Course syllabus

SO1203, Somali II

In this course, the reading skills in Somali are developed through the study of adapted texts. An additional vocabulary of about 500 words and phrases is introduced. Translation skills are developed further, mainly from Somali, but also into Somali. Additional linguistic terminology is introduced together with information about Somali phonetics, grammar and semantics. also the sociolinguistic  situation is further discussed.

Term: Spring 2024, starts 15 January, ends 2 June

Credits: 7.5 ects

Pace: 10 working hours/week

Teacher: Morgan Nilsson

Syllabus and reading list SO1203
All the reading materials needed for this course will be available online.

Schedule: Online lessons on Zoom on Wednesdays from 18.00 to 18.45 CET.

 

 

Study Pace

The study pace is 10 hours work per week.  It is important to stress that this is an average. For some it will take a little bit less, and for others a little bit more time.

The course consists of 18 weekly modules. Each week consists of a number of things to do: texts to read, recordings to listen to, short videos to see, and exercises and translations to do. Therefore, it is important to work regularly and log in to Canvas practically every day.

 

Textbooks

All the reading materials needed for this course will be available online.

 

Learning outcomes

  • account for the linguistic terminology that is used in the course;
  • describe the grammatical structures of Somali that are covered in the course;
  • in a basic way account for the sociolinguistic situation of Somali and its speakers;
  • demonstrate good pronunciation;
  • use an everyday vocabulary of about 1000 words and phrases;
  • correctly apply important Somali rules of grammar that have been studied in the course;
  • demonstrate communicative skills in Somali in everyday situations and in familiar subject areas;
  • discuss linguistic questions where Somali is compared with other languages;
  • translate simple texts into and from Somali with the help of dictionaries;
  • write short texts in Somali;
  • relate in a critical way to literature about the Somali language and the Somali language situation;
  • relate critically to his/her own learning process.

 

Exams and grading

The course is divided into three parts. Each part consists of six weekly modules.
Every week there are obligatory exercises and assignments that contribute points to your results on each of the three parts.
You can find an good overview of your progress and your points under Grades in the left hand menu.

After each part of the course there is also a test that you will be taking online through Canvas.
These tests must be taken on fixed dates - on Friday, Saturday or Sunday - at the end of the weeks listed below.
You will find the exact dates in the Test Moduls in Canvas.

Part 1 of the course: 
Exam: after Unit 5
Retake: Three weeks later

Part 2 of the course: 
Exam: after Unit 10
Retake: Three weeks later

Part 3 of the course: 
Exam: after Unit 16
Retake: Five weeks after the exam in January and eleven weeks after the exam in June.

After each part you will be awarded 2.5 ects.

The points on each of the tests are added to the points from the exercises and assignments.
Two different grades are available: a result of 70 % is required for G (Good) and 90 % is required for VG (Very Good).
The percentages are calculated on the basis of the total amount of points earned from exercises, assignments and tests.

Your result on a previous part of the course does not affect the your result on a later part.
The grade on Part 3 is equal to the final grade that you will receive for the whole course.

 

Canvas, Zoom & Eduroam

 

Somali Radio and TV

It's a good idea to start listening to Somali radio and TV channels on the Web:

Radio stations in Somalia • SHB Somali Radio in Kenya • Ethiopian Somali TV • Horn Cable TV • Jubbaland TV • Kalsan TV • Puntland TV • SBC TV • Somali Cable TV • Somali National TV • Somaliland TV • Universal Somali TV • BBC • VOA • Most of these channels also publish video clips on YouTube

 

Somali Dictionaries

Later on you might want to buy a printed dictionary. Unfortunately, there are many quite bad dictionaries on the market.
The following are among the best choices from Somali to other languages:

There are also some larger e-dictionaries and pdf's:

If anybody knows about a good Somali-English e-dictionary or pdf, please let the rest of us know!

On this page you can find more information about further resources for Somali.

