THE BASIC SWAHILI WORDS TO KNOW WHEN YOU VISIT TANZANIA.
WHAT ARE SWAHILI WORD'S TO KNOW WHEN I VISIT TANZANIA/ZANZIBAR.
Your welcome to Tanzania the land of tourism and exposure.Tanzania is located in Eastern Africa. It is bordered by Kenya and
Uganda to the North, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Tanzania has a total area is 945,087 sq.km including 61,000 sq. km of inland water. The total surface area of Zanzibar is 2,654 sq.km. Unguja, the larger of the two islands has an area of 1,666 sq.km, while Pemba has an area of 988 sq.km. The 2012 Population and Housing Census (PHC) for the United Republic of Tanzania was carried out on the 26 th August, 2012. This was the fifth Census after the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. The 2012 Population and Housing Census results show that, Tanzania has a population of 44,928,923 of which 43,625,354 is on Tanzania Mainland and 1,303,569 is in Tanzania Zanzibar.
WHAT ATTRACTIONS FOUND IN TANZANIA.
Tanzania is a country with many tourist attractions. Approximately 38 percent of Tanzania's land area is set aside in protected areas for conservation.There are 17 national parks,29 game reserves, 40 controlled conservation areas (including the Ngorongoro Conservation Area) and marine parks. Tanzania is also home to Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa.Tanzania has almost 38% of its land reserved as protected areas, one of the world's highest percentage.Tanzania boasts 16 national parks and is home to a large variety of animal life. Among the large mammals include the Big five, cheetahs, wildebeest, giraffes, hippopotamuses and various antelopes. Tanzania's most well known wildlife attractions are located in the northern part of the country and include the Serengeti National Park, Tarangire National Park and Lake Manyara National Park. The Serengeti National park encompasses the world-famous great migrations of animals. The Serengeti National Park is the most popular park in the country and had the chance to host more than 330,000 visitors in 2012.
WHAT IS SPOKEN IN TANZANIA.
Swahili is used in parliamentary debate, in the lower courts, and as a
medium of instruction in primary school. English is used in foreign
trade, in diplomacy, in higher courts, and as a medium of instruction in
secondary and higher education. The Tanzanian government, however, has plans to discontinue English as a language of instruction.In connection with his Ujamaa social policies, President Nyerere encouraged the use of Swahili to help unify the country's many ethnic groups.
Swahili is one of the most loved language spoken in Africa especially on the east coast of Africa. People who speak Swahili as their mother tongue language are usually referred as Waswahili. In Tanzania Swahili is the language of administration and used as a tool of teaching in primary education level. However in Kenya and Uganda Swahili is after English since English language in both these countries is the main language. Furthermore, Swahili is also spoken in different countries such as Rwanda, Congo (DRC) and even in central and southern countries. In fact, Swahili language is used much in sub-Saharan Africa and is the most taught African language in the world, with a very rich literary tradition.
The origin of Swahili?
The name Swahili originates from Arabic language which means ‘of the coast’, This Swahili was named from the Arabic word sawaahili (سواحلي), which means ‘of the coast’, which you would use to refer to coastal people. The east coast of Africa is an area extending from Lamu Island, Kenya, in the north to the southern border of Tanzania in the south. The Bantu languages form a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Swahili (kiswahili) has 80 to 110 million speakers, but interestingly, very few speak it as their mother tongue and 90 million speak it as a second language.
Open to multiple influences, Swahili is first of all a Bantu language (family of Niger-Kordofanian languages), of which it has some fundamental characteristics such as the high number of nominal classes or genres, and simple phonetics with the tonic accent almost always on the penultimate syllable of words. The declension of nouns and adjectives is based not on the variation of the endings, but on the use of prefixes that specify the nominal class and the number (singular or plural).
The verbal system is complex in that, through the precise concatenation of prefixes and suffixes, the person, the tense and the root are merged in one word.
From a lexical point of view, modern Swahili incorporates terms coming mainly from other African languages and to a lesser extent from Arabic, Persian, Hindi and English. Then come Portuguese, German and French terms, often reserved for specific sectors such as, for example, navigation, religion or law.
A curiosity of the Swahili is the unusual way of counting the hours of the day starting from sunrise, always at 6 in the morning, and ending at sunset, always at 6 in the evening. According to this system, 9 a.m. becomes 3 a.m. and 9 p.m. is 3 p.m.
Brief history and origin
Swahili originated from an African language of Bantu, where Bantu refers to people who speak Bantu languages. Swahili (from the Arabic Sahel, coast, shore or border) was born on the east coast of Africa over 1000 years ago, as a language for merchant exchanges between Africa and Asia.
The routes of the caravans of merchants and blacksmiths first, and European colonization later, pushed the Swahili to spread from the ports overlooking the Indian Ocean to the internal regions of the African continent.
Thus born as a commercial language, Swahili is a Bantu language with important contributions derived from the Arabic, Persian and Hindi languages.
Initially written with Arabic characters, it later adopted the Latin alphabet, enriching itself in the colonial period with terms from Portuguese, English and German.
In 1930 it was defined the “standard Swahili” alongside which many dialectal variations still persist, from the Zungibar kiunguja to the kimrima of the Tanzanian coast, passing through the Congolese kingwana, the Somali chimwiini and the Nairobi sheng, to name just a few.
Although the entire East African community recognizes itself in this language, in Tanzania Swahili has played an authentic political role as it has been one of the pillars of the construction of the national identity, becoming the official language of the country together with English.
COMMON SWAHILI WORDS AND MEANINGS.
jambo! hello
mambo!hello
habari gani? how are you?
Mzima wa Afya, all right
na wewe? and you?
asante, thank you
chakula,meal
asubuhi,morning
mchana,afternoon.
jioni,evening
usiku,night
njaa,hagry
shiba,full
maji,water
Im sick,ninaumwa
chakula chema, enjoy your meal
tafadhali, please
samahani, sorry
safari njema, good trip
siku njema, good day
kwaheri, goodbye
hakuna matata, no problem
shillingapi?, how much?
unaitwa nani? what’s your name?
karibuni! welcome!
haya! ok
simba, lion
kifaru, rhino
tembo, elephant
swala, gazelle
kiboko, hippopotamus
twiga, giraffe
Dalili ya mvua ni mawingu
Literal translation: Clouds are a sign of rain
Meaning: You can predict your success by watching for the right signs.
Haraka haraka haina baraka
Literal translation: Hurry, hurry has no blessing
Meaning: Haste makes waste.
Last but not least, in order to avoid confusion depending on the way you pronounce Swahili words, you should know some few words about ‘what not to say and do’ such as ‘Maziwa’ it can refer to milk but sometimes Swahili speakers also use it as a word for breast. So to avoid confusion in speaking Swahili when visiting amazing people in Tanzania, Peak climbers adventures can be your next Tanzania local company when you will came to visit Tanzania.Our guides their not only guiding you but they can also teach you some Swahili and other local language from Tanzania.For your next expedition to Tanzania book trip with Peak climbers adventures send your message to
info@peakclimbers.com
booking@peakclimbers.com
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