               ~~~~~~~    ISIZULU LANGUAGE STUDY    ~~~~~~~

                      basic Zulu vocablary and grammar for English speakers
_________________________________________________________________

      17 separate flash card decks with about 10-50 fill-in-the-blank questions in each
_________________________________________________________________

                                             FLASH CARD DECKS
                                                  VOCABULARY

*ANIMALS:  9 questions / 1 category -- farm animals and pets  [74.5 KB]

* BODY:  52 questions / 6 categories -- parts of the human body  [154 KB]

* CLOCK:  35 questions / 1 category-- telling time  [152 KB]

*COLORS:  12 questions / 2 categories -- colors and patterns  [19.6 KB]

*DISHES:  19 questions / 7 categories -- dishes, silverware, utensils, pots/pans, appliances, vessels, miscellaneous  [83.4 KB]

*FOOD:  44 questions / 10 categories -- condiments, dairy, drink, fruit, meal types, meat, miscellaneous, prepared food, protein, vegetables  [285 KB]

*FOODVERBS:  24 questions / 5 categories -- preparing, ordering, serving, consuming, and cleaning-up food  [410 KB]

*NUMBERS1:   48 questions / 2 categories -- integers/ordinal nouns between 1-200, ordinal adjectives 1st-10th    [3.35 KB]

*NUMBERS2:  25 questions / 5 categories -- 1-5 as adjectives, integers/position (noun), ordinals (1st, 2nd, 3rd ...), occurence (once, twice, 3 times ...), and "all #" (only, both, all 3 ...)   [277 KB]

*WEATHER:  28 questions / 3 categories -- nouns, verbs, and adjectives  [164 KB]

*WEATHERP:  20 questions / 1 category -- phrases describing current weather conditions [1.89 MB] 

*WILDLIFE1:  27 questions / 5 categories -- carnivore, general, elephant, primate, hooved  [3.04 MB]

*WILDLIFE2:  26 questions / 12 categories -- amphibian, bat, bird, carnivore (small), fish, hare, hyrax, insect, primate, reptile, rodent, spider  [1.81 MB]


                                             FLASH CARD DECKS
                                                     GRAMMAR

*CONCORDS-SCFUTNEG: 56 questions / 3 categories -- noun prefix, subject concord future immediate negative tense, subject concord future remote negative tense [18.5 KB]

*CONCORDS-SCFUTPOS: 56 questions / 3 categories -- noun prefix, subject concord future immediate positive tense, subject concord future remote positive tense [18.8 KB]

*CONCORDS-SCPAST: 56 questions / 3 categories -- noun prefix, subject concord past tense, subject concord recent past continuous [18.3 KB]

*NOUNCLASS1:  56 questions / 3 categories -- noun prefix, subject concords present tense positive & negative  [17.5 KB]

_________________________________________________________________

Created by:  Janissa Balcomb, December 2005

I am a native English (American) speaker trying to teach myself Zulu.  I made this series of flash cards to help me study.  Keep in mind as you use them that they were put together by someone who doesn't speak Zulu.  Although I have cross-checked various references and tried to make every effort possible to avoid mistakes, I am just a beginner, so there are undoubtedly some errors in my work.  If you find any such errors, please let me know via email at  janissa@silverstar.com.  Include the deck name and question/answer number along with the correction.

Wherever I could, I have used graphics as questions rather than English words.  This makes it possible to develop a direct association from the "object" to the Zulu terms without having to translate through English.  Some things are difficult to portray, so in case there is any confusion about what each graphic represents, I have included the English term as the first hint for each question.  

Because Zulu uses a complex system of noun classes, prefixes, and concords, I have included the noun class number as the second hint in some of the decks.  (See the Introduction of each deck for specifics.)

I'm a wildlife technician who spends a lot of time outdoors.  This interest is reflected in the topics of my flash card decks.  As I learn more, I hope to develop more flash card sets to add to this series.
_________________________________________________________________

Rights of Use:

I am greatly indebted to a number of people for the graphics they've allowed me to use in making these decks.  However, because some of the graphics come from people who haven't given permission for use of their artwork for commercial purposes, I must ask that anyone using these decks do so for strictly non-profit personal or educational purposes.

