Resources

One of the most useful things you can do before you arrive is to take a language acquisition course. These courses do not teach a specific language (except as examples) but, rather, teach you how to learn any new language effectively.
Such a course is highly recommended especially if you

• will need to use Hausa in your work
• plan to stay a year or more
• will live in a predominantly Hausa area
• plan to learn another language some day

PILAT is a popular course but there are others; consult with SIM or your own agency to learn more. If you can’t attend an actual course, consider using the LEARN! video series by the author of LAMP: Language Acquisition Made Practical .

Books

Once you arrive, you’ll probably be able to borrow any books you need: texts, dictionaries, primers …

• LAMP: Language Acquisition Made Practical is an excellent resource for learning a language. If you can find an inexpensive copy before you arrive, you may want to get started on it. It seems to be out of print but see Lingua House where the author may still be selling it. SIM Nigeria has copies for its members. If you’re with another organization, they may also have copies.

• Another related book that looks interesting (but I haven’t read) is Guidelines for Barefoot Language Learning.

Online Resources

Language Learning / Language Acquisition

• Language Learning Advisor is a site with lots of tips and general information.

Hausa

• Uwe Seibert's Hausa Online looks the place to go first. There is a whole treasure store of information and resources, including articles, Hausa videos, even a link to an online version of the Jesus film in Hausa!
• The Foreign Service Institute lists Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, and 39 other languages in its collection of public domain courses. These are the courses once used for the diplomatic corps. The Hausa course includes the student text and audio recordings.
  The audio recordings are available for the first 10 lessons. Besides being at the site above, we have processed them, removing the tape-hiss (tapes were made in 1963!) and placed them here.
• Wikipedia, of course, has a page of basic information on Hausa. It's currently heavy on phonetics and skimpy on everything else, but it does include a collection of other links.
• The Ethnologue Hausa page includes demographic information and maps.
• Indiana University has audio recordings of readings in Hausa. You won’t understand much, but it is a good way to learn the sound & rhythm of the language.
• The Hausa Home Page from UCLA lists various resources.
• Online reference dictionary (Bargery); outdated but still useful once you know how to interpret it.
• At BBC, Voice of America and similar sites, you can read and hear the news in Hausa. Look for the icons for the recorded or live newscasts.