Learn how to tell a story
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1, Lesson 20 - A Kenyan Cautionary Tale. John Here. |
| Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the art of storytelling. The conversation takes place at a coffee shop. |
| Medina: It's between Maria and Frank. |
| John: The speakers are friends, therefore, they will speak informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Maria: Hivi karibuni nimekuwa nikikumbuka ngano alizotuhadithia nyanyangu. |
| Frank: Yaonekana zilikuwa muhimu kwako kama unaweza kuzikumbuka hadi sasa. |
| Maria: Ndio, na hasa linalohusu kijana mmoja aliyeomba chakula sokoni. |
| Frank: Laonekana nilakuvutia. |
| Maria: Kijana huyu angezuru maduka kila mchana kuomba chakula. |
| Frank: Kisha? |
| Maria: Lakini kulikuwa na bibi mmoja aliyemchukia na kujaribu kumpa sumu kwa madazi. |
| Frank: Laogopesha. |
| Maria: Kijana huyu alikuwa msadikifu kwa watoto waliokuwa wakirudi nyumbani baada ya shule. |
| Frank: Lazidi kuogopesha. |
| Maria: Siku ya ndazi sumu, alikutana na mwanawe yule bibi na kutitimuka kumgawa ndazi hilo. |
| Frank: Ewe! Tafadhali usiendelee. |
| Maria: Jambo ni, ukifanya mema, wajifanyia, ukitenda mabaya, wajifanyia. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Maria: Recently, I've been remembering stories my grandma used to tell us. |
| Frank: They must be important to you if you can remember them up ‘til now. |
| Maria: Right, especially the one about a boy who begged for food in the market streets. |
| Frank: Sounds interesting. |
| Maria: The boy would visit the shops in the market every day at lunchtime to beg for food. |
| Frank: Then? |
| Maria: But there was a lady who hated him and attempted to poison him with a donut. |
| Frank: Sounds scary. |
| Maria: The boy was friendly to other kids whom he'd meet on their way home from school. |
| Frank: Sounds scarier. |
| Maria: On the day of the poisoned donut, he met this lady's child and was excited to share the donut. |
| Frank: Oh no... please don't go further. |
| Maria: The point is, if you do good, you do it to yourself. If you do bad, you do it to yourself. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: I’ve heard that Kenya has a rich culture of storytelling. |
| Medina: That’s right. Also, stories are considered crucial to children’s education. |
| John: Tell us more about storytelling in Kenya. |
| Medina: In the past, tales were sometimes told in a hut to the whole family or sometimes to younger children by their mothers. Sometimes tales were replaced with instructions on tribal customs, codes, and beliefs. Stories were told in the evening and followed a particular pattern of narration. |
| John: What were these specific patterns? |
| Medina: It mattered how the tale began and ended. The beginning phrase was meant to capture and maintain the attention of the audience. The closing formula signaled the end of the story and a chance to add comments. |
| John: Great! We’ll go into more details during this lesson. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Medina: ngano [natural native speed] |
| John: tale |
| Medina: ngano [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ngano [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: hadithia [natural native speed] |
| John: to narrate |
| Medina: hadithia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: hadithia [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: vutia [natural native speed] |
| John: interesting |
| Medina: vutia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: vutia [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: zuru [natural native speed] |
| John: to visit |
| Medina: zuru [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: zuru [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: omba [natural native speed] |
| John: to beg |
| Medina: omba [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: omba [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: titimuka [natural native speed] |
| John: to be excited |
| Medina: titimuka [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: titimuka [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: mandazi [natural native speed] |
| John: donut |
| Medina: mandazi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: mandazi [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Medina: ogopesha [natural native speed] |
| John: scary |
| Medina: ogopesha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ogopesha [natural native speed] |
| John: And lastly... |
| Medina: sumu [natural native speed] |
| John: venom |
| Medina: sumu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: sumu [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Medina: hivi karibuni |
| John: meaning "recently." |
| Medina: This is a set phrase useful when talking about events that occurred in the recent past. |
| John: However, the words also have individual meanings. |
| Medina: Right, hivi means "this one” or "like this," whereas karibuni means "soon" or "welcome," you can use it also as an interjection meaning "come in!" |
| John: Can you give us an example using the whole phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say... Nimekuwa na masiku magumu hivi karibuni. |
| John: ...which means "I have had difficult days lately." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: alizotuhadithia |
| John: meaning "that she narrated to us." |
| Medina: Alizotuhadithia is a phrase with the a as the third person pronoun; li as the past tense marker; zo the object in plural form; tu meaning "us," the first person plural pronoun; and finally, hadithia meaning "narrate." |
| John: It’s a phrase that can be used to bring back memories of people and the stories they told. It works well when talking about your living and dead loved ones, or those who are far away. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say... Nakumbuka hasa ngano alizotuhadithia nilipokuwa mdogo. |
| John: ... which means "I remember especially the tales she narrated while I was a child." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: angezuru |
| John: meaning "he/she would visit" |
| Medina: Angezuru has the third person pronoun, a, nge as the modal verb "would," and zuru for "visit." |
| John: It would be a useful statement when talking about a memory of a past event, in this case the visit. |
| Medina: Perhaps, the speaker wished that a particular person would have visited a place. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say... Seneta angezuru kijiji changu angepata kura nyingi. |
| John: ... which means "If the senator had visited my village, he would have gotten a lot of votes." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about the art of storytelling. As we already said, storytelling in the Kenyan culture is very important. |
| Medina: In this lesson, we’ll learn some simple tips and rules to be able to tell simple stories ourselves. |
| John: Let’s first discuss how to begin a story. |
| Medina: At the beginning of a story, the storyteller begins by saying hadithi, hadithi... to the audience. |
| John: This literally means "story, story,..." and it’s meant to capture and maintain the attention of the listeners. |
| Medina: Next the audience responds in unison, Hadithi njoo, uwongo njoo. Utamu kolea. |
| John: Which means "Stories come, lies come. Sweetness increases.” The narrator will then move on to the introductory part |
| Medina: The introductory part sounds like hapo zamani za kale. |
| John: ...meaning “a long time ago...” To make a Swahili oral story interesting, the progression of events can include a number of elements... |
| Medina: repetition, voice variation, direct and indirect speech, imperative or interrogative speech, and other rhetorical devices. |
| John: A storyteller has to employ these things to keep their audience interested. Let’s give some examples. |
| Medina: Here is an example of direct speech ‘Nieleze mjukuu wangu, ninani unayedhani atashida penzi hili?’ akauliza. |
| John: ...meaning “‘Tell me my grandson, who do you think is going to win this love?’ she asked.” |
| Medina: Here is an example of interrogative speech Alikuja, sivyo? Kisha? |
| John: which means “He came, right? Then?” |
| Medina: Finally a sample of imperative speech Amkeni mkalete maji. |
| John: meaning “Wake up and go fetch water.” Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson and see how to end a story. Toward the end of the story, the narrator brings himself and the audience together by giving the moral lesson behind the story. |
| Medina: Ultimately, the narrator may finish by saying hadithi yangu imefika hapo |
| John: literally meaning “my tale reaches here.” which implies “this is the end of my story.” |
| Medina: Sometimes they also say kama ni mbaya, utanipa mwenyewe. |
| John: which means “If it is not a good story, you better tell me one yourself.” |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Medina: Tuonane! |
Comments
Hide