ann_nyc

I saw a headline yesterday that claimed that a well trained dog actually knows 160 words. This made me discouraged about my Swahili progress. I need to learn 150 more words in Swahili to be as smart as a dog! I always like learning a few phrases in the local language when I visit someplace, but the Swahili prefixes make it harder for me to categorize the words in my brain.

I thought it would be fun to compare notes about the most important words and phrases to learn, and the best way to learn them. So far I'm working on the following:

Hello
How are you?
Good morning
Goodbye
Please
Thank you
Sorry
Yes
No
Do you speak English?
See you later
Pleased to meet you
Where is the bathroom?
Slowly
I don't understand

Sometimes the phrase books don't really include the phrases I want. For example, they tell you how to order a glass of water in a restaurant, but I want to know how to ask for a bottle of water (not a glass). Preferably a small bottle. Even more preferably a cold bottle...

And I can never find a phrase to ask for decaf coffee. Does it even exist (in Tanzania)? Or how about diet soda? I remember that in Mozambique you could only get diet soda in the tourist hotels, because the locals don't drink it. In the villages it did't exist.

What additional words and phrases do you think are important? If possible, please add both the English and the Swahili!

atravelynn

Those words are a great start. The well trained dog has nothing else to do but learn its 160 words, eat, sleep, lift a leg, and fetch. If that's all you had to do, you'd learn that Swahili in no time.

I believe it is chupa for bottle. I think I recall some kids shouting that as our vehicle passed, asking for used water bottles.

You may want to use an online translation tool and look up specific words.

For the decaf and diet, I bet you just add those English words on. As you found in Mozambique, decaf and diet are probably rare commodities.

I'd suggest some animal names, but as I recall your trip will be mostly out of the bush doing charity work.

laurie_ann

Two words additional words I have gotten a lot of mileage out of even in unusual languages are "beautiful" and "delicious". I have also stopped trying to make grammatically perfect sentences so for example if I wanted a small cold bottle of water I might just ask nicely "please, water, bottle, cold, small?". I always start with "please". I figure even if I sound like a complete idiot, I will at least sound like a polite idiot.

ann_nyc

Laurie_Ann, you are so right! I used that technique in Turkey to successfully get a hot shower. The captain of our gulet (a small boat sleeping 13) had a policy to only turn on the hot water at 6pm. One day after a hot and dusty hike ashore, I really wanted to take a shower and wash my hair, and I wanted to do it early enough to dry my hair in the sun before dinner. I asked him in English to no effect (even though he understood). Then I asked him in Turkish:
Captain-please-I want- water hot - please. He laughed and turned on the water heater. Tada!

sandi

Decaf is now available in Tanzania/Kenya, but if outside of cities or places visited by tourists... might not be readily available. If you need this, suggest you bring your own or pick-up in a city before heading out.

Diet, in many countries is called "lite"

Some words just don't translate into another language and are what they are in English and used as such in conversation.

In addition to "please" and "thank-you" - remember: your smile.

MyDogKyle

My husband and I learned a little bit for our trip to Kenya and Tanzania (he did better than I did!), and it went a long way. I hope I get the spelling right, but here are a few things that came in handy for us. Generally, I got the sense that we didn't NEED any Swahili to get by in these countries, but people really appreciated it when we tried.

"Please" (tafadhali) and "thank you" (asante sana) and "hello" (jambo) and "How are you?" (habari?) of course. Also "Where are you from?" (Unatoka wapi?) and "Where is the bathroom?" (Choo kiko wapi?)... which always got a big smile or laugh.

"Sorry" as an apology (samahani), and "sorry" in sympathy (pole) were useful. My husband also learned all the numbers, and thought that was useful in the market. On his birthday at camp in Tarangire the staff sang, "How old are you now?" and he was able to reply in Swahili... sort of. He said what we thought was "36," and everyone acted impressed. Then the next morning, one of the guys commented to me, "Your husband looks so YOUNG for 46!"

One other thing he learned to say was, "The food is delicious, thank you very much" (which I can't remember off the top of my head... "chakula" is food), and he used this one throughout the trip. It was a real crowd-pleaser!

ann_nyc

MydogKyle, I really like your suggestions and will add them to my list. If anyone can supply the Swahili for 'the food is delicious' I'd appreciate it, because I'd like to know how to say that one!

live42day

We learned to say 'I am satisfied' after a meal.

Meme nimeshiba (nee maa shiba)

and then we were told just say nimeshiba and forget the MeMe.

it always got a great smile from the server. Our guide would try to teach us a couple of phrases a day.


Tamu means delicious.

MyDogKyle

I'm sure my husband remembers -- he said it many times!
I'll ask him and let you know...

