FSI Language Courses
FSI Yoruba Basic Course

FSI Yoruba Basic Course

FSI Yoruba

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Yoruba is the language of the ethnic Yoruba people and is mostly spoken in south-western Nigeria, although it can also be heard in Benin and Togo. It is also used by smaller numbers of people in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. It is thought to have around 45-55 million speakers.

The language is tonal and is considered difficult for speakers of English and other European languages to master.

Furthermore, there are relatively few resources available for studying it, making the materials included in this free online Yoruba course an important source of linguistic input for anyone hoping to learn it.

Course Details

What is the FSI Yoruba Basic Course?

This FSI Yoruba course begins with an extensive collection of tone drills to help the learner master this challenging aspect of the language. Following this, there are a further 49 units consisting of dialogs that introduce vocabulary and new aspects of the Yoruba language.

The student text is available as a single PDF below, together with the full set of audio recordings hosted on our CDN.

How was FSI Yoruba Basic originally used?

FSI Yoruba was originally created for US diplomatic staff who were preparing for postings in areas where Yoruba is spoken.

They attended around six hours of classes per day, during which they spoke only Yoruba, and this was followed up by a further two hours of individual study.

Even outside of class, they were encouraged to speak Yoruba among themselves, so that after only around six months of learning, they were able to acquire a sufficiently advanced level in the language to perform the duties necessary for their roles abroad.

How can you use FSI Yoruba Basic?

Download the student text PDF and follow it while you work through the pronunciation and tone sections, then the 49 unit dialogs and exercises. The tables below link each recording to the matching section in the book (page references are those printed in the course).

If you also use other resources, the tone drills remain especially useful for mastering Yoruba pitch, and the dialogs are strong listening practice once you have a little background.

Taking it further

If you want to learn Yoruba, whether with this free Yoruba course or with any other resources you have available, you will need to take your language skills out into the real world and try them out.

Look for native Yoruba speakers who can help you practice and make sure you take every opportunity to practice your Yoruba. Above all, make using Yoruba a part of your daily life, because when you do this, you will see that your abilities in this language really start to improve.

Course materials

PDFs

Pronunciation

Pronunciation Discussion

RecordingAudio
Introduction, pIVMP3
The Vowels of Yoruba, pVIIMP3
Nasalized Vowels, pIXMP3
The Consonants of Yoruba, pXIMP3

Pronunciation Drill b vs. gb

RecordingAudio
a. b vs. gb, pXIVMP3
b. b vs. gb, pXIVMP3
c. b vs. gb, pXIVMP3
d. b vs. gb, pXVMP3

Pronunciation Drill gb vs. p

RecordingAudio
a. gb vs. p, pXVMP3
b. gb vs. p, pXVMP3
c. gb vs. p, pXVMP3
d. gb vs. p, pXVIMP3
e. gb vs. p, pXVIMP3

Tones

Tone Discussion

RecordingAudio
The Tones of Yoruba, pXVIMP3
Tonal Differences Among Speakers of Yoruba, pXIXMP3
Vowel Length, pXIXMP3
Condensation, pXXIMP3
Tone Drills, pXXIMP3

Tone Drills Series I

RecordingAudio
1. Low Rise vs. Low Low, p1MP3
2. High Fall vs. High High, p2MP3
3. Low Rise vs. High Fall, p3MP3
4. High High vs. Mid High, p5MP3
5. High Mid vs. Mid Mid, p7MP3
6. Mid Mid vs. Low Mid, p9MP3
7. High High vs. High Mid, p11MP3
8. Mid High vs. Mid Mid, p13MP3
9. Mid Mid vs. Mid Low, p15MP3
10. Low Mid vs. Low Low, p17MP3
11. Mid High vs. Low Rise, p19MP3
12. High Fall vs. Mid Low, p22MP3
13. Mid Low vs. Low Low, p24MP3
14. High Mid vs. High Fall, p26MP3
15. Low Rise vs. Low Mid, p28MP3
16. Mid High vs. Low Mid, p30MP3
17. High Mid vs. Mid Low, p32MP3
18. High High vs. Mid Mid, p34MP3
19. Mid Mid vs. Low Low, p36MP3
20. Review, p39MP3
21. One mora vs. two, level pitch, p40MP3
22. One mora vs. two, glides, p42MP3
23. High Mid vs. High Second, p44MP3
24. Rise vs. Fall in larger context, p46MP3
25. High Rise High vs. High Mid High, p47MP3
26. High Mid High vs. High Second High, p47MP3
27. High High Fall vs. High X Low, p48MP3
28. Low vs. Fall, p48MP3
29. High Mid vs. High X, p48MP3
30. Alternating Rises and Falls, p49MP3

