Learn Yoruba Free with an FSI Course
Yorùbá
Learn Yoruba by working through FSI Yoruba Basic Course. Vento has 10 units, with audio repetition and pronunciation practice, at no cost. This language is not on the current State Department hour table.
Who this is for
This page is for someone who wants to learn Yoruba and does not know how to start. The method is the one the Foreign Service Institute used with US diplomats: a short dialogue, then repetition and pronunciation, until the lines are automatic. Vento is the same public-domain course, laid out as lessons you can do on a phone. It is free. It is not a game and it is not affiliated with the State Department.
The source course
FSI Yoruba Basic Course. A Foreign Service Institute Yoruba basic course. Yoruba is not named on the current State Department difficulty page. This catalogue has 10 units.
The first lessons you will actually open:
- Unit 1: Basic Dialogue
- Unit 2: Are you in good health?
- Unit 3: Good evening
- Unit 4: Excuse me — what is this?
- Unit 5: How are you doing?
- Unit 6: I want to buy a book
How a lesson works
- Listen to the dialogue and follow the line that is playing.
- Repeat it aloud. The course is built on that repetition, not on tapping translations.
- Do the drills, then check pronunciation in your browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari).
- Come back to the same unit before you pile on a new one.
A fuller explanation of the drill cycle is on the FSI method page. Hours and categories are on the difficulty ranking.
How long it takes
Yoruba is a real course in this catalogue, and the State Department page does not list it, so there is no official class-hour number to quote.
Figures for categories and class hours are from the U.S. Department of State, “Foreign Language Training” (https://www.state.gov/foreign-language-training), describing full-time classroom study to an ILR 3 in speaking and listening. They are not a promise about self-study. state.gov/foreign-language-training
Questions
Is the Yoruba course really free?
Yes. Vento does not charge for the Yoruba lessons. The underlying Foreign Service Institute texts are US government works and are generally public domain in the United States. Vento is not affiliated with the State Department.
How long does Yoruba take?
Yoruba is not named on the current State Department difficulty page, so Vento does not print an official class-hour figure for it.
Can I use a lesson without a connection?
You can download that lesson’s text and audio and play them without a connection. Pronunciation feedback runs in your browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari) and needs that browser’s speech service, so it is not an offline check.
At a glance
Class hours
Not listed by FSI
Region
Africa