<B>About the Swahili Language</B> <P><UL><LI>Swaili, also known as Kiswahili, is a Bantu language spoken by approximately 50 million people, of which approximately 2 million (some estimates are as high as 5 million) are native-speakers living mainly along the East African coast from Somalia to the North Africa coastline of Madagascar. <LI>This course teaches Standard Swahili as spoken in and around Kenya. <LI>Swahili is an official language in Kenya and Tanzania and is the considered the linga franca in much of East Africa. It is also spoken in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), Mayotte, Mozambique, Oman, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and the USA. <LI>Written Swahili uses 24 letters from the Roman alphabet, excepting C, Q,  and X, and including an additional letter “CH.” </LI></UL><P><P>The Pimsleur® Method: the easiest, fastest way to learn a new language. Completely portable, easily downloadable, and lots of fun. You'll be speaking and understanding in no time flat! Swahili, Comprehensive includes 15 hours of spoken language practice and one hour of reading instruction in thirty, 30-minute lessons on 16 CDs. <P> <P>In the first 10 lessons, you'll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You'll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with near-native pronunciation skills. <P><P>In the next 10 lessons, you'll build on what you've learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You'll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident. <P><P>In the final 10 lessons, you'll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level. In these lessons, more directions are given in the target language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. You'll be able to speak comfortably about things that happened in the past and make plans for the future. <P><P>Reading Lessons begin in Unit 11 and provide you with an introduction to reading Swahili. These lessons are designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent. In addition, combined Reading Lessons from all the units are included at the end. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format..