Kansas African Studies Center Kiswahili Basics Mackenzie Jones Outreach Coordinator Kansas African Studies Center mackenziejones@ku.edu www.kasc.ku.edu

Why learn Kiswahili? Over 50 million speakers Official language of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda Spoken throughout much of East Africa as a native language, and spoken by millions more as a second language (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi) Used in film, music and media (BBC, VOA, Deutsche Welle, The Lion King, Miriam Makeba) Taught in institutions all over the world Lingua franca!

Kiswahili Bantu language 9 noun classes (the equivalent of having 9 genders in a romance language!) Kiswahili = the language; Swahili = the people “Language of the coast” Includes words borrowed from Arabic, Portuguese, and German Sahel = coast, ki = language

Words you may already know: Simba (Lion) Rafiki (Friend) Hakuna Matata (No Problems)

Greetings! Habari gani? U hali gani? Nzuri! Njema. Salama Sawa Poa How are things? What is the news? U hali gani? How are you? What’s your condition? Nzuri! Good Njema. Nice Salama Peaceful Sawa Fine Poa Cool

Simple Phrases: Mimi ninaitwa ________ Kwaheri! Mwalimu Asante Asante sana My name is_________ I am called _________ Goodbye! Teacher Thank you Thank you very much

Colors - Rangi

Eusi - Black

Eupe - White

Ekundu - Red

Kijani - Green

Rangi ya machungwa- Orange

Rangi ya manjano - Yellow

Rangi ya zambarau - Purple

Rangi ya kahawa - Brown

Bluu - Blue

Let’s Review

Eusi - Black

Eupe - White

Ekundu - Red

Kijani - Green

Rangi ya machungwa- Orange

Rangi ya manjano - Yellow

Rangi ya zambarau - Purple

Rangi ya kahawa - Brown

Bluu - Blue

Animals - Wanyama

Mbwa - Dog

Paka - Cat

Tembo - Elephant

Farasi - Horse

Simba - Lion

Bata - Duck

Kuku - chicken

Nyoka - snake

Papa - shark

Let’s Review

Mbwa - Dog

Paka - Cat

Tembo - Elephant

Farasi - Horse

Simba - Lion

Bata - Duck

Kuku - chicken

Nyoka - snake

Papa - shark

What have we learned? Greetings/Simple Phrases Colors Animals

Resources: KU Kiswahili online textbook KASC website http://www2.ku.edu/~kiswahili/ KASC website World Wednesday site Boston University African Studies Center/African Languages Program’s 200 Word Project http://www.bu.edu/200word/ Mango Languages, UC Berkley https://connect.mangolanguages.com/languages/swahili

Asante sana! Kwaheri!