Hamjambo!
As I get ready to depart for Tanzania, I am studying the language of Swahili (pronounced Kiswahili in Tanzania). In order to practice and get to know the language, I will occasionally include some of the language in my blog.
'Hamjambo' is how you greet two or more people. It translates to how are you? To greet only one person, you would say 'Hujambo!'
An appropriate response to this greeting would be 'Sijambo' for I am fine. You could also say 'Hatujambo' which means we are fine.
If you are greeting someone of higher status, which I will probably me doing a lot, you would say 'Shikamoo' and they would reply 'Marahaba'. There are no perfect translations for this exchange in English, which sometimes makes learning a language more difficult.
Although the language still sounds and feels so foreign to me, I am hoping my immersion in the Tanzanian culture will help me feel more familiar with the Kiswahili language.
No comments:
Post a Comment