Explorer Malagasy

About Malagasy

Malagasy is the language spoken on the island of Madagascar. The first Malagasy came from the Borneo/Indonesia area and might have spent some time in the Eastern part of Africa before settling in Madagascar around 5^th century B.C. Although it uses words from that Eastern part of Africa, Ma’anyan (language of the Dayak people, in the central Kalimantan, Indonesia) remains the closest language to Malagasy.

Malagasy was born as a result of the encounter between South East Asian languages, Arabic, Bantu and later tremendously influenced by English and French.

Malagasy is in a grave situation today. In fact, although it is spoken on the island of Madagascar and by some Malagasy diaspora overseas, the Malagasy people’s desire to succeed (by using and learning a global language), the influence of technology (less and less use of Malagasy) and, the scarcity or the high cost of Malagasy literature, all contribute to the loss of Malagasy vocabulary and culture.

Learn Malagasy with us and open a wide window to the island of Madagascar where you can access the very essence of Malagasy culture. 

About your teacher

Haingo grew up in Madagascar and has lived in the U.S., Gabon, the Philippines, Canada and Mexico. She speaks Malagasy, French, English and some Tagalog (official language in the Philippines) and has translated stories, songs and fairytales from English into Malagasy. Haingo enjoys exploring new cities and learning about the people, their culture, and history!

Her family moves from one country to another every two to three years. She enjoys learning the language of her host countries – when they lived in the Philippines, she took some Tagalog classes and was amazed at the similarities between Malagasy and Tagalog.

Haingo joined Tribalingual in order to raise awareness of the Malagasy language and culture and propagate it to people all around the world. Join her in learning about the people of this wonderful island today!