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Coleman Donaldson

@DonaldsonCD

Linguistic anthropologist. Speaks and teaches Manding (AKA Bambara, Dioula and Malinké) via @ankataa_project

 Paris, France
colemandonaldson.com
Joined April 2012
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Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)Photo by Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
I want it to be as easy and normal to learn African languages as Western languages like French or English so I made a full online beginner's class for Bambara/Dioula: ankataa.com/course
Online Bambara Course Screenshot

ALT Online Bambara Course Screenshot

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Over 1,000 people used the Bambara/Dioula-English-French dictionary last month! The top search terms in English were: 1. red 2. morning 3. protect 4. hello 5. boy
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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You can use it too! It's free: dictionary.ankataa.com
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When people greet in Manding (and many other West African languages), people often invoke people's last names as part of the greetings in something like a "shout-out". So I made a video lesson about how to do it in Maninka :-) youtube.com/watch?v=zDR15ckb…
Last Name Greetings in Malinké | Learn Maninka | Lesson 6

Last Name Greetings in Malinké | Learn Maninka | Lesson 6

How to give and respond to a last name "shout-out" in Maninka (AKA ...

youtube.com
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Some light reading
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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People often want to know how to introduce themselves in Bambara/Dioula so my friend Oumar and I made a 2-minute long video while I was in Dakar :-) youtu.be/NWfZSs06EDk
How to Talk About Yourself in Bambara/Jula | Jaati 4

How to Talk About Yourself in Bambara/Jula | Jaati 4

Simple Bambara/Jula phrases for saying basic things about yourself....

youtube.com
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I'm teaching live Bambara/Jula classes this fall! Interested? Let me know!
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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Looking all the occurences of "tigadɛgɛna" in the corpus of AKT videos 🥜🍛
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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SUBTITLES
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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Interested in taking a Bambara/Dioula or Maninka class this fall with me in a small group? Preregistration for my Fall 2026 classes is open! No commitment. You are just telling me the days/times that work best for you :-) ankataa.com/register
Register for a Cohort Course — An ka taa

Register for a Cohort Course — An ka taa

ankataa.com
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Damn, cool PhD opportunity in Morocco with @theafrabian
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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People are into cooking videos, so I made a "vlog" style video with my friend Mariam where she shares how she makes "peanut sauce" (sauce arachide - désolé, c'est le vrai nom; connais pas "mafé" sauf en wolof). In Jula/Bambara with subtitles :-) youtube.com/watch?v=k-vYey_B…
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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That feeling when subtitles are laid down after hours and hours of filming, editing, transcribing and translating 🙂
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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Hey @DeepLcom, is it normal that your website's is written in what look like jibberish to me? It's been happening for a while
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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Dakar :-)
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Love learning new words when I do subtitles :-)
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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Just finished teaching my last Bambara/Jula class of the semester 🥳😴
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Norms of marriage differ around the world! 💍So I made a video with answers in Bambara/Jula from people in Abidjan — who is married, kids, challenges, and why people get married at all 🙃 youtube.com/watch?v=9lbt3SRh…
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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Karamɔgɔ @BridgesFromBKO -- À filɛ! 👆
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TikTok often hides comments in Bambara (as "folded comments") on my "An ka taa" acccount because their system says they may affect people's well-being 😡 Also you can't specify that a video is even in Bambara so I have to say that they are in French 🤬
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That feeling when the subtitles are laid down after hours and hours of filming and editing and transcribing and translating :-) New episode of "Na baro kè" coming soon!
Image from Coleman Donaldson (@DonaldsonCD)
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