba
Hey man, there’s been some misunderstanding with the African and African American community. We seem to believe we look down on each other. I hope. E day we can come together and build our home and make the continent of Africa ours
You posted this one year ago. Please tell me how was your journey and can you understand some Yoruba now and if you do then what's the best tips and resources you have used?
As a brazilian, Yoruba would probably be the first african language I chose to learn, because it's the one I have had some contact with through religion
@@TheTrueOnyxRose still isn't language bro Swahili is native to and very popular in east African countries while Zulu is the most spoken language in republic of south Africa
I am a Yoruba lady from Ibadan, Nigeria. I didn't get to understand and speak the Yoruba Language much earlier because the English Language was prioritized in all formal settings. But guess what, I developed myself. Now, I have a TH-cam channel 'TEMITIRE TV' where I discuss social interaction techniques in YORUBA LANGUAGE.
Na wa o. How did u grow up in Ibadan and did not learn Yoruba. I am a proper Lagos babe and I speak excellent English, Yoruba and Hausa. Just say your people were ashamed to teach u and u were ashamed to learn. Influential Yoruba families teach their kids their language - Dangote, MKO Abiola, Sarakis, etc all their kids speak Yoruba/Hausa wella. Its not a flex to not know ur own mother tongue. Dis attitude will send us into extinction.
Same. Plus more SE Asian languages. My best friend growing up was the first of his family to be born in the US after escaping from Laos in the late ‘70s, so I want to know more about Lao. _[edit]_ Also, my dad was stationed in Thailand in the mid ‘70s, now that I think of it
I'm Brazilian and it didn't sound so strange to me because we have several words that are derived from that language, especially in the state of Bahia and in religions of African origin such as Umbanda and Candomblé
I agree! I'm Brazilian too, and my father is an Umbanda praticant and because of him I have learnt some words from this video, but the language is really fascinating!
I'm from Rio and even here we can see many traits of that language in everyday speech. Those are very sutile traits that we don't even notice it but they are Indeed a trait of Yoruba - the main language of the Africans who were brought to Brazil - at the period of the ilegal human trade. It's just normal for us brazilians to have many words of that language and influence from it in our language.
I read somewhere that in Bahia in the 1800s Yoruba served as the lingua franca of Afro-Brazilians. So much so that there was even fear it might replace Portuguese as the national of the state.
Yeah, what José said. I can say from experience that as my parents were teaching me, it used to frustrate me (English is actually my first language). But yeah, those little changes make a huge difference. One example I always love is when you say “ewa” in Yoruba. Depending on the pronunciation you use, it can mean “you are”, “beans”, “beauty”, and more. Hope that helps!
@@RadicalCaveman No you can't make that mistake because "You're a beauty" is O Rewa while "You're beans" is Ewa ni e. So the person you're talking to will automatically know what you're trying to say based on the conversation.
I'm not Yoruba; I'm Igbo, but I greatly appreciate this video. Thank you very much. I love how you used local pronunciation, maintaining the language's intonation - a very important part of the language. Thank you very much for this video.
I agree, as an Australian we don't have tones in any of our hundreds of tribal languages. We know them from foreigners only. But without them your words are totally misunderstood. Better to be understood.
Yoruba is a fascinating and beautiful language. As a black American, I was very happy to learn through DNA testing that my ancestors came from what today is called Nigeria. I hope one day to visit there.
As a Brazilian, I hear yoruba and instantly understand why our Portuguese sounds so different from the other varieties: the massive, undeniable influence of millions of people who were stolen from the other side of the ocean over centuries and forced to colonize these lands. I may not look like I'm from african descent, but my tongue is! 😜Thanks for our sound, Nigeria!
As a Slavic (Bosnia) native speaker, I am more intimidated by languages like this than by some highly inflected ones. Even though BCMS has contour, I am still having a hard time differentiating tones in Yoruba and alike languages but it's probably listening and practicing that'd make it easier. Yoruba sounds great, really pleasing phonetically especially nasal vowel endings :) I'd like to see Igbo and a comparison maybe. Thanks, Paul, you did great as per usual.
The tones used in youruba are do re mi used in music. For example Ògún - do mi (god of iron) Ogun - re re (war) Ogún - re mi (20 or inheritance depending on context) Ògùn - do do (medicine) Different tones different meanings. The sign ò on the "O" is for the "do" tone The sign ó on the "O" is for the "mi" tone While no sign sign on the vowel means the tone is "re". I hope this was helpful.
Igbo and Yoruba are not related languages. The (Proposed) Niger-Congo classification is not to be confused with linguistic classifications, such as Indo-European, which reflect shared linguistic origins. The classification of Niger-Congo, was created under assumption and not extensive rigorous research, and works only on the basis of a geographical, sign post. Ie, languages found in relatively close regions. Igbo, with its emphasis on hard consonants, Kp, Ch, Kr, Z, Mb, Ka, Ko is more a Pro-Bantoid language, than a West African founder language.
I absolutely love how many languages you cover, so many linguistic channels only cover European languages,and even then they tend to shy away from some parts of Eastern Europe. Not only do you do a deep dive into the language, you discuss the history and bring on people who speak these languages to ensure all the words are said correctly and respectfully. Truly t one of the best language channels on TH-cam!
Well, I understand those channels - because only a small handful of the audience wants to see me cover languages that aren’t widely studied. So far this video is my worst performing video in a long time, and once again that means I have to re-evaluate which topics to cover. This is how I earn a living, and if few people watch, I lose money (and a lot of time - huge opportunity cost). So if you guys love these videos as much as you say, you need to share them. I have a Patreon, by not nearly enough people support it for me to disregard views.
@@Langfocus Do you offer something to your patrons like a lesson resume of your video where people can look up the materials on your website and see the example sentences and listen to the vocal recordings? It would be quite helpful, not just for minor languages that don't have many good quality learning materials, but also most popular ones.
@@Langfocus I understand you Sir. I hope and pray that your channel and views grows bigger. I'll will very much share your videos. Thanks for your efforts. GOD BLESS.
I've been watching your videos for years. They are always super insightful, educative and entertaining. As a Nigerian who was born and raised in Germany, I've been hoping you'd one day feature one of the languages of Nigeria and the day has finally come. This video was yet again super insightful. What stood out to me are the similarities between Yoruba and my native tongue Urhobo, which is an Edoid language spoken in the south-south region of Nigeria by the Urhobo people (who are a minority ethnic group of ca. 4 Millionen people). The similarities most definitely come from the Yoruba influence on Edoid languages. One is the example of the word for cat 'Ológbò' which is 'Onogbo' in Urhobo (in my dialect at least). Urhobo is also a tonal language, it has the same sentence structure like Yoruba and we also have the alphabets 'ẹ' and 'ọ'. Another example for the Yoruba influence on Urhobo and other Edoid languages is the word for child ('ọmọ') which is used in Yoruba and in many Edoid languages aswell. I really enjoyed this video and I'm looking forward to more videos on languages or language groups from Nigeria or a video on the languages of Nigeria in general 🇳🇬. Greetings from Germany!! 🇩🇪
It's not because of Yoruba influence, they're basically just related overall cos of common Origin, an influence on a language can be taken into consideration when the language aren't closely related but still has similar words but edoid language are closely related to yoruboid,they form a close cluster called "Yeai"along with more akoko and Igbo, you can google it.
The level of research that went into this is crazy, I have been speaking Yoruba for 30 years and I still learnt something about my language from a video made by a foreigner
@@kehindeakiode2865 WAEC Yoruba was very technical in my time (1975). You had to understand the Owe (proverbs), and use words that are not commonly used, the kind of words we simply substituted the English words for.
Yoruba was taught in school just like English, instead of our main language, it gave us a hard time cos now we were learning it as a subject which is a whole different ball game than growing up speaking It, and you also had to learn English as subject too and French in junior school, it was a lot 😂
To answer your question,As a yoruba, i speak the Standard dialect (Oyo) and it's also my main dialect, I'm from Oyo... basically the yoruba used in this video is not the standard dialect,but a different dialect ,but i still understand everything in this video but the accent is different, they're some more distinct dialects that are very hard to understand for Oyo speakers basically the eastern Yoruba branch: like ilaje ,Ijebu ,owo etc
I was just about to say, I mostly speak standard dialect. Learning from movies and family (I grew up in the States), I find that I sometimes struggle understanding the other dialects at all when they’re spoken quickly. In fairness though, I’m not perfectly fluent in Yoruba and my Yoruba is kinda rusty since I hear it spoken often (and can understand basically fluently) but rarely speak it back myself.
