Learn some Swahili tongue twisters
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Intro |
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| Mike: What are some Swahili tongue-twisters? |
| Gertrude: And are many Swahili words hard to pronounce? |
| Mike: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Sasha Lee wants to practice saying difficult Swahili words. She asks her friend, Terry Njoroge, about Swahili tongue-twisters. Terry responds with an example. |
| Sasha Lee: Tafadhali niambie kikanganya ulimi. |
| Mike: "Please tell me a tongue-twister." |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Tafadhali niambie kikanganya ulimi. |
| Terry Njoroge: Wale watu wa liwali wala wali wa liwali. |
| Mike: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Tafadhali niambie kikanganya ulimi. |
| Mike: "Please tell me a tongue-twister." |
| Terry Njoroge: Wale watu wa liwali wala wali wa liwali. |
| Mike: "The headman's people eat the headman's rice." |
Lesson focus |
| Mike: A tongue-twister is a fun phrase that is designed to be difficult to say, especially when repeated fast. Tongue-twisters were popular in the 19th century. An English example that you probably know is ‘She sells sea shells on the seashore,’ published originally in 1850 as a diction exercise. Now, I don’t know how good you are at saying that, but, for most of us, it is still tricky after a lifetime of hearing it! So, how do they work in Swahili? Tongue-twisters, or |
| Gertrude: kikanganya ulimi, |
| Mike: rely on rapid alternation between similar but distinct phonemes. Tongue-twisters often use a combination of alliteration, assonance, and rhyme. Alliteration is repetition of identical sounds at the beginning of words. Assonance is the repetition of similar-sounding vowels in words, phrases, or sentences. Our tongues find this very difficult to do! |
| [Recall 1] |
| Mike: Let us take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee says "Please tell me a tongue-twister?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude: Tafadhali niambie kikanganya ulimi. |
| Mike: Well, we can help there! In this lesson, we will share some of the most famous Swahili tongue-twisters. If you want, try to say them after Gertrude. To get you warmed up, we will start off with an easier one: |
| Gertrude: [NORMAL] Haraka haraka haina baraka. [SLOWLY] Haraka haraka haina baraka. |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Mike: The literal translation is "Fast fast no blessing," and the English equivalent is "Haste makes waste." It isn’t too difficult to say, and it is good advice! Back in the colonial era, English officials who heard this were known to misinterpret it as "Hark, hark, the hyenas bark." |
| [Recall 2] |
| Mike: Now, let’s go back to the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Terry Njoroge says "The headman's people eat the headman's rice?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Gertrude: Wale watu wa liwali wala wali wa liwali. |
| Mike: This old tongue-twister originated in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. Back in colonial times, it was often used as an oral comprehension test. There are actually a few variations, but they all make use of rapid repetition of almost identical sounds starting with the letter "W." For non-native speakers, this is particularly difficult to do. Would you like to try it? Listen again and repeat: |
| [SLOWLY] Wale watu wa liwali wala wali wa liwali. |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Mike: The word |
| Gertrude: "Liwali" |
| Mike: actually means "governor." It originally referred to a former government representative from the Arab colonial era. It is particularly hard to say quickly because of the repetition of three notoriously difficult letter combinations: W, L, and R. When they are said close together, they are likely to get muddled into one similar sound! |
| Now that you are warmed up, we have this funny one: |
| Gertrude: Juzi mjuzi akala mchuzi wa mjusi. |
| Mike: This means "The day before yesterday, the wise man ate some lizard soup." The implication here is that not everyone thinks the so-called wise man is all that wise, after all! Just two days ago, he was doing something foolish. |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Juzi mjuzi akala mchuzi wa mjusi. |
| Our next tongue-twister is |
| Gertrude: Nina wamnunia nani, Nunu nae keshanuna. |
| Mike: And the meaning is "Who are you sulking at, Nina? Nunu is already sulking." |
| In English, it would make more sense to say "Why are you sulking, Nina? Nunu is already sulking." I can just imagine saying this to a child who is being needlessly grouchy! |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Nina wamnunia nani, Nunu nae keshanuna. |
| Now, the more you get to know the language, the more you realize that Swahili-speakers enjoy infusing their speech with humour. The tongue-twister coming up is another example of that. |
| Gertrude: Mbuzi hali nazi kwa vile hawezi kupanda ngazi ndipo azifikie nazi. |
| Mike: The meaning is "A goat cannot eat coconut because it cannot climb up a ladder to reach the coconuts up in the coconut tree." This rather long tongue-twister is not that difficult to say - if you say it slowly, but it illustrates a fun use of rhyming. We will leave the deciphering up to you! |
