Yorùbá Language Learning Resources

There are few resources for Yorùbá self-instruction in comparison even to Swahili. However, there are several good sources for getting started. Agoke’s and Mosádomi’s books are both available online for free, and Agoke’s dictionary includes recordings of vocabulary words pronounced by a native speaker. Copies of Bamgboṣe’s grammar and a few of Schleicher’s books are available in the African Languages Pedagogy Library at UW-Madison’s African Cultural Studies Department.

Consider the following options.

Beginner Textbooks

Agoke, A. (2024). Yorùbá dictionary: For foreign and second language learners. Pressbooks. https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/yorubadictionary/

Mosádomi, F. (2012). Yorùbá yé mi: A beginning Yorùbá textbook. The University of Texas at Austin. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/250.

Schleicher, A. Y. F. (1998). Jẹ́ k’á sọ Yorùbá. Yale University Press.

Schleicher, A. Y. F. (2008). Colloquial Yoruba: The complete course for beginners. Routledge.

Intermediate and Other Resources

Bamgboṣe, A. (1966). A grammar of Yoruba. Cambridge University Press.

Schleicher, A. Y. F. (1998). Jẹ́ k’á ka Yorùbá. Yale University Press.

Schleicher, A. Y. F. (1998). Yoruba newspaper reader. Dunwoody Press.

Additional Tools: Yorùbá Keyboards

It is very helpful to be able to type with the necessary diacritics in Yorùbá so you can distinguish between similar words like ilé (home, house) and ilẹ̀ (earth, land) that would otherwise look identical.

• Online: The most straightforward tool is a web app from Lexilogos, a website that offers dozens of keyboards for different languages. You can find the Yorùbá keyboard here.
• iPhones: A free app called Yoruba Keyboard is available on the App Store.
• Macs: There are a couple options—Yorùbá 8 and Yorùbá Ìrọ̀rùn for example—but I can’t figure out where I got the keyboard I use that I really like.
• Other operating systems: I suggest Googling “Android Yoruba keyboard” (or whatever other operating system instead of Android) to see what you come up with. You might have to dig.

Annotations

Agoke, A. (2024). Yorùbá dictionary: For foreign and second language learners. Pressbooks. https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/yorubadictionary/

Agoke’s 2024 dictionary is incredibly helpful for beginning and lower-intermediate students of Yorùbá language. Its novel organization is based on American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines. It contains an introduction, explanations of the logic and layout of the dictionary, an overview of pronunciation and orthography, the dictionary itself, a compendium of ACTFL performance descriptors, a bibliography, and other back matter.

Bamgboṣe, A. (1966). A grammar of Yoruba. Cambridge University Press.

Linguist Ayọ Bamgboṣe’s grammar book is painstakingly detailed. It would probably answer every question you ever had about the structure of Yorùbá—if you had the grammatical and linguistic vocabulary to follow his explanations. I am still trying to decode which chapters will be most helpful for me, and whether I have any hope of understanding them. The book consists of three parts: introduction, theory, and description. There are also five appendices, and “Appendix IV: Assimilation and Contraction” seems promising given how frequently Yorùbá speakers combine words in ways I don’t expect.

Schleicher, A. Y. F. (1998). Yoruba newspaper reader. Dunwoody Press.

While dated, this reader provides an interesting peek into newsworthy happenings in Yorùbáland. Schleicher provides original text from 45 news articles in the first half of the book, with translations in the second half. The original articles are accompanied by vocabulary lists defining words and terms used in the text. There is also a glossary at the end of the book.

Schleicher, A. Y. F. (2008). Colloquial Yoruba: The complete course for beginners. Routledge.

Schleicher’s coursebook is a helpful resources for Yorùbá beginners, especially those pursuing independent study. It follows the same format as other books in the Colloquial series (I am familiar because I used the Colloquial Somali book for years for independent study). Each chapter begins with a dialogue and then supplies vocabulary, grammatical rules, cultural notes, and exercises. Some chapters include two dialogues, each with accompanying explanations. The CD accompanying this book is a valuable asset, as learners can practice pronunciation and solidify vocabulary by repeating dialogues many times over.

Yoruba for Kidz: Home. (n.d.). Yoruba for Kidz Camps. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://ybofkc.com/

Yoruba for Kidz is a useful resource for elementary learners. Obviously, it is geared toward children, so learners may feel infantilized using this content; however, the simple presentation of vocabulary is quite straightforward and accessible. The best resource from Yoruba for Kidz I’ve found is actually their YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@YorubaforKidzTV); their regular website (www.yorubaforkidz.com) was blocked by my browser for containing “harmful software.” The YouTube channel contains video playlists featuring cooking vocabulary, Yorùbá songs, Christian songs in Yorùbá, and short lessons on themes like “action words” and “fruits and vegetables.”

