FSI Hausa Basic Course

What is the FSI Hausa Basic Course?

This FSI Hausa course was published in 1963 and consists of 30 units that are designed to give students a solid foundation in the language, leaving them capable of functioning in a wide range of situations.

Each unit features a basic dialog that presents the new language, which is followed by drills and exercises designed to give you the opportunity to practice what you have learned.

Originally, each unit was also accompanied by an audio recording. However, unfortunately, only the recordings for the first 10 units are available at this time.

How was FSI Hausa Basic originally used?

This course was originally created to give American diplomats a grounding in the language before being sent to postings in Hausa-speaking regions. They attended six hours of class per day and followed this up with a further two hours of personal study. In class, they spoke only Hausa, and even outside of class, they were supposed to use Hausa to talk among themselves. In this way, in only a short amount of time, they were able to acquire a level of Hausa that would allow them to function in their positions abroad.

How can you use FSI Hausa Basic?

Although you can’t hope to recreate the conditions enjoyed by American diplomats taking this course, you can still benefit immensely from these comprehensive Hausa materials if you know how to adapt them.

Since you will probably be relying on this free Hausa course as your primary source of study input, you can work through the dialogs and drills to give yourself a good basic knowledge of the Hausa language. If you can then supplement this by using any other materials you have available, you will be able to make good progress in this important African language.

Taking it further

Although these materials are extremely comprehensive, you can’t learn a language from books alone. For this reason, at the earliest opportunity, you should take your newly acquired language skills and try them out with any native speakers you can find. You should try to make speaking Hausa a part of your daily life, and if you can do this, you will see how quickly you begin to make progress.