| Our next popular Swahili tongue-twister is only two words but relies on rapid repetition of the letter K. Try saying it without laughing. |
| Gertrude: Kipi kikusikitishacho? |
| Mike: With 16 letters, the word |
| Gertrude: kikusikitishacho |
| Mike: is arguably the longest word in Swahili. On its own, it means "sad," and this phrase is used to ask people "What’s bugging you?" Even standing alone, the word is considered a difficult word to pronounce. |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Kipi kikusikitishacho? |
| The following tongue-twister also hails from Tanzania, and has no particular meaning—it’s just fun to say: |
| Gertrude: Twanga tope ni twange tope tope hilo la twangwa je? |
| Mike: "What kind of mud is that muddy mud?" I think it’s even fun to say in English! |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Twanga tope ni twange tope tope hilo la twangwa je? |
| As you probably saw, a few tongue-twisters actually double-up as proverbs. Here is another tongue-twisting proverb, and it isn’t even too difficult to say: |
| Gertrude: [NORMAL] Mkaidi hafaidi hadi siku ya Idi. |
| Mike: This translates to "The stubborn don’t benefit until the day of Eid" and it means that an obstinate person will take a long time to get ahead! The main rhyming words here are |
| Gertrude: mkaidi |
| Mike: which means a stubborn person and |
| Gertrude: hafaidi, |
| Mike: which means to get ahead. "Eid" is the festival that happens right at the end of Ramadan. Muslims fast during the day for the whole month of Ramadan. Thus the long, long wait for Eid! |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Mkaidi hafaidi hadi siku ya Idi. |
| Okay, le t’s hear a new tongue-twister. With this one, you will feel the twist when the letter ‘N’ is followed by alternating vowels: |
| Gertrude: Nimenufaika kutunukiwa tunu na Nunu. |
| Mike: This means "I have benefited from a rare gift from Nunu." I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to wonder who Nunu is! In Africa, the name ‘Nunu’ means ‘a treasured being,’ so perhaps that is why they’ve already shown up in two tongue-twisters. |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Nimenufaika kutunukiwa tunu na Nunu. |
| Mike: Since you are doing so well, it is time for a really long one! You will hear that most of the syllables in these words have a similar sound. Are you ready? |
| Gertrude: Katibu Kata wa Kata ya Mkata amekataa katakata kukata miti katika kata ya Mkata. |
| Mike: What a mouthful that was! Did you manage it? In English, it means, "The chief of Mkata district has forbidden the cutting of trees in the Mkata district." |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Katibu Kata wa Kata ya Mkata amekataa katakata kukata miti katika kata ya Mkata. |
| [Summary] |
| Mike: In this lesson, you learned a number of Swahili tongue-twisters and their meanings. You also had some fun practice attempting to say them. |
| Expansion |
| Before we go, we should also look at a few ordinary Swahili words that learners find difficult to pronounce. Don’t worry: even Swahili kids take a while to get these right! First is |
| Gertrude: Mchungwa |
| Mike: This word means "orange tree" and with such a lovely meaning, it is worth practicing. The difficulty is getting the beginning sound right, but it will help you with all the other words starting with M-C-H. |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Mchungwa |
| Mike: Our second difficult word is |
| Gertrude: zilizokusanywa |
| Mike: This long word has 14 letters, and it means "collected." |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] zilizokusanywa |
| Mike: For example, you might speak about "photos collected on Instagram." |
| Gertrude: Picha zilizokusanywa kwenye Instagram. |
| Mike: Not so easy, right? Lastly, here is a word that only has 8 letters, but the "N-G" sounds are tricky. |
| Gertrude: Ng'ang'ana |
| Mike: This word means "to strive"—and I’m sure you are striving for better fluency in this lesson! To get the pronunciation spot-on, try holding your tongue at the back of your palate, which will help you to create that perfect nasal sound. |
| Gertrude: [SLOWLY] Ng'ang'ana |
| Mike: Once you master this, you are well on your way to Swahili fluency. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Mike: Interestingly, tongue-twisters like these were used in the Civil Service to test competence in Swahili, and those who aced the tests were given a pay rise. Along with other oral traditions, such as proverbs and riddles, tongue-twisters have long been a memorable form of performance in East Africa. Try not to get caught up with word-for-word translations into English: they are just meant to be fun and test your fluency! When you translate them, they lose their creative or poetic appeal. The meanings are usually basic and the point is simply the fun vocal challenge. |
Outro |
| Mike: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Gertrude: Baadaye! |
| Mike: See you soon! |
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