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ALEF: Strikingstar tackles اللغة العربية | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 89 of 102 16 February 2012 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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So I'm in Kenya right now.
I'm hearing Swahili everywhere I go. I don't know whether to rejoice or to bemoan once again not understanding every other thing that's being said. But it's slowly coming back to me. When touts start approaching me, my survival instincts kick into overdrive and all the "Hapana, asante!!"s, "Sihitaji kabisa"s and "Sitaki chochote"s start flowing out like a well-oiled machine.
You totally should. Have I mentioned how 30% of Swahili words are of Arabic origin??? (sly grin). Or the fact that learning one Bantu language helps your acquisition of other Bantu languages??? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5609 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 90 of 102 16 February 2012 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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What do "Hapana, asante!!" "Sihitaji kabisa" and "Sitaki chochote" mean? Teach us teach
us! I'm very happy to see an update of yours from Kenya! Are many people there surprised that you can speak some Swahili? Yes you have mentioned how much crossover there is with Arabic. I've always wanted to learn at least one language from the African continent (well, ok, another one after Arabic or Maghrebi Arabic) and never knew what to choose. I think I've said it before that I love music from Mali, so Bambara seemed very interesting but I imagine there are far more resources for Swahili. I see Bantu languages cover a vast part of Africa - do you know what the mutual intelligibility is like? Would it be possible to understand some things from other Bantu languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 91 of 102 22 February 2012 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Okay, can't believe I've been in Kenya for almost a week (6 days). Seems like I've been
here forever. Everything is different and yet so familiar at the same time. I'm just now formulating plans for the Maasai Mara, Lake Nakura (and maybe Baringo and Bogoria as well), Lamu + Malindi + Mombassa, Lake Turkana + the Maralal Camel Derby and the Kakamega Forest Reserve. If I have time, I might also do Mt. Kenya, Mt. Elgon and Amboseli + Tsavo National Parks. For longer vacations, I'm considering Uganda+Rwanda+DRC as well as Victoria Falls (Zambia+Zimbabwe). South Africa is also not out of the question. And I might have a 3- day stopover in Cairo on the way back. Life is sweet. I get to travel while working in a country and a field that I'm genuinely interested in. @ Quabazaa Hapana, asante. = No, thanks. Sihitaji kabisa = I absolutely do not need (it). Sitaki chochote = I do not want anything. If you go back to page 2 or 3 of this log, you'll find a list of words in Swahili that originate from Arabic. I might still add to it but it's a sizable list to begin with. The thing with Bantu languages is that they share certain key characteristics, of which the noun classes are probably the most important. Most of the grammar revolves around understanding the noun classes and once you've mastered the noun classes, you're in a good position. If you've any familiarity with one Bantu language, a second Bantu language wouldn't be too difficult to learn due to grammatical similarities. Just gotta work on vocab acquisition. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 92 of 102 02 March 2012 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Habari! Just thought I would drop in for a bit. Have been ridiculously busy lately and
can foresee that the day's are only gonna get busier. Being exposed to Swahili everywhere is an amazing feeling. Even greater when I can understand an entire conversation (and respond appropriately) without missing a beat. The local variant of Swahili is slightly different from what I'm used to (which is surprising considering my professor in college was Kenyan). In Busia, when you greet people with a "Habari zako", they'll probably say "Mzuri sana. Labda yako?". The "Labda yako" completely threw me off in the first week because my mind automatically translates it as "Probably you?". And then I'm left scratching my head, wondering "Probably me what???" It took me a while to realize it was the equivalent of "And how about you?", which would be rendered as "Na wewe je?" in Tanzania. Another one I didn't get was "Mzima (adult)". Didn't hear that one when I was in Tz. Or maybe I did but forgot. Yet another one is "Niaje", which is slang. The standard response is "Poa". There's also some Tz slang that the people here aren't familiar with. One of my colleagues laughed when I explained the meaning of "Una wowowo". Just based on the differences, people have been telling me that I speak the "perfect", or rather the "textbook" version of Swahili. To the Kenyans, Tanzanian Swahili is Swahili in its purest form, which isn't surprising considering that it's where Swahili originated from. I really wanted to work on Spanish and Arabic this year but it seems like they're taking a backseat again. PS: Now I feel guilty so I'm gonna read Percy Jackson in Espanol with the cat curled up at my feet. (He's spoiled rotten.) PPS: OMFG!!! The church outside is singing "Cha Kutumaini Sina"!!!!!!!!!! I cannot stop smiling right now!!! PPPS: Kenyan singing < Tz singing desafortunadamente. I woke up at a friend's house in Kisumu last weekend to the sounds of a horrible yowling. It was the church next door. Edited by strikingstar on 02 March 2012 at 8:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 93 of 102 04 March 2012 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think East African kids were ever taught the standard response to the question
"How are you?" Oh, don't get me wrong. They can ask the question just fine. They just don't seem able to respond when you turn the question back on them. They stare at you blankly instead. They also always seem to think that it's morning. The sun could have set and they'll still say "Mzungu!! How are you?? Good morning!!!" Recently, I've taken to asking people how to say things in Swahili. This is useful since I think I've kinda reached a plateau. I don't have any issues with grammar so it's mainly vocab acquisition from here on out. If I needed to borrow a stapler, I would ask a colleague what a stapler is in Swahili. If I wanted fresh eggs, I would ask the egg seller how to say 'fresh'. (He said 'iko sambamba' but I recalled that the word for 'fresh' was 'bichi' while walking home.) If I heard an unfamiliar word often enough, I would ask for the meaning of the word. Cool discovery of the day: I discovered that Kenya has a 40 shilling coin. I don't understand why they bother having such a coin though. It's pretty awkward. (Update: I just found out that it's supposed to be rare, so I'm gonna keep it.) 2nd cool discovery of the day: Congolese soukous music is wicked. African beats mixed with Cuban rumba and merengue. Sign me up. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 94 of 102 15 March 2012 at 7:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I love going out into the field. I get to hang out with my colleagues, interact with
farmers and villagers and scowl at children as they scream "Mzungu! Mzungu!". I also get to learn a lot of Swahili on these trips. I would point to twine and a colleague would say "That's kamba". A peg - kijiti. Sugarcane - miwa (mwa singular). Rabbit - sungura. Turkey - bata msinga or kulukulu (colloquial). A straw mat - jamvi. They also taught me how to identify maize, soy beans, beans, cassava, groundnuts, sweet potato, lentils, kale and arrowroots. ********************** I had my first truly Kenyan moment with sugarcane. I mean I'm used to sugarcane coming from Southeast Asia. Except that we usually use machines to crush the sugarcane to get the juice out. In Kenya, they just use their teeth. I had been wondering for a long time how they manage to bite sugarcane without breaking their teeth. We were standing next to a sugarcane plantation (the biggest sugar factory in Kenya, Mumias is in the area) and a colleague asked if I would like some. I immediately said no because I didn't want to break my teeth. But then, because it was a hot day and I was thirsty and my curiosity was piqued, I thought what the heck and changed my mind. The colleague got some sugarcane and thankfully removed the outer bark layer with a machete. On hindsight, it should have been patently obvious to me that people don't just bite sugarcane without softening it up a little... emphasis on little. The little b**ch was still tough as nails. But there you have it, me standing around with 5 other Kenyans, all of us chomping down on sugarcane. It was pretty sweet (literally and metaphorically). Afterwards, I began to notice lots of schoolchildren holding sugarcane in their hands as they walked home from school. In the US, snack = candy and chocolate. In Kenya, snack = sugarcane. ********************* An mzungu learning Kiswahili is so 1975. Real mzungus learn an actual tribal language native to Kenya. Thusly, I'm seriously considering Kiluhya. 3/4s of my team are Waluhya. Maybe next time I can pass off as Luhya instead of plain ol' Kenyan. However, there are 18 Luhya subtribes, each with their own dialect, so things could get complicated really quickly. Not to mention that there probably aren't many Luhya resources online. Maybe I could pioneer something here... hmmm. Anyways, the following words comprise my current Luhya vocabulary. Busheri - Good morning. Response - Busheri mno. Orie or Orienna - Good afternoon. Response - Ndi mulaam. Wahera - Good evening. Response - Wahera mno. Oreo mno - Thank you. Mama aruo? - Is Mama here? Temeho hulolay - Let's wait and see. *I'm spelling these words according to what I think sound like.* ******************** I see Obama everywhere in Kenya. There's Barack Obama Academy. Barack Obama kinyozi (barber). Barack Obama Guesthouse. Barack Obama cafe. Barack Obama hotel. Barack Obama agrovet. Barack Obama duka. Barack Obama phone-charging place. I could be mistaken but I think they really like him here. ******************** Instead of Swahili, I greeted my security guard today with a "How're you doing?". His answer... "I'm doing work". That was a facepalm moment. I quickly explained that "How're you doing?" was an expression akin to "Hujambo" or "Ukoje" as opposed to "What are you doing?" which would be "Unafanya nini". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Loperamida Bilingual Diglot Newbie SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4582 days ago 24 posts - 24 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English, French | Message 95 of 102 11 May 2012 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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After learn french I want to learn Arabic.
Good luck with your Swahili and Arabic. If you need help with Spanish let me know :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 96 of 102 19 December 2012 at 11:47am | IP Logged | ||
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Major bumpage cos I'm reviving this thread for TAC2013!!!
Think there's some relevant/useful information for people starting out with Arabic. Hope I get further this time than I did in 2011. I got into my stride once, but then moving to Africa and all that... Also, shout out to the rest of team Alif/HAP??? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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