Learn the meaning of Sheng
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Intro |
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| Michael: What is Sheng? |
| Gertrude: And in what other ways has English influenced Swahili? |
| Michael: At SwahiliPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation: upon hearing a teenager say an unfamiliar phrase, Ben Lee asks his university friend, Grace Njenga, |
| "What does "Bora Uhai" mean?" |
| Ben Lee: Je, ‘bora uhai’ inamaanisha nini? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Je, ‘bora uhai’ inamaanisha nini? |
| Grace Njenga: Inamaanisha cha maana kabisa ni uhai. Mambo mengine mengi yanaweza kupuuzwa. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Je, ‘bora uhai’ inamaanisha nini? |
| Michael: "What does ‘Bora Uhai’ mean?" |
| Grace Njenga: Inamaanisha cha maana kabisa ni uhai. Mambo mengine mengi yanaweza kupuuzwa. |
| Michael: "It means that life is most important. Most other things can be overlooked." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: If we had to choose a modern lingua franca, English would be the first candidate. No other language has as many non-native speakers as English does, and it influences most languages with an international presence. This can also be observed in Swahili, with an ever-growing phenomenon called |
| Gertrude: Sheng. |
| Michael: English and Swahili are the official languages in Kenya, but Sheng developed to become the lingua franca of Nairobi’s youth, which is a big part of the Kenyan population. The word ‘Sheng’ is best defined as an acronym for ‘Swahili-English slang’. It’s an urban language that emerged in the ‘50s—born from the multicultural environment of Nairobi’s ghetto area. Sheng combines mainly Swahili and English, but there are bits of other ethnic Kenyan languages thrown in, and sometimes even a little foreign influence. |
| Each neighborhood speaks its own variation, and the language itself changes almost weekly. This flexibility is one of its unique features. It is becoming a vernacular language and some people born in the ‘1980s or later actually use Sheng as their first language! Sheng is so important to Kenyans that they feel it is part of their linguistic national identity. However, its ever-evolving nature means that it cannot have any official status. |
| At the end of the day, language is about communication, so let us learn how Sheng-speakers communicate. First, if you are a person who does not speak Sheng, you are called a |
| Gertrude: babi |
| Michael: But, since we aim to change that, let’s start with a greeting! To say hello in Sheng, you can say |
| Gertrude: niaje |
| Michael: If you say this in place of the customary Swahili greeting |
| Gertrude: habari, |
| Michael: It will give you some street credibility! A good response to that is |
| Gertrude: poa. |
| Michael: This means ‘All good’, but you can also use it as a response to questions such as about your work, your family, etc. It’s a common answer to ‘How are you?’ Next, we have this popular exclamation: |
| Gertrude: Woiyee! |
| Michael: Often when someone is telling you about a bad experience they had, they will use this word with feeling. If you want to show compassion, you can also say it in response. Just copy the intonation in their voice, and you will get it right! |
| Okay, now that you know a few basic Sheng words, it’s time to move on to phrases. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Ben Lee says, |
| "What does ‘Bora Uhai’ mean?" |
| Gertrude as Ben Lee: Je, ‘bora uhai’ inamaanisha nini? |
| Michael: The literal translation of the phrase is ‘better life’. To understand the idiomatic meaning, let us take a look at our second sentence. Do you remember how Grace Njenga says, |
| "It means that life is most important. Most other things can be overlooked?" |
| Gertrude as Grace: Inamaanisha cha maana kabisa ni uhai. Mambo mengine mengi yanaweza kupuuzwa. |
| Michael: This expression is commonly used when things don't work out as planned or expected. It’s often spoken with a sigh—something like ‘Oh well, life goes on’. Kenyans mostly say it with a soft tone—as a consoling word that will make the other person feel good in the moment and forget their troubles. You might use it after a breakup, or if your favourite football team is beaten ruthlessly. |
| Now, let’s have a look at the opposite to this phrase, |
| Gertrude: Maisha ni gweng bana. |
| Michael: This literally says ‘Life is for children’, but it means ‘Life is hard, man’. If you are feeling bold, perhaps you would follow that with |
| Gertrude: Si unidungie chuani? |
| Michael: which means ‘Can you please give me fifty shillings?’ Word for word, this is rather confusing to outsiders, so it’s no good trying to understand it literally. Kenyans have a sharp sense of humour and many phrases, like this one, sound like code to us. But Sheng allows one to talk about life in a special language that derives meaning from the context, so just go with it! |
