Language tips - Madagascar Video Transcripts
Video 1 Transcript
Malagasy is not a very popular language, so there's not a ton of resources or dictionaries on speaking it, and even among the people, there's like 17 different dialects on the island, and you're not going to get the same answer for the same question all the time. Like if you ask natives for language help, you might not always get the same answer, depending on what the situation is. So the best thing to do is really to just get out there and speak it. Just try all the different things out yourself, see what works, see what doesn't work. Good luck.
Video 2 Transcript
One of the biggest language tips I would give is to not be afraid to speak slow and ask questions. Even though Malagasy's will speak pretty quickly, if you speak slowly it lets you be more understandable, they'll think you're doing a better job, and will also let you kind of figure out some of the smaller nuances of the Malagasy accent. In America, when you say L, like the la la la, you kind of bounce your tongue off the tip of your teeth. But in Malagasy, when you make an L sound, it's coming off the roof of your mouth, like a la la la la la. And so just like a little thing like that can really make kind of a big difference on your accent. But if you speak slowly and you just listen for how consonants and vowels are different, then that will really be one of the biggest helps for you in your language.
Video 3 Transcript
When you're learning the language, try not to really tie it into like English words, like this word means this, but try to just associate like that thing or that action in your mind as what that new word in Malagasy is. And then as you kind of use the words and talk a lot, then it all just kind of starts flowing. And then another thing would be to listen to how people say things and repeat them kind of like a copycat-ish deal and just copy their accents and copy how they flick their R's and just speak.
