Friday, February 24, 2023

CultureTalk Western Sahara

The 'Five College Center for World Languages' has a number of pages dedicated to the culture and language of Western Sahara, seperated into many topics with videos and transcripts. I was very excited to find this! Unfortunately they have now removed the landing page for Hassaniya, although the resources are still scattered across the site. This link shows the search results for Hassaniya on their site, so you can browse through the different topics.

My experience has primarily been with Mauritanian Hassaniya, but my understanding is that the differences in Saharawi Hassaniya only amount to a regional accent and vocabulary - almost identical to the Hassaniya in the north of Mauritania, if with a bit more Spanish, Moroccan and/or Algerian influence (where southern and eastern Mauritanian Hassaniya has been more influenced by West African languages and French).



'Mauritania is my country' @LearnHassaniya on Youtube

This youtube channel has a variety of Hassaniya teaching and explanation videos in English by a young Mauritanian, including discussions of pop songs in Hassaniya and traditional proverbs. It seems far more recent than many of the other resources listed here, and, as of yesterday, he is still adding content!

Christian Literature in Hassaniya

There are a number of audio and video translations of Christian literature available at this webstie: https://www.kutubhassaniya.org/fr/bienvenue. The website itself is in French. 

But this would be for advanced learners of Hassaniya as there are no translations given. Some understanding could be gained from the context in the films, especially if you're familiar with the stories about Jesus. I suppose one could also track along with the New Testament writings in an English Bible?

In any case, there are so few large works like this available in Hassaniya, they may prove a valuable resource in learning the language.