Learn what languages are close to Swahili
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Intro |
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| Mike: What languages are similar to Swahili? |
| Gertrude : And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Mike: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Willa Washington is very curious about the Swahili language. She asks her college friend, Timothy Ndegwa, about a certain Swahili word. |
| Willa Washington: Je, neno "baba" ni la Swahili? |
| Dialogue |
| Willa Washington: Je, neno "baba" ni la Swahili? |
| Timothy Ndegwa: Ndio, lakini asili yake ni ya kiarabu. |
| Mike: Once more with the English translation. |
| Willa Washington: Je, neno "baba" ni la Swahili? |
| Mike: "Is the word "father" Swahili?" |
| Timothy Ndegwa: Ndio, lakini asili yake ni ya kiarabu. |
| Mike: "Yes, but it"s from Arabic. " |
Lesson focus |
| Mike: In this lesson, we are going to look at what languages are similar to Swahili, and just how mutually-intelligible they are. |
| As you probably know, Swahili, or |
| Gertrude: Kiswahili |
| Mike: is a language found on the African continent and, as such, it is considered |
| Gertrude: Kibantu |
| Mike: or a "Bantu language." But did you know that around 35% of the Swahili vocabulary actually comes from Arabic? Not only that, but Swahili has also adopted numerous words from English. Due to decades of intensive trade along the East African coast, Swahili also has Persian, Portuguese, German, and French influences, not to mention Hindustani and Malay. What a rich mix of languages! |
| Swahili is spoken either as a mother tongue or as a fluent second language on the east coast of Africa, from northern |
| Gertrude: Kenya |
| Mike: to the south of |
| Gertrude:Tanzania. |
| Mike: This includes parts of the surrounding countries and islands. After Arabic, Swahili is the second-largest lingua franca of the African continent, and it is thought that there are approximately 50 to 100 million Swahili speakers worldwide. |
| Let us focus now on the similarities with other languages. First, these are some loan-words from English: |
| Gertrude : polisi |
| Mike: means police, |
| Gertrude: televisheni |
| Mike: is television, and |
| Gertrude : baiskeli |
| Mike: means "bicycle." Pretty easy, right? Well, Swahili is actually the easiest African language for English speakers to learn, being one of the few sub-Saharan African languages without a lexical tone, which basically means that the meaning of words are not affected by the pitch or tone with which they are pronounced. In this way, Swahili is similar to English. Not only that, but Swahili is also easier to read, as you pronounce the words in the same way that they are written. |
| Don't be fooled, though—there is a lot more to it! |
| Swahili is a wonderfully flexible language, with many different dialects—even within one country. In fact, Swahili speakers don't necessarily always understand each other! |
| Next, let us look at the influence of Arabic on Swahili. First, there are the numbers. While many are of Bantu origin, a lot of the numbers come from Arabic—for example, six, seven, and nine: |
| Gertrude: sita, saba, tisa |
| Mike: In fact, you will find that most number and time concepts are imported Arab words. This is an important category for anyone studying the language because the numbering system in Swahili works differently to most languages and can be hard to understand. |
| But, one of the most obvious similarities is the greetings. There is |
| Gertrude: Salam aleikum |
| Mike: This means "Peace be upon you" and is a standard Muslim greeting. Then, |
| Gertrude: Habari ya asubuhi |
| Mike: or "Good morning." And, if you watched The Lion King, there is a Swahili word that should sound familiar: |
| Gertrude: rafiki |
| Mike: It means "friend" and—you guessed it—it's borrowed from Arabic. We could go on all day with the Arab words, as there are literally thousands. But what about the Persian influence? Let us hear some examples: |
| Gertrude: chai |
| Mike: meaning tea, |
| Gertrude: achari |
| Mike: which means pickle, and |
| Gertrude: serikali |
| Mike: meaning "government." These are all examples of words borrowed from old Persian through a connection with merchants. |
| Next, let us hear some words that Swahili borrowed from the Portuguese between the 16th and 18th centuries, when they controlled the Swahili coastal towns. |
| Gertrude: leso |
| Mike: meaning handkerchief, also |
| Gertrude: meza |
| Mike: which means "table." |
| Gertrude: gereza |
| Mike: means "prison," and |
| Gertrude: pesa |
| Mike: means "money." A less common word, but one you will hear on the coast is |
| Gertrude: barakinya |
| Mike: which is a type of sailboat that took its name from Portuguese. |
| Since Persian, Portuguese, English, and a few other languages had lesser influences on Swahili; the languages are not mutually-intelligible. Knowing Arabic will definitely give you a slight head start in some Swahili vocabulary, but not with the grammar, which is distinctly Bantu in structure. |
| The question now is: does knowing Swahili make it easier to learn other African languages? |
| [Recall 1] |
| Mike: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Willa asks, "Is the word |
| Gertrude: baba |
| Mike: Swahili?" |
| Gertrude : Je, neno "baba" ni la Swahili? |
| Mike: Now, let us take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Timothy replies, "Yes, but it's from Arabic?" |
| Gertrude as Timothy: Ndio, lakini asili yake ni ya kiarabu. |
| Mike: The word |
| Gertrude: baba |
| Mike: means "father" in Swahili as well as in Arabic, but also in some other African languages. Nevertheless, although Swahili is a Bantu language, the strong Arab influence is one reason why it's not mutually intelligible with other Bantu languages. There are similarities with the languages of some Bantu tribes found along the Kenyan coast, though—especially on the Comoros Islands. |
| [Summary] |
| Mike: In this lesson, we learned that the Swahili language was greatly influenced by Arabic and thousands of words are near-identical, but it is still a Bantu language. We also learned about the lesser influences that Persian, Portuguese, and English had on Swahili. |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Mike: Swahili's roots are in Zanzibar, a little island off Africa's eastern coastline. The people here are of diverse ethnic origins—including Arab and Persian. Zanzibaris are proud of the way they speak Swahili, as they consider their dialect to be the purest form. |
| That said, it is important to remember that Swahili is definitely an African language. It's not a Middle Eastern language, nor a Semitic language. The structure of Swahili is Bantu, and the lion's share of the words are of Bantu origin. However, there is no doubt that, if you can already speak Arabic, you'll find Swahili easy to learn. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Mike: People who speak Swahili as their sole mother tongue are usually referred to as |
| Gertrude : Waswahili |
| Mike: but this name refers to their language only, and does not denote any particular ethnic or tribal unit. The language has mixed origins, but, although it started off as a coastal language, it spread inland because of trade, migration, and government rulings, and even missionaries had some influence. |
Outro |
| Mike: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Gertrude : Kwaheri! |
| Mike: See you soon! |
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