@@OlaitanOlatundun you are right, but i just don't know the name for it, so i chose Oyo. Since it's the closest to it and i thought it's just called oyo
i am a yoruba teenager living abroad for the past 8 years. it is so hard for me to read and even sometimes communication in yoruba and i was not even encouraged to learn. this video is definately a source of my encouragement.
I never knew this, amazing. I was just learning about the influence of Kongolese on Gullah Geechee in the United States (South Carolina/Georgia) and was a bit in amazement that some of the language was unequivocally connected even after all that generational trauma. To know now theres a bigger influence clear as day in Brazil makes me feel blind. Like, of course there's going to be a linguistic connection there, that's where a majority of the forced migration/enslaved peoples of west Africa ended up. I really hope he talks about that too.
@@TheWizardofLimes There are lovely words in Brazilian Portuguese from Yoruba, like dengo (before it became related to a disease, dengue fever), xodó, and cafuné. They are related to caring and love and most people in Brazil don't know their African origins
I'm a Yoruba speaker from Nigeria. From ekiti but born and brought up in Ibadan. There's no type of Yoruba you speak that you won't understand the general Yoruba. Whatever dialect you speak, you will still be able to communicate because we have a general Yoruba for everybody. There are some yoruba dialect that you don't understand if not from that part of Yoruba land but good news is we have a general Yoruba for everyone...
@@the-chipette my family are from Ondo, but I was raised in Lagos so i am familiar with Lago and Ondo Yoruba. None of my Yoruba speaking friends can understand my parents when they speak Ondo...which for me I found weird, because to me both general Yoruba and Ondo sounds very similar ( because i was raised with both).
my family is from Kogi and our dialect is Yagba. But I'm still struggling to learn the basic Yoruba since I was born in the US. I don't speak my village dialect yet
I’m half Oyo and Ijebu, I find it hard to understand my mums part of Ijebu, their dialect is quiet strong with a few localised words, Oyo dialect seems to be the standard across Yoruba land.
You are 100% right!😂😂😂 I am a Yoruba speaker who has learnt a bit of German. And, yes, they are polar opposite in being rhythmic. This is why traditional Yoruba music has been very successful in history and Yoruba plays a major part in influencing the now popular genre of Afrobeats. And German being used for music is eeeeerrrrr ........ maybe not that popular. 😆
As an outsider, it's interesting how the Yoruba people, along with other ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan Africa, influenced the cultures of countries in the Americas, and that includes their language. I do think they deserve recognition for shaping the world into what it is today, at least culturally and linguistically, and I think this one has done them justice because it's been overlooked by many all around the world. I know this isn't related to the video itself, but I just wanna put this out there because I think a lot of people don't realize it. Anyways, hope y'all have a happy holiday! :)
Well, when we think of African slaves we often think only of field slaves. We forget many also worked as house slaves & helped raise their Masters' children. Whenever that happens Africanisms are bound to influence European languages spoken there as well.
@@ncheedxx0109we are trying to shift this usage of the word "slave" to "enslaved", in efforts of affording the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, some dignity. I send you greetings, with love and respect in the name of the Yoruba mother Goddess Osun and the Goddess Orosun, Orisha of mountains and intellectuals.
Well, Yoruba is mostly spoken in Nigeria and Benin (and I had a friend from Togo that spoke some Yoruba, so probably some there too), but hardly in Niger or Congo, so it wouldn't be going too much into depth with the languages spoken in those countries.
The yoruba language is very common in Brazil, because many enslaved people were from Yorubaland. They brought their beliefs and culture and those compound the huge Brazilian Culture. I am camdomblecist, which means I follow a religion called Candomblé, which was made of many yoruba beliefs put together during the slavery time and in the cults we sing and use many yoruba words, but they're said in our way (not literally as they should be pronounced). Anyways, I love orisha and I love that the gods let me know more about yoruba people and its sacred language. May the orishas bless us all! Àse o!
Cantonese speaker here - my first impression is that the tonal system is why West Africans sometimes sound like they have a Cantonese accent when they speak English lol. Also the aspects are very similar (except the aspect markers often come after the verb in Cantonese)
And vice versa, I'm Nigerian and i heard someone speak the Singapore pidgin English,it Sounds just like they're speaking in Nigerian accent . I was dumbfounded
I'm a yoruba, finally! I was waiting for this to be featured in your channel.. at 6:12 i noticed it's hard for a non west African to pronounce the gb or kp sound ,especially the GB, the easiest way is to do this is to imagine you have lot of water in your mouth then you try to pronounce B.
Well done! I'm so glad that your langfocus has moved out of Europe and into Africa. Thanks for featuring this important African language, and I appreciate that you made an effort to pronounce names like 'Yoruba' and ' Ibadan' correctly. I studied this wonderful language in grad school, and found the Yoruba people to be very welcoming when I visited twice to conduct research. E ku gbogbo eyin ore Yoruba mi!
Nicely said Don Williams. E ku basically means I acknowledge or greet you for something, which means it must be followed by that something. So, e ku aaro means good morning because it's the aaro [morning] that's that something. Some parts of yorubaland actually use E ku the way you did. They say E ku as a way of simply saying I acknowledge you and whatever you're doing in general without getting down to specifics. I heard that a lot in Ilorin, where I studied. Anyway, I'm glad yoruba is so appreciated by others. Edit: the term is actually E kuu. Ku means death. This small difference made it quite funny to hear people say E ku cos you got confused about what they were saying until you realized they were saying E kuu but because they were using it as a standalone phrase, the intonation changed from kuu to ku. Fascinating stuff
This is the most comprehensive and detailed video I've seen on Yoruba! I would like to add that "awon", which is also a third person plural is used to mark plural and "naa" is used like a definite particle. However, they are optionally used unless you cannot distinguish between meanings. Ore -> friend Awon ore -> friends Ore naa -> the friend Awon ore naa -> the friends.
The effort in the Yoruba and Igbo pronunciation though 🙌🙌🙌🙌. Many people outside Nigeria call it as they please but you pronounced them properly. Kudos 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Brazil has millions of descendants of Iorubá peoples, bringing influence in our culture, cuisine, music, religion with the cult of the Orixás, and consequently in our vocabulary.
The detail in this video is superb. I am Igbo, but travel a lot and live in Lagos, so I have heard a lot of Nigerian languages and understand some Yoruba, so this was really nice to see. Please when are you covering Igbo? Let me understand some concepts in my language from a theoretic perspective, just like I did with this.
Yoruba is very commonly spoken in British cities like London , Birmingham , Manchester , Bristol and others because of the huge numbers of Nigerian -origin people and Nigerian students on university campuses . The phenomenal growth in the popularity of Afrobeats music around the world has also increased the exposure of the rest of the world to Yoruba and also Igbo and Nigerian / West African Pidgin English . There is a part of London called Peckham which is dubbed Little Lagos in London . There is a running joke that most people in Peckham regardless of race , ethnicity or nationality know at least a little bit if the Yoruba language !! 😂
Yoruba is an absolutely beautiful language, and I've been waiting for more African language content so this video is perfect! Thanks for all your hard work Paul :)
At a previous job, we had two Yoruba colleagues. Between them, they would speak Nigerian English, for want of a better word. It's not the pidgin, but rather English with some ways of expressing yourself unique to Nigeria.
I believe the numbers of people speaking Yoruba presently in Nigeria are more than 35 to 40 million. The number is more like 60 to 70 million. You can also find alot of Yoruba language in Afrobeats by Wizkid, Burna boy and Davido.
It's definitely interesting for me to hear about non-European languages, especially those from Africa since there are are far fewer videos about them. My first impression of Yoruba is that it sounds beautiful. Thanks!
There are 3 tones in Yoruba(Re- Do-Mi): do-re-mi just like in music. /do/ is going down, /re/ is flat while /mi/ is going up. Ogun (as in god of iron) has /do-mi/ tone, ogun(20) is /re-mi/, ogun (war) is /re-re/, ogun (inheritance) also have /re-mi/ tone like twenty (20), but you differentiate from the context of the speech if the person is talking about inheritance or twenty. The sign/stress for |do| is \ while |mi| is / and |re| doesn't need anything because it's flat. Saying high, low and middle is not a good explanation, rather the movement of the tone. You put the sign/stress on the vowel letter to indicate the movement of the sound. For example opelenge will be /do-mi-mi-mi/. Note the O and the Es in opelenge has a dot beneath them hence changing the O sound to /or/ and the Es sounds to /e/ as in egg.
Yoruba language is estimated to be spoken by a much larger populations than that but what a brilliant way to analyze the Yoruba language. You’re awesome 👏
There was a guy from Nigeria and I could tell he had an accent, and because I'm a language nerd, I had asked what language he spoke, and of course I had never heard of Yoruba (three main languages of Nigeria being - Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo), I then learned a few words and phrases in it but it (alike other languages) is a complicated language! 🤣 Owo fun awon to n so ede Yoruba 🇳🇬
I am Yoruba and I stays in California USA..I am proud of my tribe my language but am not proud being a Nigerian.. thanks for sharing more light of my tribe and culture to the world God bless you..oduduwa agbe wa oo
Good to see you explore an African language this time around. I'm Yoruba and I've been fascinated about the work you do here and on Geofocus. Keep that up.
I'm a native Yorùbá speaker and I'm from Ìbàdàn, so I speak the standard variant. I've never had any issue communicating with friends from the other parts, but I assure you that understanding their dialect can be really tricky for me. But like the Èkìtì fellow who commented earlier said, we all strangely understand and can speak the standard Yorùbá so communication is never an issue.
I am a Yoruba speaker here in Nigeria. Its my first language😊. I speak the Ibadan/Oyo dialect which is just one of the many yoruba dialects.Trust me some of these other dialects can be difficult to understand even as a yoruba speaker
I won't say difficult to understand but can be a chore to learn if you'd want to speak like them. Basically if you understand the general Yoruba, you'd do fine with other dialects in understanding and communicating. That's not to say they don't have tough ways of sealing.
@@consortiumexpert honestly the first time I heard the Ondo dialect if not because of the tones, pronunciation and sprinkle of familiar words. I would have argued that it wasn't Yoruba
@@consortiumexpert I speak fluent Ibadan/Oyo Yoruba but the Ondos are in a class of their own. Their dialect is so foreign to my ears. One has to have lived amongst them for a while to understand whatever they are saying.
I am from Kogi State, Nigeria and my people speak and understand the general Yoruba language plus other variants of it that are not too complex. And we do have our own dialect called Oyouu. It is kind of similar to Yoruba in that many of the words are correct Yoruba words, but it is one of the many complicated versions of Yoruba.
Man ! this video made my day ! I was born in Cuba and was exposed to that language as there is also the Yoruba religion, which was brought by the slaves during the colonial times. High jerarchy religious people use that language during the rituals, and the traditional songs that passed from generations through oral tradition. There is very interesting music in Cuba from the Yoruba community and the religion. I suggest Sintesis, which they mix Rock and Jazz with those traditional songs. I remember the word, "Abure", which is brother ! Hello to the Yoruba people ! :)
The moment you mentioned "Abure" I confirm in totally your statement. Abure (Abore) is a term for sacrifice. Oju abore: A place of sacrifice. The oju means eye, which connotes a focus point (place)
There is another word Aburo which is either term for a younger brother or younger sister. An elder brother or sister can use the word to mean younger brother/sister.
@@nmg1909 Thanks ! Yeah, there are many words that entered the coloquial language of society in Cuba, so they are used as a normal vocabulary. Words that i remember: "aché" (good luck), arayé (problem, or problematic people), etc. I also remember "ibú" (river), "laroye", "maferefun", etc. I don't know if you are from the area, but i am always wondering if the Yoruba from today keep that religion of Orishas or they changed to Islam or Christianity?
@@leandrogarciaphoto I am not from the area though but could speak Yoruba. I am an Igbo-speaking part of Nigeria. Some still practice the traditional rite, mainly by the traditional rulers and some groups of people also practice it too. Christianity and Islam have taken many away from this ancestral practice.
Hi! It's very interesting like how we have so much similar traditions between Latin-Americans and Africans. Here in Brazil, African-rooted religions also influenced our music, like samba and Brazilian Funk, and there is a music style named "Axé" (which I believed to be the same word as "aché"). The song "Mas que nada" also has very clear religious themes, using the Yorubá language. I'm very interested in knowing if it's common to see people speaking Yorubá in Cuba. Here in Brazil, it's a mostly religious language, and you might be called "macumbeiro" (a derogatory term for people who follow African religions). Is it common to see people conversating in Yorubá there? Also, I'm curious to know how Cuba is overall. Here in Brazil there is an extremely heavy anti-leftist propaganda, and "Go to Cuba" became kind of an insult used by conservatives towards leftists, in reference of the poverty (completely ignoring that some parts of Brazil have work conditions analogous to slavery or servitude). There was even a case where some Brazilians persecuted Venezuelan immigrants back to the border in Pacaraima. What do you think about Cuban politics?
I'm from Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, where we have many words of Yoruba origin that we use on a daily basis, where we have a great African influence in the period of slavery. As we have over 83% of the population of African descent, mostly of Yoruba origin, much of the culture, traditions and religiosity come from this people and also in part from the Bantu people. It's interesting that even our phonetics of our accent is like that.
Very nice video and very informative. But I missed something very important, the use and impact of yoruba in the Americas. From Cuba to Argentina in many communities yorubá is a liturgical language (for yorubá traditions like Candomblé, Santería, Umbanda, Batuke, Umbandomblé etc) For people in this communities many yorubá words are used in daily life situations, even if they do not speak yorubá. The name of the Orixás are yoruba, the salutation for the Orixás are yorubá, the prayers and rites are in yorubá and so are many day to day object and situtations expressed in yorubá. Here a little example: A: "Agó. ¿Hiciste el ebó que tenías que hacer?" B: "Entendí mal, fui al ilé a preguntar y era que tenía que hacer un addimú con ochinchín, pues mi iyabá es Oshún y yo soy su omó" A: "Pues mucho ashé y mucho iré"
I'd say its almost equal between Yoruba and Igbo. You cant say that Yoruba singing is better than Igbo in my opinion when singers like Flavour, Ckay, Tekno, Phyno are all Igbo. I think you are confused perhaps.
Many of us use the Standard Yorùbá in communication. As much as the Yorùbá guy did his job, he couldn't do away with his regional accents at certain points in the recording. It's a good thing that it's still mutually intelligible to any speaker of the language.
What a fascinating language! I'm glad more people are now focusing on African languages. Just to be a bit of a nit picker, the capital of Nigeria isn't Lagos, it's Abuja. Other than that, fabulous, keep up the good work Paul! 😊
Love your videos I really hope you do Somali soon, It’s a language I’m interested in hearing about from you. Thanks for all these lessons on history and grammar of languages!
Thank you Paul, great video as always! I heard about Yoruba for the first time because of Ibeyi (Twins in Yoruba), a fantastic French-Cuban band. They have songs in English, Spanish and Yoruba.
Love it. As always your videos are THE BEST. I have started Yoruba in the past - only on a very basic level so far - I love it by the way. I loved the way you laid out the info with examples. I know that this is typical for you but it never ceases to be amazing when I see and hear exactly how you do this. Thanks, and may your views be high and your likes be numerous!
To master any language, most especially a tonal language, you must fall in love with the music of that language. Yoruba is popular because of a long parade of musicians and the various styles of music. Even when playing in a relaxed manner in the background, you are ‘drinking’ the sounds somewhat, whether it is ewi, apala, juju, senwele, tungba, fuji, ekun iyawo, ijala etc. As a Yoruba speaker, I found that out when I learned Portuguese in Brazil decades ago. It was fun learning as you come across slangs and the interesting spin Brazilians put on the Portuguese language.
First time I saw African languages here. Very great job man. These languages of Yoruba, Hausa represent African culture. Initially I thought people of Africa only speak Portuguese, English, French , Ethiopian, Arabic but now I see Africans are too diverse than Indians.
@@Bigbnfgv lol. My country India has 447 languages alone even after Pakistan and Bangladesh separated from us. Nepal and Bhutan are also our part and have same culture.
Yoruba has now become official language in Nigeria, both igbo Hausa and igbo learn yoruba and like to understand it because most believe yoruba is one of the most easiest language to communicate. For example if you want to become a great musician in Nigeria or movie actor you must be able to speak yoruba. Go and watch English movies and listen to music. I guess this happen because people believe if you move to Lagos you’ll succeed faster in your movie or music career. even Togo 🇹🇬, Benin republicans, Ghanaian even American artist are also using yoruba in there music. According to what I know and read, there are alot of white people speaking yoruba as general language such as some part of Brazil, Italy even some part of America and many more.God bless African, God bless Nigeria and God bless the world 🌎 one love ❤️
I love this. I haven't heard much about Yoruba before, but I really like the depth you go to in these videos. Will you cover any of the surviving Australian Aboriginal languages?
Only if he can get a native-speaker to do the audio samples. He's had problems in the past where he'd find someone who _claimed_ to speak the language, but what he got was pronounced completely wrong.
