Jambo!

If people know any Swahili at all, they will know Jambo, for "Hello". Getting ready for a trip, I am leafing through my phrase book to see what I can add to that.

The few times that I have visited East Africa I learned enough of the language to say hello, thank you, and "I don't speak Swahili" - as well as a few other phrases, but much has been forgotten. I started with a language CD from Pimsleur language courses, in addition to the little phrase book. The Pinsleur lessons are actually quite proper - telling you that the language is properly called Kiswakili, meaning the language of the Swahili people. It also teaches that the proper greeting is Hujambo, which is roughly, oddly enough, "Is everything unwell?" and the proper response is in the negative - Sijambo, for "Everything is not unwell", which has a certain ring to it. In practice, I suspect that only Pimsleur and language studies students ay places like Yale make the effort to be proper.

It is an interesting language: originally the language of the coastal fisherman, it actually spread further when early missionaries and soon Germany and other colonial powers wanted a language that could be used universally, to avoid dealing with the many tribal dialects. It incorporates some elements of Arabic from early traders, and later German, Portuguese, English and French from colonial influence. The obvious additions were, not surprisingly, for things that were not previously part of the culture: looking through my phrasebook, I find beer/bia, book/kitabu (from Arabic kitab), bank/benki, antibiotics/antibiotiki or car/motokaa. Oddly, the word for baggage claim is mizigo, so it's been around for a while?

It is one of those languages, like Hawaiian, where everything is pronounced as you see it - the written alphabet had been Arabic, but is now, thankfully, Roman. There are quite a few words that begin with a soft, humming "n" or "m" sound and pronunciation is helped if you remember that the accent is (almost) always on the next-to-last syllable: BEN-ki / antibio-TI-ki / mo-TO-kaa. When I hear "motokaa" I can't help but remember Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, and his obsession with the vehicle.

A few years ago, I visited Uganda and Rwanda on a trip to hike and see mountain gorillas. Naturally, before the trip I studied up on my Swahili because it is spoken there and I wanted to make an effort and show a little respect. So, I was a bit surprised when I received a decidedly cool reception in Uganda the first couple of times that I used it. Turns out that the language is primarily used by the military as a common language for communication between different tribal groups. This is how I learned that the military is not well respected by most of the Uganda peoples. English was a much better choice for me to use. In Tanzania, English and Swahili are the two official languages.

I am intrigued whenever I come across Swahili in movies, which is admittedly not very often.

Highly entertaining to hear John Wayne use it often (and accurately, I think) in Hatari!, which means "Danger!". I saw that movie again last week and I loved it - it is so improper on all levels that I can't help but like it as a period piece from 1960-something. Wayne and his crew capture wild game for zoos - driving jeeps like teenagers through herds of giraffe or buffalo, generally ignore their black staff, show pretty simplistic views of the women in their lives, smoke nonstop, and drink 'til they pass out. The clincher is the nice Henry Mancini soundtrack with all of this.

I also recently saw Nowhere in Africa which is the sympathetic story of a family of Jewish refugees trying to make it in 1930's Kenya. The dialog was a natural mix of English, German, and Swahili - with subtitles for two out of three of the languages. Watching it, I discovered that I may know more Swahili than German. A worthwhile movie if you haven't seen it.

A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of coming across one of my favorite phrases in a movie that includes an European explorer (maybe Stanley?) chasing off a lion by shouting "Toka". My little phrase book lists toka as meaning "Go away", or better yet "Piss off!", if used with expression towards an unwanted advance. It has become a private drinking toast used by certain family members - and sounds quite festive in that context.

From earlier trips to the region I remember a couple of phrases that we quickly picked up:
Twende! = Let's go!, group leader Michael says this a lot
Maji moto = hot water, if you brought your own coffee or tea
Asante (sana) = thank you (very much), always helpful
But, I think my favorite phrase is a very sweet, poetic, way of saying good night: Lala salama, literally: sleep safely.