The Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili, Vol. 1

Christmas was good, but not too much going on now, so I thought I'd bring you the Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili. The following guide will help you understand the basics should you ever come to Tanzania or at least understand the occasional Kiswahili word I am sure to through on my blog now and then. the ACFGK goes way beyon an ordinary dictionary to give you the nuance behind what you're saying and hearing.

Habari za...: Habari literall means "news." However, it is used as a greating asking you how your doing. The word after za can be anything such as Habari za asibuhi (how's the morning?). The third word doesn't matter really, you always respond with something like nzuri (good) or salama (safe). Responding anything other than the positive only leads to a lot of annoying questions you don't want to deal with. Of course, we in the Peace Corps take this to ridiculous levels like "Habari za cheeseburger." Salama, incidentally, is also the name of the leading brand of condoms, which I think is appropriate.

Shikamoo: This is a greeting you give someone older than you or in a position of authority over you. It literally means "I hold your feet." The response is marahaba which means "delightful." Personally I don't know what's so delightful about someone holding your feet.

Karibu: This word means "welcome." You will hear it when someone invites you into their home or if you are a visitor or new to an area. You will also hear it when offered something, like food (karibu chakula) or tea (karibu chai) or whatever. Also you can offer somone a glass of tap water and say "karibu amoebic dyssentary." The correct response is asante (see below).

Pole: This word is a way to express sympathy for someone from the trivial to the devestating. If you trip or if your mother dies you'll hear pole. It sounds strange, but it's the correct, polite thing to say in either case even though the best translation I've heard for pole is "it sucks to be you." Again, the response is asante (again, see below).

Asante: This means "thank you." You also use it as a polite way to refuse somethign you're offered, whether it's more tea or if some guy on the street is trying to sell you a spear or something. In the case of responding to a pole or an annoying vendor, the best translation is "screw you!"

Safi: This is one of my favorites. It means "clean" but is used as slang like "cool" in America. If something's really cool you say safi kabisa which means "completely clean." The PCVs tend to love this one and I know we will confuse and/or annoy a lot of Americans with exchanges like the following:

Someone else: How was the food?
Me: It was completely clean.
Someone else: But did it taste good?
Me: I just said it did!

Fupi: This means "short." No big deal, but I just think it sounds cool.

Another great thing about Kiswahili is that there are many cases where it doesn't translate directly into standard English, but it does translate into Southern English. For example:

ninyi: y'all
Habari zenu: How y'all doin'?
Kule: over yonder. This actually is the best translation because pale means "there" but kule means a less specific "over there somewhere" kind of thing, so the best term for it probably is "yonder."

So that's it, you're first few words of Kiswahili. You already know as much as a Kenyan! Look forward to further installments of the Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili.