Swahili in different countries (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Swahili in different countries
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4478 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog Studies: Spanish, Mandarin	Message 1 of 3 18 August 2014 at 4:37pm \| IP Logged
	I'm interested in hiring a Swahili language tutor for my daughter. What are the differences in Swahili among the various countries its spoken, such as the difference in the Swahili spoken in Tanzania versus the Swahili spoken in Kenya? Are there noticeable differences in the accents in different countries and cities? Are some accents regarded as more authentic or more prestigous than others? Any insights on the Swahili language would be helpful. 3 persons have voted this message useful
vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4762 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, English^C2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish	Message 2 of 3 18 August 2014 at 6:56pm \| IP Logged
	Aside from the information available on Wikipedia or Pimsleur's website, I can reiterate something I've heard from Tanzanians both on the Internet and in real life. According to some Tanzanians, the prestige of Swahili vis-à-vis English is much lower in Kenya than it is in Tanzania. Because of this educated Kenyans are likely to speak English more proficiently, and because of this whenever they do have to use Swahili it tends to be heavily peppered with English words, phrases and grammatical patterns, i.e. less "pure" than that of Tanzanians. I haven't had the chance to talk about this with Kenyans, so I don't know if this is an overstatement. The Tanzanians who have these views tend to blame the situation in Kenya on the Kenyans' snobbery or post-colonial inferiority complex, but someone on the talk page of the Wikipedia article above proposed a valid-sounding alternative explanation: a significant percentage of Kenya's population speaks non-Bantu languages natively, and for them mastering Swahili isn't significantly easier than acquiring English (although speakers of Nilotic and Cushitic languages are also found in Tanzania, and I haven't been able to track down the exact percentages for that country). Besides, Kenya has spent more time under British rule, so English has simply had more time to establish its presence there. Edited by vonPeterhof on 18 August 2014 at 6:59pm 4 persons have voted this message useful
Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4478 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog Studies: Spanish, Mandarin	Message 3 of 3 19 August 2014 at 6:40pm \| IP Logged
	Thanks vonPeterhof. I was speaking to Kenyan friend last Saturday and he was telling me similar things as you just said about Swahili in Kenya vis-a-vis Swahili in Tanzania. He was saying Kenyan Swahili uses a lot of loan words from English, meanwhile Tanzanians have a Swahili word for most objects. If I understood him correctly I was told there is official Tanzanian national policy behind this persistence in using Swahili and the formation of new words using Swahili root words rather than adopting English loan words for new objects and concepts introduced into their culture (e.g. e-mail, internet, text messaging). 1 person has voted this message useful

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Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4478 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog Studies: Spanish, Mandarin	Message 1 of 3 18 August 2014 at 4:37pm \| IP Logged
	I'm interested in hiring a Swahili language tutor for my daughter. What are the differences in Swahili among the various countries its spoken, such as the difference in the Swahili spoken in Tanzania versus the Swahili spoken in Kenya? Are there noticeable differences in the accents in different countries and cities? Are some accents regarded as more authentic or more prestigous than others? Any insights on the Swahili language would be helpful. 3 persons have voted this message useful
vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4762 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, English^C2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish	Message 2 of 3 18 August 2014 at 6:56pm \| IP Logged
	Aside from the information available on Wikipedia or Pimsleur's website, I can reiterate something I've heard from Tanzanians both on the Internet and in real life. According to some Tanzanians, the prestige of Swahili vis-à-vis English is much lower in Kenya than it is in Tanzania. Because of this educated Kenyans are likely to speak English more proficiently, and because of this whenever they do have to use Swahili it tends to be heavily peppered with English words, phrases and grammatical patterns, i.e. less "pure" than that of Tanzanians. I haven't had the chance to talk about this with Kenyans, so I don't know if this is an overstatement. The Tanzanians who have these views tend to blame the situation in Kenya on the Kenyans' snobbery or post-colonial inferiority complex, but someone on the talk page of the Wikipedia article above proposed a valid-sounding alternative explanation: a significant percentage of Kenya's population speaks non-Bantu languages natively, and for them mastering Swahili isn't significantly easier than acquiring English (although speakers of Nilotic and Cushitic languages are also found in Tanzania, and I haven't been able to track down the exact percentages for that country). Besides, Kenya has spent more time under British rule, so English has simply had more time to establish its presence there. Edited by vonPeterhof on 18 August 2014 at 6:59pm 4 persons have voted this message useful
Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4478 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog Studies: Spanish, Mandarin	Message 3 of 3 19 August 2014 at 6:40pm \| IP Logged
	Thanks vonPeterhof. I was speaking to Kenyan friend last Saturday and he was telling me similar things as you just said about Swahili in Kenya vis-a-vis Swahili in Tanzania. He was saying Kenyan Swahili uses a lot of loan words from English, meanwhile Tanzanians have a Swahili word for most objects. If I understood him correctly I was told there is official Tanzanian national policy behind this persistence in using Swahili and the formation of new words using Swahili root words rather than adopting English loan words for new objects and concepts introduced into their culture (e.g. e-mail, internet, text messaging). 1 person has voted this message useful