Have you ever considered doing a video on sign languages and their development? The kind from Nicaragua has quite an interesting story attached to it and how grew with just a few generations of children at a school.
Its not that easy because majority of us has our own dialect, tho we have general way of speaking it. Easy if you learn it by paying attention to the speakers
Yoruba is a tonal language so learning it without actually living among its native speakers can be hard but doable. A single word in Yoruba can have many meanings. So context also plays a huge part of mastering the language. The Yoruba word 'Ogun' itself alone has atleast 5 different meanings. If you want to learn it without actually living among the native speakers, try and consume a lot of Nigerian movies.
Thanks for this video,, Yoruba speaking Language is over 100 million inside and outside Nigeria..Togo,benin republican,Cuba, Brazilian, Trinidad, e.t.c..
There are quite a few Yoruba speakers here in Columbus, OH. Here are a few great ideas, Paul: a video on the Tigrinya language and a comparison video of Tigrinya and Amharic.
Really appreciate that you covered Yoruba. I always love hearing the different yet similar ways that various unrelated languages use phonemic tone, and Yoruba's tone seems very easy to distinguish that feels like it would help rather than hinder the learning of Yoruba. Would love to see you cover more Niger-Congo languages in the future. Also, for anyone who sees this, definitely check out Yoruba-language Nigerian music that's available on many of the major music platforms. Lots of amazing Yoruba music out there!
Hi, everyone! I hope you like the video! Be sure to grab Atlas VPN at the special Christmas price of just $1.70/mo (plus 6 months extra) before this deal expires: get.atlasvpn.com/Langfocus
And yes, I know I said that Lagos is the capital. The capital is actually Abuja, so I should have said that Lagos is the largest city.
Hello from Georgia Usa 🇺🇸.
As a native and a first degree holder in Yoruba language and history there's a fair lot of things you got wrong and I will be willing to help if you are willing to have it but great video and thanks for shining a light on African languages
Though I appreciate you need sponsors to be able to make these videos, promoting a VPN by listing all the illegal things you can do with it might not be the best way...
I love the video
Lagos was the former capital, holding that status from 1960, when Nigeria gained its independence, to 1991, when the capital was transferred to Abuja.
You pronounced 'Yoruba' and I smiled, because you pronounced it properly and I was very proud. Respect to you my brother.
Yes o. Very good
How he pronounced Yoruba captured my attention.
@@adewaleolatunji64 right and me too lol
Makes me smile every time he says it
Thank you my daughter
As a Cuban I feel a deep connection to this language, which here we call Lucumí, the language of the gods. Ashé for my Yoruba brothers and sisters 🕊️💙🤍💚
You guys speak Yoruba in Cuba?
@@gideonakintola9335 it's a dialect as he said, called Lukumí.
@@gideonakintola9335 only for religious purposes. only the highest of babalawos and iyalochas know how to soeak it properly
@@osz804 bro. So I can go to your country and become a babalawo because I understand yoruba?💀
@@stephen9199 NO YOU can't! it's a process.
I'm a black American (Decendents of slaves) and I've recently did my ancestral DNA and I'm 85% West African and I done my ethnic tribe research and my highest tribe is Esan and Yoruba, I am trying to reconnect my lost African heritage and trying to learn Yoruba
Hey man, there’s been some misunderstanding with the African and African American community. We seem to believe we look down on each other. I hope. E day we can come together and build our home and make the continent of Africa ours
@@ibrahimolalere9737exactly
Wow! I love your resolutions. I hope you're getting a hand on the language already.
God bless us- yorubas
You posted this one year ago. Please tell me how was your journey and can you understand some Yoruba now and if you do then what's the best tips and resources you have used?
As a brazilian, Yoruba would probably be the first african language I chose to learn, because it's the one I have had some contact with through religion
Swahili for me, just due to number of speakers
Cuban here, same!! Ashé 🇨🇺❤️🇧🇷
@@TheTrueOnyxRose they're totally different languages from different parts of the African continent
@@dafeageh1320:
They used the same flag…
@@TheTrueOnyxRose still isn't language bro
Swahili is native to and very popular in east African countries while Zulu is the most spoken language in republic of south Africa
I am a Yoruba lady from Ibadan, Nigeria.
I didn't get to understand and speak the Yoruba Language much earlier because the English Language was prioritized in all formal settings. But guess what, I developed myself.
Now, I have a TH-cam channel 'TEMITIRE TV' where I discuss social interaction techniques in YORUBA LANGUAGE.
U have to try pls don't forget home my sister
Na wa o. How did u grow up in Ibadan and did not learn Yoruba. I am a proper Lagos babe and I speak excellent English, Yoruba and Hausa. Just say your people were ashamed to teach u and u were ashamed to learn. Influential Yoruba families teach their kids their language - Dangote, MKO Abiola, Sarakis, etc all their kids speak Yoruba/Hausa wella. Its not a flex to not know ur own mother tongue. Dis attitude will send us into extinction.
I hope more African languages will be introduced.
Im hoping for Manding or Mande languages in general
Would love to see Akan, Igbo, Bambara/Dioula, Hausa
Same. Plus more SE Asian languages. My best friend growing up was the first of his family to be born in the US after escaping from Laos in the late ‘70s, so I want to know more about Lao.
_[edit]_ Also, my dad was stationed in Thailand in the mid ‘70s, now that I think of it
I hope Akan Twi will be talked about one day.
Malagasy is interesting
I'm Brazilian and it didn't sound so strange to me because we have several words that are derived from that language, especially in the state of Bahia and in religions of African origin such as Umbanda and Candomblé
I agree! I'm Brazilian too, and my father is an Umbanda praticant and because of him I have learnt some words from this video, but the language is really fascinating!
I'm from Rio and even here we can see many traits of that language in everyday speech. Those are very sutile traits that we don't even notice it but they are Indeed a trait of Yoruba - the main language of the Africans who were brought to Brazil - at the period of the ilegal human trade. It's just normal for us brazilians to have many words of that language and influence from it in our language.
In Cuba too! we have Santería, palo del monte and sociedad abakuá
@@levilima9925 Could you list some examples por favor.
I read somewhere that in Bahia in the 1800s Yoruba served as the lingua franca of Afro-Brazilians. So much so that there was even fear it might replace Portuguese as the national of the state.
Yes! As a Yoruba, I’m excited to see this video, and you always put great care into each language! Thanks LangFocus, can’t wait!
Is the vowel tone that needed for foreign speaker.
@@Slekejkwls-1819 thx, helpful clue.
Yeah, what José said. I can say from experience that as my parents were teaching me, it used to frustrate me (English is actually my first language).
But yeah, those little changes make a huge difference. One example I always love is when you say “ewa” in Yoruba. Depending on the pronunciation you use, it can mean “you are”, “beans”, “beauty”, and more.
Hope that helps!
@@theseyi Imagine trying to tell a woman, "You are a beauty," and instead saying, "You are beans."
@@RadicalCaveman No you can't make that mistake because "You're a beauty" is O Rewa while "You're beans" is Ewa ni e. So the person you're talking to will automatically know what you're trying to say based on the conversation.
I'm not Yoruba; I'm Igbo, but I greatly appreciate this video. Thank you very much. I love how you used local pronunciation, maintaining the language's intonation - a very important part of the language. Thank you very much for this video.
Hey, do you know how widely is yoruba spoken in Abuja?
I agree, as an Australian we don't have tones in any of our hundreds of tribal languages. We know them from foreigners only. But without them your words are totally misunderstood. Better to be understood.
Yoruba is a fascinating and beautiful language. As a black American, I was very happy to learn through DNA testing that my ancestors came from what today is called Nigeria. I hope one day to visit there.
Love from a Yoruba brother
Do well to do just that
Love you from another Yoruba brother.😀😀😀
Love from yoruba sister 😘
Love from here too, Yoruba is sweet (Yoruba Dun)
I’m Nigerian but grew up in America, I picked up yoruba when I went back on vacation when I was young. This video is awesome! E ku se, well done sir!
As a Brazilian, I hear yoruba and instantly understand why our Portuguese sounds so different from the other varieties: the massive, undeniable influence of millions of people who were stolen from the other side of the ocean over centuries and forced to colonize these lands. I may not look like I'm from african descent, but my tongue is! 😜Thanks for our sound, Nigeria!
yeah, like if you listen to Dominican or Cuban Spanish the African influence on the accent is so obvious ...or Jamaican Patois etc....
Can you give an example in grammar ?
Heard yoruba is Brazil official language plus in Cuba they speak yoruba too. Omo yoruba ni mii.
@@truthsquestions1532 it actually isn't an official language it's used in religious ceremonies
Yes, there was Portuguese influence on Yoruba and Edo ethnic groups in centuries past.
