Swahili is the lingua franca of East Africa. Spoken by more than 50 million people as second language throughout Tanzania, Burundi, East Congo, Rwanda, Uganda & Kenya. The language originates from the coast and Zanzibar. A Bantu language with Arabic influences.
Wikipedia
With every book you pick up on Swahili, or any other language for that matter, it always starts with the greetings.
Now, if you are like me and you want to go straight to the core of a language you tend to overlook those simple introductions. And since we in Europe or the US tend to be in a hurry i.e. a simple «Hi, I’ll have a coke.» is a normal thing to do and greetings seem overrated and old-fashioned.
In the beginning of my stay in Tanzania, a couple of years ago, I started talking to people in the same way, although in Swahili, I was still in a hurry. I was missing out on an important piece of cultural code by doing so.
We have in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German always a way to show, with each sentence, that we respect somebody.
English after Shakespearean times kind of lost this language tool «thou / you». But you can still put at the end of every sentence the word «sir» or «madam» in order to show respect.
In Swahili, on the other hand, you can not do this with every sentence. You have to express your respect to somebody in the way you greet them.
You will have to initiate the conversation to the “respectee” by saying:
«Shikamoo» - which means «I hold your feet.» which then will be accepted by shaking of hands and the term «Marahaba» best translated as «delightful» (but only used for this form of greeting.)
Age is the first way to determine who deserves respect. Even amongst brothers and sisters this is still quite commonly used. Though it usually quickly escalates in a more relaxed way of greeting and interaction. But since it’s the only way to express respect, it is still very important.
Also the social position of somebody demands respect. More on that another day.
So if you’re planning on visiting East Africa as a tourist, working as a volunteer or for a company and not want to come across as disrespectful, it’s best to keep in mind that there’s only one way to show respect. «Shikamoo»
I hope this helped and I wish you a great day.
Siku njema!
Yours
Joel
@DiveInSwahili
Wikipedia
With every book you pick up on Swahili, or any other language for that matter, it always starts with the greetings.
Now, if you are like me and you want to go straight to the core of a language you tend to overlook those simple introductions. And since we in Europe or the US tend to be in a hurry i.e. a simple «Hi, I’ll have a coke.» is a normal thing to do and greetings seem overrated and old-fashioned.
In the beginning of my stay in Tanzania, a couple of years ago, I started talking to people in the same way, although in Swahili, I was still in a hurry. I was missing out on an important piece of cultural code by doing so.
We have in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German always a way to show, with each sentence, that we respect somebody.
English after Shakespearean times kind of lost this language tool «thou / you». But you can still put at the end of every sentence the word «sir» or «madam» in order to show respect.
In Swahili, on the other hand, you can not do this with every sentence. You have to express your respect to somebody in the way you greet them.
You will have to initiate the conversation to the “respectee” by saying:
«Shikamoo» - which means «I hold your feet.» which then will be accepted by shaking of hands and the term «Marahaba» best translated as «delightful» (but only used for this form of greeting.)
Age is the first way to determine who deserves respect. Even amongst brothers and sisters this is still quite commonly used. Though it usually quickly escalates in a more relaxed way of greeting and interaction. But since it’s the only way to express respect, it is still very important.
Also the social position of somebody demands respect. More on that another day.
So if you’re planning on visiting East Africa as a tourist, working as a volunteer or for a company and not want to come across as disrespectful, it’s best to keep in mind that there’s only one way to show respect. «Shikamoo»
I hope this helped and I wish you a great day.
Siku njema!
Yours
Joel
@DiveInSwahili