About

 

An ka taa is an initiative to offer modern educational media, resources and lessons for current and emergent speakers of Manding—commonly referred to as Bambara, Dioula, Malinké or Mandingo—so that there are no barriers to learning one of Africa's most important languages.


Curious why I speak and teach Manding?

Fair question! I made a video about that, and it dovetails with why I started An ka taa.

Still curious? Read on!

 

Why An ka taa?

Developing media and resources for African languages like Manding is important.

Speaking Jula in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Why? Because West Africa is not "francophone" or "anglophone" with a bunch of "dialects."

African languages, such as Manding, are not objects of history. Nor are they endangered and in need of our assistance; they are the tools of commerce, relationships and knowledge for millions across the Continent everyday. At the same, they are vehicles of cultural practices and conceptions that have roots beyond colonial rule and post-Independence politics and development goals.

When people are able to learn, speak, read and write African languages, we elevate voices and perspectives marginalized by legacies of slavery and colonialism.


But why?

The current landscape of for-profit companies and education institutions does not support the use or learning of African languages. Manding, for instance, is one of the Continent’s most important trade languages. It’s spoken by 30–40 million people—more than all the people that speak Danish, Swedish and Norwegian combined. And yet, Scandinavians get Siri in their own language and anyone flying into Copenhagen can download Duolingo and know how to greet before their plane hits the ground.

You want to know how to greet people before arriving in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea or Côte d’Ivoire? There’s no Manding language Duolingo and there was no proper English-based mobile dictionary until I made one. Wanna do so for Wolof, Hausa or Fulani—each spoken by tens of millions of people from Senegal all the way to Nigeria? Try again. Tech companies like Google do not support African languages because they do not see a market—West Africans read and write in French and English, they say. Western universities do not put resources into African language offerings because they do not see a market—students aren’t interested, they say.

Both situations create unfortunate feedback loops. Africans don’t see or hear their languages on the internet, so they opt for French or English. Foreigners can’t find quality accessible resources for learning African languages, so they opt for French or English. And Google and Duolingo don’t see anyone wanting to read, write or learn Manding, so they opt for French and English.

Speaking Jula in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Who is An ka taa?

Me—Coleman!

My name is Coleman Donaldson (or Adama Diallo/Jalo if you prefer) and I'm the founder of An ka taa. I've been learning, researching and promoting Manding since 2009.

Me and my original Peace Corps host father, Amadu Diallo, in 2011

I originally learned Manding in between 2009–2011 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina Faso. In 2011-2012 as a Fulbright scholar I attended l'Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris where I was a student of Manding linguistics and Bambara.

Since 2012 I have been conducting linguistic, historical and qualitative research on speech and literacy practices in the Eastern Manding varieties of Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire.

I received my PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 and I was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Ajami Lab at the University of Hamburg from 2018–2020. You can learn more about my research career and other projects at my personal website.

Contributors

An ka taa projects have only happened because of the generous working contributions of people like:

  • Raphaël Piguet
  • Daouda Coulibaly
  • Barthélémy Ouattara
  • Mamadou ("Bob") Dembélé
  • Baba Mamadi Diané
  • Cinzia Alberti
  • CSoft Guinée
  • Easy Languages
  • Christy Traoré

Patrons

An ka taa is supported by a network of patrons that offer regular monthly contributions (or in some cases, one-time donations) to help cover the costs of producing and hosting its projects.