His pronunciation of "yoruba" is perfect.. Got it 100%
What a majestic language. Love from a African American🥰😍😍🤩
Indeed. And it holds a rich literary development while teaching a bit of the African culture.
As a Slavic (Bosnia) native speaker, I am more intimidated by languages like this than by some highly inflected ones. Even though BCMS has contour, I am still having a hard time differentiating tones in Yoruba and alike languages but it's probably listening and practicing that'd make it easier. Yoruba sounds great, really pleasing phonetically especially nasal vowel endings :) I'd like to see Igbo and a comparison maybe. Thanks, Paul, you did great as per usual.
Not only does BCMS have contour, but it's not written in the orthography :P if you're learning you can't tell from seeing ut
The tones used in youruba are do re mi used in music. For example Ògún - do mi (god of iron)
Ogun - re re (war)
Ogún - re mi (20 or inheritance depending on context)
Ògùn - do do (medicine)
Different tones different meanings.
The sign ò on the "O" is for the "do" tone
The sign ó on the "O" is for the "mi" tone
While no sign sign on the vowel means the tone is "re".
I hope this was helpful.
obidiots. you are no slavic. Slavic dont express themselves in Nigerian english. stop fooling yourself
Igbo and Yoruba are not related languages.
The (Proposed) Niger-Congo classification is not to be confused with linguistic classifications, such as Indo-European, which reflect shared linguistic origins.
The classification of Niger-Congo, was created under assumption and not extensive rigorous research, and works only on the basis of a geographical, sign post. Ie, languages found in relatively close regions.
Igbo, with its emphasis on hard consonants, Kp, Ch, Kr, Z, Mb, Ka, Ko is more a Pro-Bantoid language, than a West African founder language.
Oddly sun (sleep) in Yoruba sounds like corresponding noun in Bulgarian: сън.
I absolutely love how many languages you cover, so many linguistic channels only cover European languages,and even then they tend to shy away from some parts of Eastern Europe. Not only do you do a deep dive into the language, you discuss the history and bring on people who speak these languages to ensure all the words are said correctly and respectfully. Truly t one of the best language channels on TH-cam!
Well, I understand those channels - because only a small handful of the audience wants to see me cover languages that aren’t widely studied. So far this video is my worst performing video in a long time, and once again that means I have to re-evaluate which topics to cover. This is how I earn a living, and if few people watch, I lose money (and a lot of time - huge opportunity cost).
So if you guys love these videos as much as you say, you need to share them. I have a Patreon, by not nearly enough people support it for me to disregard views.
@@Langfocusvery fair! Well, even if you can’t do them often, we the viewers appreciate these kinds of videos when you’re able to do them :)
@@Langfocus Do you offer something to your patrons like a lesson resume of your video where people can look up the materials on your website and see the example sentences and listen to the vocal recordings? It would be quite helpful, not just for minor languages that don't have many good quality learning materials, but also most popular ones.
@@Langfocus I understand you Sir. I hope and pray that your channel and views grows bigger. I'll will very much share your videos. Thanks for your efforts. GOD BLESS.
I've been watching your videos for years. They are always super insightful, educative and entertaining. As a Nigerian who was born and raised in Germany, I've been hoping you'd one day feature one of the languages of Nigeria and the day has finally come. This video was yet again super insightful.
What stood out to me are the similarities between Yoruba and my native tongue Urhobo, which is an Edoid language spoken in the south-south region of Nigeria by the Urhobo people (who are a minority ethnic group of ca. 4 Millionen people). The similarities most definitely come from the Yoruba influence on Edoid languages. One is the example of the word for cat 'Ológbò' which is 'Onogbo' in Urhobo (in my dialect at least). Urhobo is also a tonal language, it has the same sentence structure like Yoruba and we also have the alphabets 'ẹ' and 'ọ'.
Another example for the Yoruba influence on Urhobo and other Edoid languages is the word for child ('ọmọ') which is used in Yoruba and in many Edoid languages aswell.
I really enjoyed this video and I'm looking forward to more videos on languages or language groups from Nigeria or a video on the languages of Nigeria in general 🇳🇬.
Greetings from Germany!! 🇩🇪
It's not because of Yoruba influence, they're basically just related overall cos of common Origin, an influence on a language can be taken into consideration when the language aren't closely related but still has similar words but edoid language are closely related to yoruboid,they form a close cluster called "Yeai"along with more akoko and Igbo, you can google it.
@@oluwadamilola6233 Thanks so much for the clarification. Learnt something new!! 🙌🏾
As an Edo man, I'm happy to see another Bendel person in Germany
It's a pleasure meeting a fellow Uhrobo online.
@@OmarAlikaj Urhobo wadoo!! 🙌🏾🇳🇬
As a Brazilian, this language is so so important, as it shaped Brazilian culture heavily.
The level of research that went into this is crazy, I have been speaking Yoruba for 30 years and I still learnt something about my language from a video made by a foreigner
Youruba is a beautiful language!
I love hearing it spoken.
Yes
If I had you as my yoruba teacher in primary school, I don't think I would have problems learning yoruba as a kid.
Swrs guy
Abi o! Then maybe I wouldn't have gotten F in Yoruba during WAEC 😅
@@kehindeakiode2865 WAEC Yoruba was very technical in my time (1975). You had to understand the Owe (proverbs), and use words that are not commonly used, the kind of words we simply substituted the English words for.
Yoruba was taught in school just like English, instead of our main language, it gave us a hard time cos now we were learning it as a subject which is a whole different ball game than growing up speaking It, and you also had to learn English as subject too and French in junior school, it was a lot 😂
They were doing WaZoBia at the time ...
To answer your question,As a yoruba, i speak the Standard dialect (Oyo) and it's also my main dialect, I'm from Oyo... basically the yoruba used in this video is not the standard dialect,but a different dialect ,but i still understand everything in this video but the accent is different, they're some more distinct dialects that are very hard to understand for Oyo speakers basically the eastern Yoruba branch: like ilaje ,Ijebu ,owo etc
I was just about to say, I mostly speak standard dialect. Learning from movies and family (I grew up in the States), I find that I sometimes struggle understanding the other dialects at all when they’re spoken quickly.
In fairness though, I’m not perfectly fluent in Yoruba and my Yoruba is kinda rusty since I hear it spoken often (and can understand basically fluently) but rarely speak it back myself.
Standard Yoruba is not the same as Oyo, albeit closely related.
@@OlaitanOlatundun you are right, but i just don't know the name for it, so i chose Oyo. Since it's the closest to it and i thought it's just called oyo
@@OlaitanOlatundunyes. Standard Yoruba is the combination of Lagos-Ibadan Yoruba. Aka modern Yoruba
@@oluwadamilola6233 It's actually called "Yorùbá Àjùmọ̀lò" (literally, "Jointly used/shared Yoruba")
i am a yoruba teenager living abroad for the past 8 years. it is so hard for me to read and even sometimes communication in yoruba and i was not even encouraged to learn. this video is definately a source of my encouragement.
Wow! I love your resolutions. I hope you have started learning the Yoruba Language.
I hope you mention the great influence the Yoruba language has on Brazilian Portuguese! Looking forward to know more about this language!
Yess!
pensei nisso quando vi Ogum rs
I never knew this, amazing. I was just learning about the influence of Kongolese on Gullah Geechee in the United States (South Carolina/Georgia) and was a bit in amazement that some of the language was unequivocally connected even after all that generational trauma. To know now theres a bigger influence clear as day in Brazil makes me feel blind. Like, of course there's going to be a linguistic connection there, that's where a majority of the forced migration/enslaved peoples of west Africa ended up.
I really hope he talks about that too.
@@TheWizardofLimes There are lovely words in Brazilian Portuguese from Yoruba, like dengo (before it became related to a disease, dengue fever), xodó, and cafuné. They are related to caring and love and most people in Brazil don't know their African origins
@@brunopaeslemeferreira5175 I never heard these words besides dengue.
I never thought a foreigner would motivate me to continue learning Yourba again. Thanks mate
I'm a Yoruba speaker from Nigeria. From ekiti but born and brought up in Ibadan. There's no type of Yoruba you speak that you won't understand the general Yoruba. Whatever dialect you speak, you will still be able to communicate because we have a general Yoruba for everybody. There are some yoruba dialect that you don't understand if not from that part of Yoruba land but good news is we have a general Yoruba for everyone...