| Next up we have the perfect Sheng phrase for when you are in a hurry: |
| Gertrude: Niko mbioni, |
| Michael: which literally means ‘I’m on the run.’ |
| In the following phrase, listen for a familiar-sounding British slang term for ‘cigarette’: |
| Gertrude: Ukivuta fegi utajiletea noma. |
| Michael: Did you get that? It translates to ‘If you smoke cigarettes, you will get yourself in trouble.’ |
| Now, something you will realise once you have been in Kenya for a while is that creatively surviving bad situations, as well as an ingrained belief that you can change your circumstances, are distinctive Kenyan traits. In English, a person who gets by on their street savvy is called a ‘hustler’. The Sheng term is |
| Gertrude: ma-hustla |
| Michael: and, with that in mind, we can also learn the words for rich and poor. A rich man is a |
| Gertrude: sonko |
| Michael: and a poor man is a |
| Gertrude: sufferer. |
| Michael: Yes—just like the English word! Another English word that is used creatively in Sheng is |
| Gertrude: Surely! |
| Michael: This word borrowed from English is said as an exclamation and captures so much of the Kenyan spirit! It evokes feelings of disbelief, amusement, or resignation. So, you might say it if someone is being sassy or ridiculous, or asking for something unreasonable. |
| Michael: To finish off this lesson, here are some of the latest Sheng word trends of 2020. A friend is called an |
| Gertrude: arif |
| Michael: and a beautiful lady is called an |
| Gertrude: empress |
| Michael: To clarify, that isn’t ‘impress’ with an ‘I’, but ‘empress’ with an ‘E’—as in female emperor. You can definitely say it is used to describe an impressive woman though! And now for the final Sheng word. As you might expect, every hood has a word used by the youth to refer to a police officer. One of the latest is |
| Gertrude: njege. |
| Michael: See if you can make out a more common name for ‘police’ in this Sheng sentence: |
| Gertrude: Budake alishikwa na makarao. |
| Michael: ‘His dad was caught by the police.’ The word here for ‘police’ is |
| Gertrude: karao, |
| Michael: and this is one that emerged in the 1980s, but you still hear it used today. |
| And our last Sheng word is |
| Gertrude: mshikaji, |
| Gertrude: literally meaning “catcher,” but the term means actually “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.” |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that Sheng is a very popular and ever-evolving street language spoken in Kenya. You learned some commonly-heard words and expressions, and in what context or situations they can be used. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: The Sheng phonological system differs slightly from Standard Swahili. The sounds of Arabic origin, such as |
| Gertrude: gh, |
| Michael: which is written G-H in Swahili, and |
| Gertrude: kh, |
| Michael: which is written K-H in Swahili, are replaced by |
| Gertrude: G |
| Michael: and |
| Gertrude: K. The sound |
| Gertrude: H |
| Michael: tends to disappear. This is the sound that marks verbal negation in Swahili, so Sheng has developed its own ways of negating. You either add the prefix |
| Gertrude: A |
| Michael: to the affirmative subject prefix in the 2nd person singular, or you add a stress to the affirmative subject prefix, replacing the |
| Gertrude: H. |
| Michael: For example, the Swahili for ‘You don’t have’ is |
| Gertrude: huna |
| Michael: but in Sheng you can replace the H with A, and say |
| Gertrude: auna. |
| Michael: Another specific change worth mentioning is that the Swahili diminutive prefix |
| Gertrude: ki- |
| Michael: is used as an augmentative in Sheng—like in this sentence: |
| Gertrude: Cheki hiki kindai, |
| Michael: meaning ‘Look at this big car’. Yes, it has the opposite effect in Sheng, but, don’t worry, because you very quickly get used to using it in this way! |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Even in corporate business, it is becoming common to spice up your advertising with Sheng phrases to draw in the youth. It really is seen as the heartbeat of Nairobi, and nearly 90% of local music is in Sheng. New Sheng words or phrases are often introduced by entertainers, DJs, and musicians like |
| Gertrude: Octopizzo. |
| Michael: These entertainers enjoy competing to come up with their own original Sheng contributions! Sometimes, necessity gives rise to innovation. For instance, Octopizzo invented his own word for marijuana, which is |
| Gertrude: octombeedo |
| Michael: so that it would get around the radio censors! It’s wise to be aware, though, that there are still plenty of negative perceptions around Sheng, and many of the older generation despise the language. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Gertrude: Kwaheri! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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