 

Somali Corpora

  • Somali Korp at the Swedish Langauge Bank with 19 million tokens of edited & published texts + Wikipedia
  • Somali WaC 2017 at project HaBiT with 79 million tokens of text from the Internet

 

Somali e-Books

 

Develop Sound Study Routines and Avoid Plagiarism

It is extremely important that you are clear and specific about your sources of information. Plagiarism means to "borrow" a piece of text from a book or an article or from the web without clearly stating the source. That is not allowed, and you must therefore learn how to handle citations and referencing. You can read more on the pages of our university library.

In English: https://studentportal.gu.se/english/help-and-guidance/search-read-write
In Swedish: https://studentportal.gu.se/handledning-och-stod/soka-lasa-skriva

 

Study Counselling

If you have questions or concerns about your studies, degrees and careers, please contact your study counsellor.  
The study counsellor is also the contact person for pedagogical support and adjustments of studies.
Study counsellor: Ida Lindström, room: E413A
Email: studievagledning.afrikanska@sprak.gu.se
Phone: 031-786 1795.
More information on study counselling can be found here. 

  • Other courses in Somali, Swahili, Xhosa/Zulu and African Languages.
  • Courses in Arabic at UG (only taught in Swedish).
  • If you wish to discontinue the course, please tell the teacher. The you will be able to apply for the course again in the future.
    Don't de-registering yourself in Ladok. If you do, you will not be able to apply for the course again in the future.


Pedagogical support

General information can be found here.
If you have a NAIS decision about adjustments of studies, please read the information on the Study Support page carefully. 
Information on pedagogical support at the Department of Languages and literatures.


Studenthälsa och studiemiljö

Nedan finns information och länkar till resurser och insatser kring studenthälsa och studiemiljö för att du ska få en så bra studietid som möjligt hos oss.

 

Skapa ett hållbart studieliv

Det hållbara studielivet handlar om allt från den fysiska miljö som du studerar i till det umgänge du har med dina studiekamrater och hur du blir bemött av dina lärare.
Läs mer på Studentportalen

 

Stöd- och hälsoinsatser för dig som student

Som student har möjlighet att få stöd när du upplever ohälsa som är orsakad av dina studier. På den här sidan hittar du informationen som du behöver när du vill söka stöd.
Läs mer om studenthälsa på Göteborgs universitet

 

Webbinarium och workshops kring hälsa

Göteborgs universitet erbjuder olika typer av webbinarium, workshops och utbildningar kring ämnen rörande hälsa och studiemiljö.
Information och anmälan (du behöver logga in)

 

Canvaskurser i hållbart studieliv

Feelgood har tagit fram kurser, videoklipp och inspelade webbinarium inom studenthälsa och studiemiljö som du kan ta del av i Canvas. Registrera dig själv på kursen så kommer du åt innehållet när och hur du vill. Du blir inte betygsatt eller bedömd på kurserna.
Till kurserna i Canvas

 

Likabehandling på universitetet

Studie- och arbetsmiljön vid Göteborgs universitet ska vara tillgänglig för alla och vara fri från alla former av diskriminering och trakasserier. Du som student ska känna dig trygg och säker när du studerar hos oss.
Läs mer om likabehandling

 

Studiemiljö – mer än den fysiska miljön

Med studiemiljö menas de fysiska, psykologiska och sociala förhållanden som har betydelse för hur du som student mår och fungerar i din studiesituation.
Läs mer om studenternas arbetsmiljö

 

Studerandearbetsmiljöombud

Studerandearbetsmiljöombuden (SAMO) har till uppgift att företräda dig som student i arbetsmiljöfrågor. Här hittar du mer information och kontaktuppgifter.
Kontakta ett studerandearbetsmiljöombud

 

Student- och doktorandombud

Om du som student eller doktorand stött på problem i din utbildning är du välkommen att kontakta Göteborgs universitets studentkårers student- och doktorandombud.
Kontakta ombuden

 

Studentpräst och stilla rum/vilrum

Oavsett anledning är du som student på Humanisten välkommen att kontakta en studentpräst för enskilda samtal. Det kan handla om någon enstaka gång eller flera samtal. Ett samtal med en studentpräst är alltid kostnadsfritt och konfidentiellt.
Kontakta en studentpräst
Här finns stilla rum/vilrum på Humanisten

 

Om något händer – hit ska du vända dig

Här finns kontaktuppgifter till vem du ska vända dig till vid till exempel hot och vad du ska göra vid utrymning mm.
Om något händer (länk till Medarbetarportalen)

 

Discrimination and harassment

What is classified as discrimination and who do you contact?