This. I’m also a Yoruba speaker. My aunt is from Ondo and I can’t understand their dialect at all, but standard Yoruba is helpful. 🥰
@@the-chipette my family are from Ondo, but I was raised in Lagos so i am familiar with Lago and Ondo Yoruba. None of my Yoruba speaking friends can understand my parents when they speak Ondo...which for me I found weird, because to me both general Yoruba and Ondo sounds very similar ( because i was raised with both).
I can only understand Lagos Yoruba……
my family is from Kogi and our dialect is Yagba. But I'm still struggling to learn the basic Yoruba since I was born in the US. I don't speak my village dialect yet
I’m half Oyo and Ijebu, I find it hard to understand my mums part of Ijebu, their dialect is quiet strong with a few localised words, Oyo dialect seems to be the standard across Yoruba land.
As Yoruba myself, I can say this is amazing. great Job.
I’m glad you included the 30 second clip of just pure spoken Yoruba, helps me get a feel for it
This language is so sing-songy and rhythmic. It's like someone tried to make the opposite of German.
Lmao 😂
You are 100% right!😂😂😂
I am a Yoruba speaker who has learnt a bit of German. And, yes, they are polar opposite in being rhythmic.
This is why traditional Yoruba music has been very successful in history and Yoruba plays a major part in influencing the now popular genre of Afrobeats. And German being used for music is eeeeerrrrr ........ maybe not that popular. 😆
😄😄😄😄 you're so right. That's why music comes easily to Yoruba people. Lol
@@jonralph8843 Lol
You’re right 😂😂 I’m a native Yoruba speaker and I’m learning German
As an outsider, it's interesting how the Yoruba people, along with other ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan Africa, influenced the cultures of countries in the Americas, and that includes their language. I do think they deserve recognition for shaping the world into what it is today, at least culturally and linguistically, and I think this one has done them justice because it's been overlooked by many all around the world. I know this isn't related to the video itself, but I just wanna put this out there because I think a lot of people don't realize it. Anyways, hope y'all have a happy holiday! :)
Well, when we think of African slaves we often think only of field slaves. We forget many also worked as house slaves & helped raise their Masters' children. Whenever that happens Africanisms are bound to influence European languages spoken there as well.
@@ncheedxx0109we are trying to shift this usage of the word "slave" to "enslaved", in efforts of affording the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, some dignity.
I send you greetings, with love and respect in the name of the Yoruba mother Goddess Osun and the Goddess Orosun, Orisha of mountains and intellectuals.
My mother tongue is cantonese so i have a special place in my heart for tonal languages. so fun!
Omg I've always wanted you to go in depth with more Niger Congo languages and Yoruba is an amazing one to do!!
He's also gotta cover the other langs he looked at in Mystery Languages.
Well, Yoruba is mostly spoken in Nigeria and Benin (and I had a friend from Togo that spoke some Yoruba, so probably some there too), but hardly in Niger or Congo, so it wouldn't be going too much into depth with the languages spoken in those countries.
Wait nvm, just realized you were talking about the language family, not the countries 🥲
My apologies
The yoruba language is very common in Brazil, because many enslaved people were from Yorubaland. They brought their beliefs and culture and those compound the huge Brazilian Culture. I am camdomblecist, which means I follow a religion called Candomblé, which was made of many yoruba beliefs put together during the slavery time and in the cults we sing and use many yoruba words, but they're said in our way (not literally as they should be pronounced).
Anyways, I love orisha and I love that the gods let me know more about yoruba people and its sacred language.
May the orishas bless us all! Àse o!
Ase
Aśe
Ase omo iya mi
Ase,ase,ase o
Àse
As a Tagalog speaker, it's interesting to know another non-related language has a focus system similar to ours. I would love to compare them 😍
As a Yoruba language native speaker I give this my stamp of approval 😁🙌🏾
I knew of Yoruba but have never heard it before... what a stunningly beautiful language! 😍
You will hear one or two yorubas in afro musics from Nigeria.
@@smarthousebldr.bamideletem3088 one or two?? Many!
@@Laura-sg6ss true
Listen to majority of Afro music from Nigeria, you will hear a lot of Yoruba. Check out this singer, Asake.
Cantonese speaker here - my first impression is that the tonal system is why West Africans sometimes sound like they have a Cantonese accent when they speak English lol. Also the aspects are very similar (except the aspect markers often come after the verb in Cantonese)
And vice versa, I'm Nigerian and i heard someone speak the Singapore pidgin English,it Sounds just like they're speaking in Nigerian accent . I was dumbfounded
@swiftblenderArtist OMG!! Yes. Same with some Indonesians.. I'm like, where in Naija dey born you?😅
I'm a yoruba, finally! I was waiting for this to be featured in your channel.. at 6:12 i noticed it's hard for a non west African to pronounce the gb or kp sound ,especially the GB, the easiest way is to do this is to imagine you have lot of water in your mouth then you try to pronounce B.
Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the tip! I’ve been trying to learn that sound for years now
That actually worked!
NativLang's video on West African languages has a pretty amazing demonstration for pronouncing these sounds
Edit: I meant NativLang
Absolutely fantastic tip.
I am a Yoruba speaker. It can't be better described.
I am Yoruba. And this analysis amazed me. Absolutely impressive 👍
As a British Nigerian who understands Yoruba but struggles with speaking, this actually helped me tremendously!
Thanks! I’m glad to hear that. 👍🏻
Me too
@@mangosmoothie8973Awesome video here. You can also learn a few Yoruba phrases/words on my channel as well
Well done! I'm so glad that your langfocus has moved out of Europe and into Africa. Thanks for featuring this important African language, and I appreciate that you made an effort to pronounce names like 'Yoruba' and ' Ibadan' correctly. I studied this wonderful language in grad school, and found the Yoruba people to be very welcoming when I visited twice to conduct research. E ku gbogbo eyin ore Yoruba mi!
Se alafia ni? 😊
Did you mean to say ẹ kú àtijọ́?
@@solafajobi 😊 it's all greetings bro. E ku atijo means something like "been a while" while "se alafia ni" means "hope all is well"
Nicely said Don Williams.
E ku basically means I acknowledge or greet you for something, which means it must be followed by that something.
So, e ku aaro means good morning because it's the aaro [morning] that's that something.
Some parts of yorubaland actually use E ku the way you did. They say E ku as a way of simply saying I acknowledge you and whatever you're doing in general without getting down to specifics. I heard that a lot in Ilorin, where I studied.
Anyway, I'm glad yoruba is so appreciated by others.
Edit: the term is actually E kuu. Ku means death. This small difference made it quite funny to hear people say E ku cos you got confused about what they were saying until you realized they were saying E kuu but because they were using it as a standalone phrase, the intonation changed from kuu to ku.
Fascinating stuff
He mean 'E KU' that is normal greeting use among people from kwara state ,that is native igbomina accent
This is the most comprehensive and detailed video I've seen on Yoruba! I would like to add that "awon", which is also a third person plural is used to mark plural and "naa" is used like a definite particle. However, they are optionally used unless you cannot distinguish between meanings.
Ore -> friend
Awon ore -> friends
Ore naa -> the friend
Awon ore naa -> the friends.
The effort in the Yoruba and Igbo pronunciation though 🙌🙌🙌🙌. Many people outside Nigeria call it as they please but you pronounced them properly. Kudos 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Brazil has millions of descendants of Iorubá peoples, bringing influence in our culture, cuisine, music, religion with the cult of the Orixás, and consequently in our vocabulary.
Yeah also people of the Kongo tribe in central Africa for instance music like samba are derived from the Kongo tribe
Orixa (Brazilian)Orisha (Yoruba) for Yoruba meaning deity.
Yoruba, àkàrà or àkàràje.
Brazilian Bahia, acaraje.
Same deliciousness in one fried mouthwatering masterpiece.
It's Yoruba not loruba abet
As a Yoruba I wish to see the Odum festival of Brazil
Beautiful language I love how Nigeria musicians promote the language.
The detail in this video is superb. I am Igbo, but travel a lot and live in Lagos, so I have heard a lot of Nigerian languages and understand some Yoruba, so this was really nice to see.
Please when are you covering Igbo? Let me understand some concepts in my language from a theoretic perspective, just like I did with this.
IBO man and jealousy
@@MelodiesOfMamaAfrica bro what!? 🤦🏽♂️
And it's Igbo not Ibo.
YESSSSSS, I coask!!!! I can only speak Yoruba (for now) but I really love Ibo!!!!
I
@@MelodiesOfMamaAfrica why all this hate from western
Igbo kwenu!
Lots of love, my brother.
And to my people talking of jealousy, I don't see any jealousy in what he said.
Yoruba is very commonly spoken in British cities like London , Birmingham , Manchester , Bristol and others because of the huge numbers of Nigerian -origin people and Nigerian students on university campuses .
