Somali

Welcome to our Somali page! Somali is a member of the east Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, with its nearest relatives being Afar and Oromo. Somali is the official language of Somalia. There are three main dialects: Northern, Benaadir and Maay. It is unclear how many speakers of Somali there are, with estimates of between 10-16 million. If you have any questions or can't find what you need, please e-mail us at .

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Featured Products

Talk Now! CD-ROM Course for Somali
Now on special for $35 - save $10!
The Talk Now! series is for any language beginner who wants an entertaining self-study course to learn basic phrases, such as colors, numbers, food, shopping, and time. We have been selling this European-produced CD-ROM for a few years and find that it is highly praised by people from all over the world. Designed by language experts, Talk Now! includes great features like speak and repeat, interactive games, and digital recordings with native speakers. Interactive and fun, it is ideal for beginners and travelers. Test your knowledge with easy and hard quizzes and play a challenging memory game. Monitor your progress: keep your total score and print your own awards. You can also print your own picture dictionary for handy reference. On-screen help is available at all times in over 50 languages. Talk Now! runs on both Macintosh and Windows computers. Shipping weight 1 lb.
$35
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Somali

Colloquial Somali
The Routledge Colloquial courses cover all the basics of the language including grammar and speech. The Colloquial series is our most popular series of language courses, due to its excellent quality, low cost, and amazing range of available languages. These are beginning to intermediate level courses, perfect for travellers, brushing up on skills, or supplementary use. Two CDs and a book are included.

$99
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Somali Textbook
R. David Zorc, Abdullahi A. Issa
Fifty lessons in this course bring a student to a practical proficiency in Somali grammar and Somali-English translation techniques. Actual texts (thirty folktales) are emphasized from Chapter 21 onwards. Comprehensive grammatical notes (cross-referenced to the Somali Reference Grammar) and exercises are found in each chapter. Oral fluency is covered in an appendix of survival dialogues, and a glossary of over 6,000 word-forms and a detailed grammatical index are included. 1990, 681 pages, hardbound.

$168

Somali Reference Grammar (Second Revised Edition)
John I. Saeed
This text covers all major parts of speech and most major sentence constructions including simple noun phrases, adjective expressions, simple sentences, declaratives, questions, subordinate clauses, and coordination. It includes a chapter on time expressions, a detailed bibliography, and an index of grammatical terms cross-referenced to the pages on which they are discussed. 1993, 336 pages, hardbound.

$128

Somali Newspaper Reader
Abdullahi A. Issa, John D. Murphy
This text includes fifty-one articles from Somali newspapers, each with a vocabulary, translations of the selections, and a cumulative glossary. With four 90 min. audio cassette recordings of the articles read by a native speaker. 1984, 186 pages, hardbound.

Book and 4 cassettes
$145

Somali Common Expressions
Abdullahi A. Issa
This book consists of 600 common expressions divided into sixteen lessons oriented around everyday situations (such as greetings, shopping, ordering meals, making telephone calls, visiting the doctor, sightseeing, etc.). With three 90 min. audio cassette recordings of the articles read by a native speaker. 1987, 70 pages, hardbound.

Book and 3 cassettes
$124

Somali - English Dictionary with English Index (Third Edition)
R. David Zorc, Madina Osman
This volume contains over 26,000 Somali entries and includes a full English to Somali index. This edition has been revised from the 1987 and 1991 editions. Students and translators will find English definitions of the basic word stock of standard Somali, along with cross-references to synonyms, antonyms, and related words. While the English Index is not an English to Somali dictionary, it will assist the user in finding equivalents for over 12,000 English words. 1993, 612 pages, hardbound.

$158

Somali-English/English-Somali Dictionary and Phrasebook
N. Awde, C. Qaadir, M. Orwin
This book is a helpful guide for travelers to Somali, an African language. Included in the book are vocabulary sections, a phrasebook, pronunciation tips, a brief outline of the language's grammar rules and tips about local culture. 176pp, 3 3/4 x 7 paperback, 1,400 entries; published 1998.

$19.95

Somali Handbook
Madina Osman, R. David Zorc
This phrasebook was designed for emergency and relief workers in Somalia. General, military, medical, relief, and time expressions are covered. It includes a pronunciation guide and an English-Somali and Somali-English index, each of which is cross-referenced to the 345 expressions. 1992, 84 pages, softcover.

$10
2 Cassettes (90 min. each)
$38