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Location: Home.
Listening: Antiques Roadshow.

Sunday Swahili Lesson 2.

Salama.

In the last lesson, we learned one or two forms of greeting in the Swahili language. In this lesson, I'll review the basic rules of pronunciation for Swahili. With a little practice, proper pronunciation of Swahili is simpler than that of many other modern languages.

The rules for the pronunciation of Swahili vowels are as follows:

'a' -- when the letter 'a' appears in Swahili words, it is pronounced as the letter 'a' in the English word 'calm'. The Swahili word for 'bath', bafu is pronounced 'bah-foo'.

'e' -- when the letter 'e' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as the letter 'a' in the English word 'may'. The Swahili word for 'you', wewe is pronounced 'way-way'.

'i' -- when the letter 'i' appears in Swahili words, it is pronounced as the 'e' in 'me'. The Swahili word for 'we', sisi is pronounced 'see-see'.

'o' -- when the letter 'o' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as the 'o' in the English word 'go'. The Swahili word for 'one', moja, is pronounced 'mo-jah'.

'u' -- when the letter 'u' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as the 'o' in 'to'. The Swahili word for 'store', duka, is pronounced 'doo-kah'.

Now for the consonants, which are a little trickier.

'r' -- when the letter 'r' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced something like a light 'd' sound. Native Swahili speakers often pronounce the 'r' somewhere between the English 'r' and 'l' sounds--which, in turn, ends up sounding like a light 'd'. I know. Just roll with it.

'dh' -- when 'dh' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as 'th' in 'this'. The Swahili word for 'sin', dhambi, is pronounced 'thahmbee'.

'th' -- when 'th' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as 'th' in 'thing'. The Swahili word for 'thirty', thelathini, is pronounced 'theh-lah-theenee'.

'ny' -- when 'ny' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as the 'ni' in 'onion'. The Swahili word for 'grass', nyasi, is pronounced as 'nee-ah-see'.

'ng' ' -- when 'ng ' ' appears at the beginning of Swahili words, it is pronounced as the 'ng' in the English word 'singer'. The sound is supposed to emanate mainly from the back of the throat (try saying the word "singer" several times, eventually doing away with the 'si' until you can say 'nger' with comfort). The Swahili word for 'cattle', ng'ombe is pronounced 'ng'ohmbay'.

'gh' -- when 'gh' appears in Swahili, it pronounced as the 'ch' in the Scottish word 'loch'. It is also a fairly guttural, back of the throat sound. The Swahili word for 'expensive', ghali, is pronounced 'kh-ah-lee'.

'g' -- when 'g' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as the 'g' in 'get'. The Swahili word for 'car', ghari, is pronounced 'gah-ree'.

'ch' -- when 'ch' appears in Swahili, it is pronounced as the 'ch' in 'church'. The Swahili word for 'food', chakula is pronounced 'cha-kuh-lah'.

When pronouncing Swahili words, also remember that each letter written receives its own pronunciation, unless it is part of the one of the consonant combinations noted above. The Swahili word for 'respected elder', mzee is pronounced 'm-zay-ay'.

When pronouncing Swahili words, remember that the stress is almost always placed on the second to last syllable. There are only a handful of words that do not follow this rule, and I will comment on them in a later installment. The Swahili word mzee would therefore be pronounced 'm-ZAY-ay'.

Now that I've reviewed pronunciation, I'll present a list of some more Swahili greetings. Greeting is very important in East African culture and often involves a fairly lengthy initial exchange with claspings of hands, curtsies, etc. It is important to remember to take time with greetings, even if one is only asking a stranger for information. Brief greetings such as "Hi, where's the bus station?" are considered rude.

Shikamoo (shee-kah-MO-oh) -- "respectful greetings" -- a greeting used when one is addressing an older person or authority figure. The proper response to "Shikamoo" is Marahaba (mah-rah-HAH-bah), meaning, well, "thank you for your respectful greeting". As a side note, sometimes East Africans will greet all foreigners with "Shikamoo". This is a custom dating back to the time when British colonials demanded that the indigenous people greet all white people with ultimate deference. If you are greeted with "Shikamoo" by someone of equal station or someone very close to your own age, it is proper to respond with Asante (ah-SAHN-tay), meaning 'thank you for your respectful greeting". If a child greets you with "Shikamoo", however, it is customary to respond with "Marahaba" (it is a more "adult" exchange and therefore they seem to enjoy it more). Children will often wish to place both hands on your forehead when greeting you. It is customary to kneel down to allow them to do this.

I will include more greetings in lesson 3. Salama (sah-LAH-mah) is a good all-purpose greeting, followed by Hujambo (hoo-JAHM-boh) "How are you?". In turn, the typical response to this question is Sijambo (see-JAHM-boh) "I'm fine". In closing, Tutaonana (too-tah-oh-NAH-nah) "goodbye", is used.

So, for the moment, tutaonana.

Note: My source for this information on the Swahili language is the Swahili Phrasebook from Lonely Planet. I claim no personal credit for this information.