The phenomenal growth in the popularity of Afrobeats music around the world has also increased the exposure of the rest of the world to Yoruba and also Igbo and Nigerian / West African Pidgin English .
There is a part of London called Peckham which is dubbed Little Lagos in London . There is a running joke that most people in Peckham regardless of race , ethnicity or nationality know at least a little bit if the Yoruba language !! 😂
Don’t know what you talking about, most Nigerians there in Britain are Igbo
@@why4654 nah... it depends on where you go
@@why4654 Yoruba are more than Igbo in the UK. If you say Good morning in Yoruba a lot of people will replay you in London
@@fredwillis8948 that means nothing lol
@@why4654they have come again 🤣🤣
Yoruba is an absolutely beautiful language, and I've been waiting for more African language content so this video is perfect! Thanks for all your hard work Paul :)
At a previous job, we had two Yoruba colleagues. Between them, they would speak Nigerian English, for want of a better word. It's not the pidgin, but rather English with some ways of expressing yourself unique to Nigeria.
Yeah, even our normal spoken English has a lotta Pidgin , Yoruba Igbo and Hausa influence. So yeah it can be hard to get some words 😁
@@BB-ts9mr very truee
Yoruba sounds absolutely fascinating, like a song! So lovely!
I believe the numbers of people speaking Yoruba presently in Nigeria are more than 35 to 40 million. The number is more like 60 to 70 million. You can also find alot of Yoruba language in Afrobeats by Wizkid, Burna boy and Davido.
"My insides are pleasant" is the new "This one sparks joy"
I love how this channel truly looks at languages from all over the world!
It's definitely interesting for me to hear about non-European languages, especially those from Africa since there are are far fewer videos about them. My first impression of Yoruba is that it sounds beautiful. Thanks!
There are 3 tones in Yoruba(Re- Do-Mi): do-re-mi just like in music. /do/ is going down, /re/ is flat while /mi/ is going up. Ogun (as in god of iron) has /do-mi/ tone, ogun(20) is /re-mi/, ogun (war) is /re-re/, ogun (inheritance) also have /re-mi/ tone like twenty (20), but you differentiate from the context of the speech if the person is talking about inheritance or twenty. The sign/stress for |do| is \ while |mi| is / and |re| doesn't need anything because it's flat. Saying high, low and middle is not a good explanation, rather the movement of the tone. You put the sign/stress on the vowel letter to indicate the movement of the sound. For example opelenge will be /do-mi-mi-mi/. Note the O and the Es in opelenge has a dot beneath them hence changing the O sound to /or/ and the Es sounds to /e/ as in egg.
8:25 I spit out my tea when I saw three of the same vowels in a row. What a cool language
Yoruba language is estimated to be spoken by a much larger populations than that but what a brilliant way to analyze the Yoruba language. You’re awesome 👏
There was a guy from Nigeria and I could tell he had an accent, and because I'm a language nerd, I had asked what language he spoke, and of course I had never heard of Yoruba (three main languages of Nigeria being - Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo), I then learned a few words and phrases in it but it (alike other languages) is a complicated language! 🤣
Owo fun awon to n so ede Yoruba 🇳🇬
Nice typing my "EDE"
@@iammatthews Thank you for correcting me 🤣 iPhone autocorrect and didn’t notice it
this language is well suited to music - it's halfway to music already!
Yoruba is basically music, it's our dna, you can learn Yoruba through music, one of the reasons afrobeats is popping
I never thought I could fall so in love with a language in a single video.
I loved this video so much! I am natively Igbo, so I can’t wait to see your video on my mother tongue 🔥🇳🇬❤️
Are you fluent? Because one of Paul's biggest problems is finding native-speakers to say the language-samples he has in his videos.
A yoruba speaking Nigerian here born and raised in lagos. Thank you for spreading awareness on this beautiful language ❤❤❤❤
Thank you. I had forgotten how pleasantly tonal Yoruba is.
I am Yoruba and I stays in California USA..I am proud of my tribe my language but am not proud being a Nigerian.. thanks for sharing more light of my tribe and culture to the world God bless you..oduduwa agbe wa oo
Good to see you explore an African language this time around. I'm Yoruba and I've been fascinated about the work you do here and on Geofocus. Keep that up.
I'm a native Yorùbá speaker and I'm from Ìbàdàn, so I speak the standard variant. I've never had any issue communicating with friends from the other parts, but I assure you that understanding their dialect can be really tricky for me. But like the Èkìtì fellow who commented earlier said, we all strangely understand and can speak the standard Yorùbá so communication is never an issue.
I am a Yoruba speaker here in Nigeria. Its my first language😊.
I speak the Ibadan/Oyo dialect which is just one of the many yoruba dialects.Trust me some of these other dialects can be difficult to understand even as a yoruba speaker
I won't say difficult to understand but can be a chore to learn if you'd want to speak like them. Basically if you understand the general Yoruba, you'd do fine with other dialects in understanding and communicating. That's not to say they don't have tough ways of sealing.
@@iammatthews But not like Ondo. There is a part of Ondo that speaks almost a foreign language from the rest of Yorubas - Gbenga is my name.
@@consortiumexpert honestly the first time I heard the Ondo dialect if not because of the tones, pronunciation and sprinkle of familiar words. I would have argued that it wasn't Yoruba
@@consortiumexpert I speak fluent Ibadan/Oyo Yoruba but the Ondos are in a class of their own. Their dialect is so foreign to my ears. One has to have lived amongst them for a while to understand whatever they are saying.
@@adenijiayocharles Exactly.
Thank you for this! Been interesting in Yoruba via Afro-Brazilian liturgy & names of the Orisha (Orixá/ deities) in samba.
For someone who isn't Nigerian, your pronunciations are not too bad 🤝🏾
Thanks!
I am from Kogi State, Nigeria and my people speak and understand the general Yoruba language plus other variants of it that are not too complex. And we do have our own dialect called Oyouu. It is kind of similar to Yoruba in that many of the words are correct Yoruba words, but it is one of the many complicated versions of Yoruba.
Same here I'm from iyamoye ijumu
Oh wow, meeting someone from my hometown for the first time, Iyamoye
@@adefemirachealyes3317 I know Iyamoye. Even have some relatives from there.
Where in Iyamoye are you from? And when last did you visit sir.
@@Teeno8 I am not from Iyamoye I said I have family from there.
I own a Bible in the Yoruba language. Looking forward to this video!
Any digital version of it?
I love your pronunciation of the word Yoruba. It sound like how a Nigerian would say it.
You may be right that a Nigerian may pronounce it the way he did but no Yoruba native would pronounce it that way. It would a shame if they did.
@@tmajec that is exactly how a proper Omo Yoruba will pronoun it
@@techwithtee8721
Exactly how a native would say it.
He got the pronunciation right.
You've done a good research and your choice of Yoruba language too. Kudos and good luck to you.
Man ! this video made my day ! I was born in Cuba and was exposed to that language as there is also the Yoruba religion, which was brought by the slaves during the colonial times. High jerarchy religious people use that language during the rituals, and the traditional songs that passed from generations through oral tradition. There is very interesting music in Cuba from the Yoruba community and the religion. I suggest Sintesis, which they mix Rock and Jazz with those traditional songs. I remember the word, "Abure", which is brother ! Hello to the Yoruba people ! :)
The moment you mentioned "Abure" I confirm in totally your statement. Abure (Abore) is a term for sacrifice.
Oju abore: A place of sacrifice. The oju means eye, which connotes a focus point (place)
There is another word Aburo which is either term for a younger brother or younger sister. An elder brother or sister can use the word to mean younger brother/sister.
@@nmg1909 Thanks ! Yeah, there are many words that entered the coloquial language of society in Cuba, so they are used as a normal vocabulary. Words that i remember: "aché" (good luck), arayé (problem, or problematic people), etc. I also remember "ibú" (river), "laroye", "maferefun", etc.
I don't know if you are from the area, but i am always wondering if the Yoruba from today keep that religion of Orishas or they changed to Islam or Christianity?
@@leandrogarciaphoto
I am not from the area though but could speak Yoruba. I am an Igbo-speaking part of Nigeria.
Some still practice the traditional rite, mainly by the traditional rulers and some groups of people also practice it too. Christianity and Islam have taken many away from this ancestral practice.
Hi! It's very interesting like how we have so much similar traditions between Latin-Americans and Africans. Here in Brazil, African-rooted religions also influenced our music, like samba and Brazilian Funk, and there is a music style named "Axé" (which I believed to be the same word as "aché"). The song "Mas que nada" also has very clear religious themes, using the Yorubá language.
