Your Ultimate Swahili Pronunciation Guide

Comparatively speaking, Swahili is an easy language to speak. A few sounds might be difficult, but almost every sound in Swahili is used every day in English. That means you already know how to say them! Swahili also follows many of the same intonation patterns as English.

Let’s recap the written system quickly, just as an introduction to the pronunciation. The Swahili alphabet is almost the same as the English alphabet-twenty-four letters with five vowels (-a, -e, -i, -o, -u). Swahili does not have the letters x or q, and the letter c is never used alone. It is always followed by the letter h.

1) The Five Vowels

• -A: The Swahili letter -a is pronounced like the [a] in “car.” The word for “earth” is ardhi, and the word for “spoil” is aribu.
• -E: The Swahili letter -e is pronounced like the [e] in “eight.” The word for “carry” is beba, and the word for “say” is sema.
• -I: The Swahili letter -i is pronounced like the [i] in “ski.” The word for “bless” is bariki, and the word for “life” is maisha.
• -O: The Swahili letter -o is pronounced similar to the [oo] in the bird “owl.” The word for “fear” is ogopa and the word for “schedule” is orodha.
• -U: The Swahili letter -u is pronounced similar to the [uu] in the pronoun “you.” The word for “sickness” is ugonjwa, and the word for “inheritance” is uridhi.

It is important to reproduce these sounds as accurately as possible. It doesn’t matter how many words you know or how good you are at the grammar-if you don’t pronounce the word correctly, the Swahilis might not understand it. However, with that said, they are quite used to “immigrant” Swahili and can grasp even very broken pronunciation at times.

2) Consonants

Some unique aspects of Swahili pronunciation:

• dh,
• gh,
• ng’,
• sh,
• th

These sounds are unique to Swahili. We pronounce each one of them differently. However, in most cases, a [ha] sound would cover them. In the pronunciation series, we will talk about them in greater detail, so don’t worry.

• -R: In Kenya, you will find only one way to pronounce -r.

The most common way is to roll the -r, as in Irish English when you say “right” or “correct.” Just imagine some Irish movie you have seen, and you’ll get the picture. The point is that you roll your tongue against the palate (roof of your mouth) to make the sound. Or, if you have learned Spanish, great! Use the Spanish -r.

1) Use voice recording tools to perfect your pronunciation

SwahiliPod101 has plenty of resources to help you with your Swahili pronunciation, so be sure to make thorough use of our recordings with native Swahili speakers. These are available not only to demonstrate to you how you should pronounce Swahili vocabulary, but also sentences and dialogues. Watch and listen to these over and over again to train your ear, and watch the teacher’s mouth as she speaks in the video lessons. Then, copy the speech as best you can. Later, you can record yourself to hear if you sound like a native speaker and compare yourself with native speakers. Great for self-motivation.

2) Practice in front of the mirror.

And see that you’re copying the correct lip and mouth movements.

3) Use our SwahiliPod101 dictionary!

Use the Swahili dictionary provided by SwahiliPod101 to look up words and listen to the audio pronunciation. This will go a long way towards giving you an idea of how to pronounce a word or letter correctly.

4) Train your ear to the language!

Make an effort to often listen to Swahili music and recorded books, and watch plenty of Swahili movies and/or TV shows in Swahili. This will train your ear to the language, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the accent. Remember, this is the way we learned to speak when we were young - mostly by listening to the adults talking, and repeating what they say!

5) Practice, practice, practice…

Repetition of the same thing may be boring, but in learning a new language, you’re creating new pathways in your brain. For these to remain and become habitual, you will need to repeat the correct pronunciation often.

6) Make friends with a native Swahili speaker.

Don’t be shy to address them in Swahili! Ask them to correct you when you make a pronunciation mistake - this is a wonderful way to practice and learn the language first-hand, and also to make new friends.

7) Practice your pronunciation with your Swahili teacher!

If you’re a serious student and don’t know where to meet native Swahili speakers, consider investing in SwahiliPod101’s Premium PLUS plan. This means you will have your own native Swahili teacher available to practice your pronunciation with, and much more! Send recordings of yourself speaking Swahili and get feedback from your Swahili teacher.