I need help...What's the best way to learn elementary Kikuyu at a slow but steady basis. Asante!

Daudi,

Wi mwega? Top of my head, one way is to look for someone who can teach you the elementary kikuyu (beware some might teach you the nasty words). Then practise a lot talking. This will depend on your sorroundings since if you do not practise a language, it tends to become rusty. You can also consults some elementary books in kikuyu. I don't have titles at the moment but once I get them, will post them.

All the best.

Daudi,I can only recommend the books we learnt Kikuyu with called Thoma Gikuyu Kiega or TKK as they used to call them, I have no idea whether they still exist but it's something.
You've even come to the right place to start with. Good Luck!

Karumba,

I highly doubt those books are still in the market but I will pop into one of the bookstores and check. I also doubt if Daudi will be able to get them where he is currently. I will check and bring back the feedback here.

Wa Wakuru, I know it's been long, I wonder, do kids still learn Kikuyu as we did from standard 1 to 3?

Also Daudi, you might want to listen to Kamemeonline.com, I couldn't belive my ears when I heard it, open this link in windows media player, Kamemeor open http://www.kamemeonline.com and click on listen live, it's just like being there, enjoy!

Wa Karumba,

I guess the kids especially in the rural areas still learn Kikuyu till std. 3. I did the same and I really am happy I did it. I dont know what they use as course books. Gosh, memories are made of this! I remember the way we would even do a test in Kikuyu and still flank.
That idea of kameme online is brilliant. I am also listening to it now.

Nyina wa B,
You have written i twice, once as a vowel and also as a consonant.
Combinations
mb as in embassy e.g mbembe ‘maize’
ng’ as in king ng’ombe ‘cow’
ng as in anger ngundi ‘fist’
nj as in ingine njũgũ ‘pea’
nd as in Indian ndũma ‘arrow root’
ny as in annual nyau ‘cat’
th as in another thikũ ‘day’
c as in say cũnga ‘doze’ NB; some people pronounce this as [ch]

Nyina wa B,

I studied kikuyu upto std. 3 and although I will admit I was among the top pupils, I cannot brag I got 100%, I still flanked. It's amazing and funny at the same time. Kwanza orals, looooool! The teacher would ask you a question (in kyuk remember) and all you do was to stare back at her/him blankly and s/he would take that to mean "pass".

Mwarimu Sajini,

That's a nice lesson 1 (do we call it kyuk 101?). Tell me, why do so many people (including myself at times) not add the consonants "m" and "n" before some words. If I take your example, you will often hear pple talk of "bebe" for maize and "jugu" for the pea (is pea njugu or minji?)

Wa Wakuru
A lot of peopel forhet that Kikuyu adopt the linguistic processe of phone assimilation. It is a process that I have not intention of elaborating its technicaalities for now.

But this is the thing. If you consider the international phonetic Alphabet, what we pronounce as mbembe must always have /m/ or what they call prenasalized stops. They are called prenasalized because when you block air in your mouth during articulation, the nasal cavity is open, causing some air to escape.

This does not happen when you say 'fefe' for instance. Therefore, for the sake of distinction between phonetic sound /f/ written in Kikuyu as /b/, m is usually inserted.

The same applies to 'jugu'. Pay attention and pronounce the word the way you naturally do. You will find that as you block air in your mouth to pronounce consonant /j/, some air is escaping through the nose. this justifies the /n/ before /j/.

If what I am saying does not apply to you, then we might be speakers of differences Kikuyu dialects.

We once did a spectograph map of my pronunciation of Swahili 'baba' father and it was very close to Kikuyu 'mbamba' cotton- and I still laugh at Kiraitu Murungi!

Thanks mwalimu Sajini for that insight. I now know why the various sounds exist. I did phonetics sometime back but now that is growing rusty by day.