I'm very interested in knowing if it's common to see people speaking Yorubá in Cuba. Here in Brazil, it's a mostly religious language, and you might be called "macumbeiro" (a derogatory term for people who follow African religions). Is it common to see people conversating in Yorubá there?
Also, I'm curious to know how Cuba is overall. Here in Brazil there is an extremely heavy anti-leftist propaganda, and "Go to Cuba" became kind of an insult used by conservatives towards leftists, in reference of the poverty (completely ignoring that some parts of Brazil have work conditions analogous to slavery or servitude). There was even a case where some Brazilians persecuted Venezuelan immigrants back to the border in Pacaraima. What do you think about Cuban politics?
This was a wonderful introduction into the Yoruba civilisation and language, thank you so much, you really did the research!!
I'm from Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, where we have many words of Yoruba origin that we use on a daily basis, where we have a great African influence in the period of slavery. As we have over 83% of the population of African descent, mostly of Yoruba origin, much of the culture, traditions and religiosity come from this people and also in part from the Bantu people. It's interesting that even our phonetics of our accent is like that.
That's very good to know thanks
Very nice video and very informative. But I missed something very important, the use and impact of yoruba in the Americas. From Cuba to Argentina in many communities yorubá is a liturgical language (for yorubá traditions like Candomblé, Santería, Umbanda, Batuke, Umbandomblé etc) For people in this communities many yorubá words are used in daily life situations, even if they do not speak yorubá. The name of the Orixás are yoruba, the salutation for the Orixás are yorubá, the prayers and rites are in yorubá and so are many day to day object and situtations expressed in yorubá. Here a little example:
A: "Agó. ¿Hiciste el ebó que tenías que hacer?" B: "Entendí mal, fui al ilé a preguntar y era que tenía que hacer un addimú con ochinchín, pues mi iyabá es Oshún y yo soy su omó"
A: "Pues mucho ashé y mucho iré"
I've been watching this channel for a long time. It's such a pleasure hearing you cover a language I speak.
In Cuba we have Lukumi. It's a Yoruba descendent
your are right olukumi is from yoruba
Most of the Afrobeats are in Yoruba! The best ones especially are in Yoruba, the language is tonal and very good for music.
That's true tho?
I'd say its almost equal between Yoruba and Igbo. You cant say that Yoruba singing is better than Igbo in my opinion when singers like Flavour, Ckay, Tekno, Phyno are all Igbo. I think you are confused perhaps.
@@RodrigoOswego Burna Boy is not igbo. Lol. Even if he is, he uses Yoruba to sing 90% of the time.
@@RodrigoOswegoand we have best as well Bruh, wiz, davido, Olamide, dbanj, and many more 💯❤️👍
Tribalism always finds a way to rear its ugly head in Nigeria .😢
Many of us use the Standard Yorùbá in communication. As much as the Yorùbá guy did his job, he couldn't do away with his regional accents at certain points in the recording. It's a good thing that it's still mutually intelligible to any speaker of the language.
What a fascinating language! I'm glad more people are now focusing on African languages. Just to be a bit of a nit picker, the capital of Nigeria isn't Lagos, it's Abuja. Other than that, fabulous, keep up the good work Paul! 😊
That is indeed a unexpected mistake for Paul. And the change happened already in 1991!
Love your videos I really hope you do Somali soon, It’s a language I’m interested in hearing about from you. Thanks for all these lessons on history and grammar of languages!
Me too i want to learn more about Somali
If you decide to do Somali, I would be happy to assist with information, sources, feedback etc. (Lecturer at U. Gothenburg)
Thank you Paul, great video as always! I heard about Yoruba for the first time because of Ibeyi (Twins in Yoruba), a fantastic French-Cuban band. They have songs in English, Spanish and Yoruba.
Love it. As always your videos are THE BEST. I have started Yoruba in the past - only on a very basic level so far - I love it by the way. I loved the way you laid out the info with examples. I know that this is typical for you but it never ceases to be amazing when I see and hear exactly how you do this. Thanks, and may your views be high and your likes be numerous!
oh! i used to listen Yoruba folk music in far 1997.
it's as great as Yoruba language
My insides are so pleasant to have come across this guy. Great job!
To master any language, most especially a tonal language, you must fall in love with the music of that language.
Yoruba is popular because of a long parade of musicians and the various styles of music. Even when playing in a relaxed manner in the background, you are ‘drinking’ the sounds somewhat, whether it is ewi, apala, juju, senwele, tungba, fuji, ekun iyawo, ijala etc.
As a Yoruba speaker, I found that out when I learned Portuguese in Brazil decades ago.
It was fun learning as you come across slangs and the interesting spin Brazilians put on the Portuguese language.
Inu mi dùn náà
First time I saw African languages here. Very great job man.
These languages of Yoruba, Hausa represent African culture. Initially I thought people of Africa only speak Portuguese, English, French , Ethiopian, Arabic but now I see Africans are too diverse than Indians.
I have some other videos on African languages, like Swahili, Amharic, and Wolof, plus Languages of South Africa.
Africa has thousands of languages..
There are 500 different languages in nigeria alone..lol
@@Bigbnfgv lol. My country India has 447 languages alone even after Pakistan and Bangladesh separated from us.
Nepal and Bhutan are also our part and have same culture.
@@Langfocus yeah I saw uncle Paul.
Yoruba has now become official language in Nigeria, both igbo Hausa and igbo learn yoruba and like to understand it because most believe yoruba is one of the most easiest language to communicate. For example if you want to become a great musician in Nigeria or movie actor you must be able to speak yoruba. Go and watch English movies and listen to music. I guess this happen because people believe if you move to Lagos you’ll succeed faster in your movie or music career. even Togo 🇹🇬, Benin republicans, Ghanaian even American artist are also using yoruba in there music. According to what I know and read, there are alot of white people speaking yoruba as general language such as some part of Brazil, Italy even some part of America and many more.God bless African, God bless Nigeria and God bless the world 🌎 one love ❤️
i am yoruba , and i love and appreciate your explanation
Am I the only one who thinks Yoruba sounds like Mandarin Chinese?? It's the tone!
like a heavily nasalized mandarin, maybe
i think the exact same. it's probably because mandarin is the most widely known tonal language
Sounds nothing like mandarin to me, but if it had more hushing sibilants and sibilant affricates then it would be quite similar indeed
@@clubb2724 yes! more Bs and fewer SHs
something like that 😁
It doesn't sound like Mandarin to me personally, but knowing a tonal language certainly helps Yoruba seem less intimidating to learn.
I love this. I haven't heard much about Yoruba before, but I really like the depth you go to in these videos. Will you cover any of the surviving Australian Aboriginal languages?
surprised 😮
Only if he can get a native-speaker to do the audio samples.
He's had problems in the past where he'd find someone who _claimed_ to speak the language, but what he got was pronounced completely wrong.
Have you ever considered doing a video on sign languages and their development? The kind from Nicaragua has quite an interesting story attached to it and how grew with just a few generations of children at a school.
Fascinating langauge. I have heard it is one of the easiest African languages to learn.
doesnt seem very easy with all those tones
It’s not an easy lang cuz one’s the tone is off, it gives different meanings
It’s very easy when you’re been taught by someone without reading the book. Trust me it’s so easy. 😊
Its not that easy because majority of us has our own dialect, tho we have general way of speaking it.
Easy if you learn it by paying attention to the speakers
Yoruba is a tonal language so learning it without actually living among its native speakers can be hard but doable. A single word in Yoruba can have many meanings. So context also plays a huge part of mastering the language. The Yoruba word 'Ogun' itself alone has atleast 5 different meanings. If you want to learn it without actually living among the native speakers, try and consume a lot of Nigerian movies.
Thanks for this video,, Yoruba speaking Language is over 100 million inside and outside Nigeria..Togo,benin republican,Cuba, Brazilian, Trinidad, e.t.c..
There are quite a few Yoruba speakers here in Columbus, OH.
Here are a few great ideas, Paul: a video on the Tigrinya language and a comparison video of Tigrinya and Amharic.
Yes that’s a great idea Maliek, thank you.
This video made my insides pleasant.
Ìṣe tayọ! This was an excellent video on introducing Yorùbá language to beginners. Subscribed!
Really appreciate that you covered Yoruba. I always love hearing the different yet similar ways that various unrelated languages use phonemic tone, and Yoruba's tone seems very easy to distinguish that feels like it would help rather than hinder the learning of Yoruba. Would love to see you cover more Niger-Congo languages in the future. Also, for anyone who sees this, definitely check out Yoruba-language Nigerian music that's available on many of the major music platforms. Lots of amazing Yoruba music out there!