Swahilipod101 is a Swahili course built around podcast lessons. The course is available both online and via mobile app. In this post we take a closer look at the course, so you can learn about it’s features and decide if it's the right resource for you.
Swahilipod101’s podcast lessons
There are literally hundreds of Swahili lessons on Swahilipod101. The lessons are sorted by difficulty level, and there’s plenty of content for beginners, advanced students, and everyone in between. The run time for each lesson is around 10 or 15 minutes. Every lesson uses an actual Swahili conversation between two native speakers, to teach you vocabulary and grammar. The teachers on Swahilipod101 are called podcast hosts. They introduce each lesson and dive into the nitty-gritty of the grammar and vocabulary used in each conversation.
After listening to each lesson, you are free to review the lesson in a variety of ways. There’s a slow playback feature that allows you to pick out phrases from the lesson dialogue and listen to them at different speeds. You can then record yourself directly on the website or app and instantly compare your pronunciation with the pronunciation of the native speaker(s).
Swahilipod101 also has its own flashcard system. You can easily add words from any lesson to your flashcard deck with a single click. Each flashcard automatically generates with the Swahili word, it’s English translation, and a recording of its pronunciation.
If you want to practice your reading, Swahilipod101 provides transcripts in both English and Swahili for all of its lessons. If grammar is your thing, each podcast episode also comes with lesson notes. These notes are full of additional examples and explanations of any grammar used in the lesson.
Final thoughts
Swahilipod101 is a powerful tool for learning Swahili as a second language. It’s large collection of lessons makes it one of the most comprehensive Swahili courses around. Swahilipod101 offers a free lifetime account, which gives you limited access to some of its podcast lessons, as well as to some bonus learning resources. If you’re on the fence about Swahilipod101 you can sign up for a free account and try it out for yourself!