Tone Drills Series II

RecordingAudio
Tone contrasts on two-more vowelsMP3
1. Low-RISE LOW-Mid vs. Low-LOW LOW-Mid, p53MP3
2. Low-HIGH LOW-Mid vs. Low-MID LOW-Mid, p53MP3
3. Combination of Drills 1 and 2, p54MP3
4. Extension of Drill 3 to segmentally diverse utterances, p54MP3
5. Mid-HIGH LOW-Mid vs. Mid-MID LOW-Mid, p55MP3
6. Mid-MID LOW-Mid vs. Mid-LOW LOW-Mid, p55MP3
7. Extension of Drills 5 and 6 to segmentally diverse utterances, p55MP3
8. Combination of all preceding drills, p56MP3
9. High-HIGH LOW-Mid vs. High-MID LOW-Mid, p56MP3
10. High-FALL LOW-Mid vs. High-MID LOW-Mid, p57MP3
11. High-HIGH LOW-Mid vs. High-FALL LOW-Mid, p57MP3
12. Combination of Drills 9, 10 and 11, p57MP3
13. Extension of Drill 12 to segmentally diverse utterances, p58MP3
14. Mid-HIGH MID-Mid vs. Mid-MID MID-Mid, p58MP3
15. Mid-MID MID-Mid vs. Mid-LOW MID-Mid, p58MP3
16. Combination of Drills 14 and 15, p58MP3
17. Mid-HIGH MID-Low vs. Mid-MID MID-Low, p59MP3
18. Mid-MID MID-Low vs. Mid-LOW MID-Low, p59MP3
19. Extension of Drills 17 and 18 to segmentally diverse utterances, p59MP3
20. Mid-MID LOW-Mid vs. Mid-MID MID-Low, p60MP3
21. Mid-HIGH LOW-Mid vs. Mid-HIGH MID-Low, p60MP3
22. Extension of Drills 20 and 21, p60MP3
23. Low-RISE MID-Low vs. Low-MID MID-Low, p61MP3
24. High-SECOND MID-Mid vs. High-SECOND SECOND-Mid, p61MP3
25. High-MID MID-Low vs. High-SECOND SECOND-Low, p61MP3
26. High-HIGH MID-Low vs. High-MID MID-Low, p62MP3
27. High-SECOND LOW-Mid vs. High-MID LOW-Mid, p62MP3
28. High-SECOND MID-Low vs. High-MID MID-Low, p63MP3
29. High-SECOND Low-Mid vs. High-FALL LOW-Mid, p63MP3

Tone Drills Series III

RecordingAudio
1, p64MP3
2, p65MP3
3, p65MP3
4, p66MP3
5, p66MP3
6, p67MP3
7, p68MP3
8, p69MP3
9, p70MP3

Unit 1

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p73MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p73MP3
C. Exercises, p75MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p75MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p76MP3

Unit 2

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p77MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p77MP3
C. Exercises, p79MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p80MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p80MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 3, p80MP3

Unit 3

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p81MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p81MP3
C. Exercises, p83MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p84MP3

Unit 4

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p85MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p85MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p87MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p87MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p89MP3

Unit 5

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p90MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p90MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p93MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p93MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p94MP3

