SemaSoma
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How SemaSoma lessons are written and reviewed

Translation is a service anyone can buy. A written course is not. Everything you learn on SemaSoma was typed out by a person, in a specific order, with pronunciation attached — and this page says who checks it and what is still outstanding.

Written phrase by phrase

Each lesson is a small set of phrases chosen for a real situation — greeting a relative, asking a price, describing pain to a nurse. Nothing is auto-generated at run time; the phrase list is part of the app.

Pronunciation written in plain English

Every phrase carries an English-friendly respelling with the stressed syllable in capitals, so a learner can say it before they can read the spelling. Audio is AI-generated and labelled as such.

Reviewed by speakers, unit by unit

Teachers and native speakers review units and send corrections, which we apply directly to the phrase list. A unit only shows a reviewer's name once that person has actually signed off.

Corrections beat additions

A reported mistake is fixed before new content ships. We would rather have fewer lessons that are right than more lessons that teach an error.

How much course there actually is

Real numbers, read straight from the courses in the app today.

LanguageUnitsLessonsPhrases
Swahili1733132
Yoruba1427108
Zulu1427108
Igbo1326105
Hausa1326105
Amharic1326105
Twi1326105
Somali1326105

Review status

No unit carries a reviewer's name yet. The courses are hand-written, and teacher review is in progress — we will name each reviewer here, per unit, as sign-offs come in rather than claiming it in advance.

Speak one of these languages?

Review a unit and we credit you on it. Teachers also get free access for their learners.