What Knyaw can and can't teach
Knyaw helps you read Sgaw Karen. You learn the letters, the words, and what they mean. It does not teach you how to say the words out loud, and it will never pretend it does. Here is what it can and can't do.
What it teaches you
- To read the Sgaw Karen letters, one by one
- To know hundreds of real words when you see them
- What those words mean, in English
- The letters: the consonants, the vowels, and how they go together
- A daily reading habit that sticks, with easy review
What it can't teach
- How to say a word out loud
- Tone. Sgaw Karen has five or six tones, and they change what a word means
- How to talk or have a chat
Why we tell you this
Sgaw Karen is a tone language. The same letters can mean very different things, based on the tone. You can't learn to hear tones or say them right without sound and a real speaker. We don't have checked sound yet. So if we taught you how to say words, we would teach it wrong. The English-letter sounds you see in the app are only a rough help to get you started. They are not a guide for saying words out loud.
How to learn to say the words
Read with a Karen speaker when you can. That could be family, friends, people near you, or a Karen church or class. Sound from KTWG's word book, kliteracy.net, and KarenTalk can help train your ears. When Knyaw can record Karen speakers, sound will come. See what's next.