Unit 6

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p95MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p95MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p97MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p97MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p98MP3

Unit 7

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p99MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p99MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p101MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p102MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p103MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p103MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 3, p104MP3

Unit 8

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p104MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p104MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p106MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p106MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p107MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p108MP3

Unit 9

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p108MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p108MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p110MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p111MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p111MP3

Unit 10

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p112MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p112MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p114MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p115MP3
C. Exercises Part 3, p116MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p116MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p118MP3

Unit 11

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p120MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p120MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p121MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p122MP3
C. Exercises Part 3, p122MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p123MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p124MP3

Unit 12

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p125MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p125MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p127MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p127MP3
C. Exercises Part 3, p128MP3
C. Exercises Part 4, p128MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p129MP3

Unit 13

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p130MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p130MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p132MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p133MP3
C. Exercises Part 3, p133MP3
C. Exercises Part 4, p133MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p134MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p135MP3

Unit 14

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p136MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p136MP3
C. Exercises, p138MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p138MP3

Unit 15

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p139MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p139MP3
C. Exercises, p141MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p142MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p142MP3

Unit 16

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p143MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p143MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p145MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p145MP3
C. Exercises Part 3, p146MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p147MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p147MP3

Unit 17

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p148MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p148MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p149MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p150MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p150MP3

Unit 18

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p157MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p157MP3
C. Exercises Part 1, p159MP3
C. Exercises Part 2, p160MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 1, p160MP3
D. Supplementary Material Part 2, p161MP3

Unit 19

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p162MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p162MP3
C. Exercises, p164MP3

Unit 20

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p166MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p166MP3
C. Exercises, p167MP3
D. Supplementary Material, p168MP3

Unit 21

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p171MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p171MP3
C. Exercises, p173MP3

Unit 22

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p174MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p174MP3
C. Exercises, p177MP3

Unit 23

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p179MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p179MP3
C. Exercises, p180MP3

Unit 24

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p181MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p181MP3
C. Exercises, p183MP3

Unit 25

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p185MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p185MP3
C. Exercises, p186MP3

Unit 26

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p188MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p188MP3
C. Exercises, p190MP3

Unit 27

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p192MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p192MP3
C. Exercises, p194MP3

Unit 28

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p195MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p195MP3
C. Exercises, p197MP3

Unit 29

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p198MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p198MP3
C. Exercises, p200MP3

Unit 30

RecordingAudio
A. Review, p202MP3

Unit 31

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p204MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p204MP3
C. Exercises, p206MP3

Unit 32

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p208MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p208MP3
C. Exercises, p210MP3

Unit 33

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p212MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p212MP3
C. Exercises, p214MP3

Unit 34

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p215MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p215MP3
C. Exercises, p217MP3

Unit 35

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p218MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p218MP3
C. Exercises, p220MP3

Unit 36

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p221MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p221MP3
C. Exercises, p223MP3

Unit 37

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p224MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p224MP3
C. Exercises, p226MP3

Unit 38

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p227MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p227MP3
C. Exercises, p229MP3

Unit 39

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p231MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p231MP3
C. Exercises, p233MP3

Unit 40

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p234MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p234MP3
C. Exercises, p237MP3

Unit 41

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p238MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p238MP3
C. Exercises, p240MP3

Unit 42

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p242MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p242MP3
C. Exercises, p244MP3
C. Exercises (cont’d), p244MP3

Unit 43

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p247MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p247MP3
List of Monetary Terms, p249MP3
C. Exercises, p250MP3

Unit 44

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p252MP3
A. Basic Dialogue for Fluency, p252MP3
Names of some kinds of edible animals, p254MP3
C. Exercises, p254MP3

Unit 45

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p256MP3
C. Exercises, p257MP3

Unit 46

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p258MP3
C. Exercises, p259MP3

Unit 47

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p261MP3
C. Exercises, p263MP3

Unit 48

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p265MP3

Unit 49

RecordingAudio
A. Basic Dialogue for Learning, p267MP3