First, I want to give a huge thank you and a shout out to Byron Shorty, the creator of a fantastic website called Navajo Word of the Day.
I am quite happy to plug his website because he's doing an awesome job and has kindly agreed to let me (poach his work) teach you a few words.
You can find the website here www.navajowotd.com.
Go on, I dare you to visit and learn something new. He has something called "sound cloud" which is an excellent tool for linguistic nerds like me. I can go there and get shamed in my pronouncition.
Pronouwnciation.
Pro...nuntz...ee...ay...shun.
Where I try to repeat things after him and sound real good.
But...I don't.
So there.
So, our first word is "shik'is".
http://navajowotd.com/post/19284180762/shik-is
It's the word for "friend".
Now, you try it. Go ahead. I'll wait..
Did you try to say it??
Well done!!!
Good job!!
Now go visit his website and have fun AND learn something new!!
Ahe'hee' !
(yes, I know that's wrong, Byron and Kiersti, but I don't have the proper accent things on this blog!)
Just did it and I think I got it right! FUN! You're my shik'is!
ReplyDeleteYAY! It's fun isn't it? And HARD!!
ReplyDeleteWhen Byron said I could use his website, I was SO excited!
Hehe, you're so funny. That picture of that lady sticking out her tongue...classic.
ReplyDeleteAnd I couldn't really do this exercise since I'm at work. LOL, I'd probably end up cursing accidentally with my failed pronunciation.
What? You didn't do it at work? Come on!!
DeleteThat's cool. Navajo pronounciation is one of the toughest things for biligaana...comes right up there with watching biligaana trying to walk and chew gum at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOr having some bilagaana try to breathe and weld at the same time.
DeleteYay! This made me happy. :) And yes, I did try to say it, though after trying and trying to say words after my Navajo coach, I don't have a great deal of faith in my pronunciation. Still! Thanks, Jennifer!
ReplyDeleteHi Kiersti, you are SO lucky to have a Navajo coach!! There are NONE here. Not one. Which is reasonable, considering we're about 4000 miles from Window Rock!
DeleteI did try to say it, ha ha! Probably got the vowels wrong. "shick-is"? Thanks for the website link. I'll have to take a look. :-)
ReplyDeleteHey Gwen!
ReplyDeleteIt's fun, trying to say new words. Next week, I'm going to use a really tough one, come back and try to say "I love you" in Navajo.