Online Resources Reviewed

Alaroye. (n.d.). Alaroye. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://alaroye.org

Alaroye is a Yorùbá language newspaper geared toward native speakers. Beginning and intermediate speakers will struggle with both the wide range of vocabulary and also the lack of tone marks. However, it is an excellent source of discussion topics to review with a mentor.

Babájídé, A. (n.d.). Yorùbá Lessons with Adérónkẹ́. YouTube. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWeMRh6t30vwcEuZYZIcurQ

Adérónkẹ́ Babájídé’s YouTube channel is a treasure trove of educational content. Her playlists include “Simple Yoruba Questions,” “Yoruba Homonyms,” “Yoruba Adverbs,” and many more. She introduces videos in Yorùbá, explains the topic in English, and then places words in the context of Yorùbá sentences. Her use of visual aids is quite helpful.

BBC News Yorùbá. (n.d.). BBC News. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://www.bbc.com/yoruba

The BBC famously provides news content in a wide range of languages; it currently has pages in almost fifty different languages. The Yorùbá page is a great source of original material written with all diacriticals, providing a helpful contrast to Alaroye. Again, however, beginners will struggle with vocabulary and may need their mentor’s help in discerning the topics discussed.

Nollywood Genre. (n.d.). Netflix. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://www.netflix.com/browse/m/genre/81404209

Netflix has embraced Nollywood and invested in films and shows to host on their streaming service. If you have a Netflix account, you will find well-produced and engaging films like Aníkúlápó and King of Boys, as well as multiple film and television spinoffs. All titles have English subtitles, but as they are not grouped by language you will need to make sure you’re picking a show or film with a substantial proportion in Yorùbá.

YorubaPlay+. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgNdMshuY4_RWyrGPGr9Jw

YorubaPlay+ is a YouTube channel that posts new Nollywood films featuring in Yorùbá and/or featuring Yorùbá culture. Most of the films are primarily in Yorùbá and have English subtitles. While beginners will certainly struggle to parse Yorùbá words, Yorùbá language films are an excellent avenue for getting a sense of the language’s sounds and rhythms.

Cultural Resource Reviews

Babalola, A. B., McIntosh, S. K., Dussubieux, L., & Rehren, T. (2017). Ile-Ife and Igbo Olokun in the history of glass in West Africa. Antiquity, 91(357), 732–750. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.80

Babalola et al.’s archaeological article on glass production in tenth-century Yorùbáland offers a fascinating introduction to the precolonial world of Ilé-Ifẹ̀—the city traditionally recognized as the origin of humanity. During the Ifẹ̀ empire, Yorùbá glass production was unique in West Africa. The authors report on excavation findings from Igbó Olókun, a sacred grove devoted to Olókun, the òrìṣà of wealth who was alleged to be the first to manufacture glass beads.

Matory, J. L. (2005). Sex and the empire that is no more: Gender and the politics of metaphor in Oyo Yoruba religion. Berghahn Books.

Matory discusses a more recent historical setting than Ogundiran or Babalola et al., focusing on the Ọ̀yọ́ empire (c. 1300-1896). He discusses how sexual metaphor influenced Ọ̀yọ́ Yorùbá politics, religion, and people by way of the Ṣàngó and Ògún òrìṣà priesthoods.

Ogundiran, A. (2002). Of small things remembered: Beads, cowries, and cultural translations of the Atlantic experience in Yorubaland. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 35(2/3), 427–457. https://doi.org/10.2307/3097620

Akinwumi Ogundiran’s article gives an introduction to the fascinating (and fraught) period of Atlanticization in Yorùbáland. This history lays out the origin of several Yorùbá traditions, including the cultural significance of cowrie shells, and discusses their impact on Yorùbá social relations.

Oyěwùmí, O. (1997). The invention of women: Making an African sense of Western gender discourses. University of Minnesota Press.

Oyewumi provides historical review mixed with recent ethnographic research to argue that gender distinctions are not inherent to Yorùbá culture. While it has its faults, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in gender and Africa. I would also recommend reviewing some critiques; looking up Matory’s and Bukare-Yusuf’s responses would be a good place to start.

Wenger, S., & Chesi, G. (1983). A life with the gods in their Yoruba homeland. Perlinger. https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999937909902121

Susanne Wenger was an Austrian artist who moved to Nigeria and integrated into Yorùbá culture. She is famed for her sculptures depicting òrìṣà at Igbó Olókun (see the Babalola et al. text). This book features photographs of much of her work and the work of Nigerian artists in the same art collective; it also explains traditional Yorùbá spiritual concepts.

YorùbáTexts – Digital Catalog of Yorùbá Literature. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2025, from https://yorùbátexts.com/

Damilola Adebonojo, a doctoral student in Yorùbá literature, founded this website in response to her difficulty locating Yorùbá language texts. The catalog contains texts from several genres over a span of 85 years. Anyone can submit Yorùbá texts to the catalogue and the project seeks volunteers.