As a student at our University, you should feel safe and secure. Your study and/or work environment should be free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. If you have nevertheless experienced these things, we explain below what you can do about it and who you can contact for help.

When you study at the University of Gothenburg, you are covered by Sweden’s Discrimination Act, which means that all students have equal rights and opportunities. Despite the University’s preventive efforts in this area, if you have experienced what you suspect is discrimination or harassment of any kind, please inform us about this. Who to contact depends on the programme you are studying, that is, which department is responsible for you. Further down the page you will find a list of contacts. We recommend that you contact one of these people first. That said, you may contact any employee at your department about the matter, as all employees have a duty to inform the head of department of suspected cases of harassment or discrimination, and the head of department has the ultimate responsibility for the department.

What is classified as discrimination?

Discrimination is when someone is treated worse than someone else in a comparable situation and this treatment is related to one of the seven grounds of discrimination (protected characteristics) listed below. Not all incidents are classified as discrimination, for example private individuals cannot discriminate against each other. However, where private individuals behave inappropriately towards each other, this may constitute harassment or workplace bullying. It is therefore important that you report such incidents, even if not all incidents will be assessed as being instances of discrimination or harassment.

Grounds of discrimination (protected characteristics)

•    Sex
•    Transgender identity or expression
•    Ethnicity
•    Religion or other belief
•    Disability
•    Sexual orientation
•    Age

Forms of discrimination

•    Direct discrimination
•    Indirect discrimination
•    Inadequate accessibility
•    Harassment and sexual harassment
•    Instructions to discriminate

So that your experience of discrimination or harassment is clearly stated, it is a good idea to write down what happened and how it could be linked to one or more of the grounds of discrimination.

What happens after you report an incident?

When the head of department is made aware of suspected discrimination or harassment, they have a duty to investigate the circumstances. The head of department then decides whether or not it is possible to carry out an investigation. In some instances, you may need to be called to a meeting to provide more information before a decision to investigate or not is made. You have the right to receive an answer to whether or not the head of department has chosen to take your case further.

It is important that you know that no one at the University is permitted to do bad things to you just because you reported an incident. This is called the prohibition on reprisals under the Discrimination Act. If you feel that someone is subjecting you to reprisals, you should report this as well.

Who to contact at the Faculty of Humanities

Department of Swedish, Multilingualism, Language Technology: Sofie Johansson, Equal Treatment Representative, phone 031-786 42 03, sofie.johansson@svenska.gu.se
Department of Literature, History of ideas and Religion: Camilla Alvhage, Equal Treatment Representative, 031-786 45 80, camilla.alvhage@lir.gu.se
Department of Languages and Literatures: Chloé Avril, Equal Treatment Representative, 031-786 45 94, chloe.avril@sprak.gu.se
Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science: Ellen Breitholtz, Equal Treatment Representative, 031-786 11 76, ellen.breitholtz@ling.gu.se, 
Department of Historical Studies: Lena Larsson Lovén, Equal Treatment Representative, 031-786 46 59, lena.larsson@class.gu.se
Department of Cultural Sciences: Lise-Lotte Gustafsson, Study Counsellor, 031-786 5321, lise-lotte.gustafsson@gu.se

You can also contact the main student health and safety representative at shamo.humsek@gota.gu.se or the Chair of the Göta Student Union's Humanities Section humsek@gota.gu.se. You can get help from the student union even if you are not a member.

More information:

What is discrimination? (www.do.se)