I have noted the artwork providers on each deck.  If you wish to distribute or use the deck for other than the approved purposes stated above, please contact the artwork providers directly for permission.
_________________________________________________________________

Artwork provided by: 

Arthur's South African  	                  http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/dante/944/
       Fauna & Flora

Hassle Free Clip Art.com               http://www.hasslefreeclipart.com

Purdue University Clip Art              http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj//FLClipart/
       Collection for Foreign/Second
       Language Instruction

University of Victoria's Language  	http://web.uvic.ca/hcmc/clipart/
      Teaching Clipart Library/
      Humanities Computing and 	http://web.uvic.ca
      Media Centre/ 
      Half-Baked Software	http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com

Janissa Balcomb
_________________________________________________________________

Photographs by:

       Janissa Balcomb
       Carl Mitchell
_________________________________________________________________

References:

IsiZulu.net    http://isizulu.net  (online dictionary, pronunciation guide, basic grammar, and more, tables on concords are very helpful)

Learn Zulu.  1972.  S. Nyembezi.  Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg, S. Africa.  (very good grammar and vocabulary study)

Scholar's Zulu Dictionary.  1995.  G. R. Dent and C. L. C. Nyembezi.    Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg, S. Africa.  (very thorough, sometimes hard to use because everything in the Zulu section is by the word root only so you have to know where to break the word up, doesn't include prefixes separately)

Speak Zulu with Us.  1999.  D. Gowlett, K. Ngwena, and T. Dowling.  African Voices, Cape Town, S. Africa.  (CD with this is great for hearing spoken Zulu, the text is definitely not beginner stuff, grammar is covered too fleetingly and not explained well, the tables on noun classes are very helpful)

Talk Now! Learn Zulu.  2000.  EuroTalk Interactive, London.  (Little information for the price and I've found a number of errors, so I do not recommend using it.)
_________________________________________________________________

Practice:

If you haven't been exposed to Bantu languages being spoken, I highly recommend that you get a cassette or CD to accompany your Zulu study.  IsiZulu has very different pronunciation than English and includes a variety of sounds, such as clicks, that do not occur in English.  One way to get exposure to spoken Zulu is to listen to a Zulu language radio station online.  Try this FM station:

        http://www.ukhozifm.co.za/portal/site

_________________________________________________________________

     ~~~~~~~~~~~    DECKS COMING SOON    ~~~~~~~~~~

                                        VOCABULARY

*VERBS:  actions of cognition, communication, emotion, locomotion, recreation, sensation, work ...

ANIMAL BODY:  terms for parts of an animal body not covered in human BODY deck

CALENDAR:  days of week, days past/present/future, week, months, phases of moon, seasons, years

DIRECTIONS:  words necessary to give and receive directions

EMERGENCIES:  words & phrases useful for accidents, medical problems or emergencies,  and law enforcement issues

LANDSCAPE:  geographic & map features

OPPOSITES:   on/off, in/out, big/small, near/far, before/after, here/there, front/back ...

PEOPLE:  type (child, adult, girl, woman ...), relationship (daughter, mother, sister, friend ...),  occupation

TIME, DAY:  time in relation to the sun & moon

*TRAVEL:  vehicles, buildings, verbs

WASHROOM: bathing & washing, toiletries, bathroom fixtures, toilet ...

                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                        PHRASES

GREETINGS:  phrases for greetings, introductions, and courtesy

LANGUAGE:  phrases useful for learning as you converse in Zulu (I don't understand, speak slower, please repeat that, how do you say ...)

TRAVEL:  where / when questions useful in travel

                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                        GRAMMAR

CONCORDS3:    -- object, possessive, absolute
CONCORDS4:    --  adjective, relative, quantitative
CONCORDS5:    -- reflexive, enumerative, demonstrative, locative