Leely2

I bothered. I did not succeed. It still provided much pleasure and many laughs.

Habari za jioni?

Jina langu ni Leely.

Leely2

Oh, the other ones, habari gani, habari za asubuhi, habari za mchana. I don't think I ever used mchana.

Have fun, Ann.

twaffle

I bothered, still going to classes every week. Haven't succeeded yet! I know I can, I know I can ..............

DBNorthCarolina

To Ann NYC,

Passport pasi;United States Marikani;good night usiku mwema
Good -zuri; bathroom, toilet choo; hello jambo
Bad -baya; dining room chumba cha kulia;
What? nini?; omelet yai la kukaanga; egg yai
Tomorrow kesho; smile tabasamu; bottle chopa
Delicious tamu; good morning habari za asubuhi
Tonight leo usiku; How are you? Habari gani?
Goodbye kwaheri; hat kofia; thank you asanti sana
Here hapa; slowly polepole; absolutely not sio kamwe
Dirty ni chafu; perfect kamilifu; coffee kahawa
Tired choka; why? kwa nini?;good afternoon habari za mchana
Beautiful mrembo; tonight leo usiku
Hot joto: cold baridi

Nyamera

I’ve bothered and failed. I know the grammar – approximately – and am able to recognise the words between prefixes and suffixes, I can make myself understood via email with the help of a dictionary, but my vocabulary is very limited and I don’t understand much when people speak nor do I speak much myself. If only I’d studied for some minutes every day since before my first trip to Kenya! The problem is that there’re so many things I should have done for a couple of minutes a day. Learning Swahili is quite important though. As I have constant communication problems when in Kenya and as many people speak good English, I give priority to communication over Swahili training, and I’ve never spent a longer time alone with someone who doesn’t speak English. I don’t want to start speaking Swahili after having spent some time around people, as I’m afraid they’ll be embarrassed of having talked about me in Swahili. If I say something it’s often assumed that I know a lot more than I really do. Next time I meet someone that I suspect of speaking good Swahili, I’ll start speaking as much Swahili as I can straight from the beginning.

Tamu means sweet and I’ve heard people speaking of delicious food as “sweet food” (in English). It’s really chakula kitamu, but most people at camps don’t bother with the prefix.

I only take coffee as a drug against sleepiness, but if I liked the taste and weren’t as sleepy person I’d try “kahawa bila kahawa” for decaf. I can’t see any reason for drinking diet sodas.

Otis72

Our experience was that the service staff always reacted positively to our efforts to use Kiswahili. Moreso in Tanzania than in Kenya, but always positive. So you can't carry on a conversation - being able to just order coffee or drinking water, or say good morning was enough to get a smile and to start a conversation (in English). And they remember you the next meal or day.

Jim

ShayTay

As Jim says, everyone appreciates the fact that you've taken time to learn some of their language and, by extension, their culture. Kiswahili is a "shared language" in East Africa, but there are also many tribal languages, as well. Learning to say "thank you" in Maasai if you have Maasai camp staff always brings extra smiles of appreciation from them. You may find that your guide will enjoy the opportunity to teach you some Kiswahili words and phrases, as well. One of our guides in Tanzania hosted foreign students in his home. He was used to teaching them some of the language and extended the experience to us.

ann_nyc

I appreciate all the good suggestions. I normally make it a policy to learn 'at least 10 words' when I travel anywhere, so I have a lot of experience at learning a few phrases in various languages (rather than actually learning the language, which is a totally different thing).

Here is my opinion on some of the language learning tools that are available:

'In Flight' series. I know that this is not a highly respected course, but it does a great job of making it easy to learn a little bit. For anyone who doesn't think it is worth while trying, because you think it would be too hard, start here. It's cheap and easy and it works for learning a few polite phrases. You get a single CD, and can learn simply by listening and repeating. It comes with a little stapled booklet so you can see what the words look like when they are written, but you can follow the CD without having to study the book. You can skip around to just the lessons on greeting and making friends, and will at least learn enough to show interest and be polite.

'Teach Yourself' series. For some strange reason I persist in buying this course for whatever language I'm trying to learn, and end up giving up in the first lesson. It's got lots of information, but it is dry, and you really have to study and memorize, and the CD is not standalone, so you have to have the book in front of you. I bought it but didn't use it in Turkish, Portugues, and Swahili...

Transparent Language - BYKI. This is good if you also want to be able to recognize the words in written form, or if your brain works better if you can see and hear at the same time. This is a computer based course, with 64 languages available, AND THERE IS A FREE VERSION (BYKI express) you can download. It has a very simple teaching method, using the analogy of flash cards. The software includes a few lists of words and phrases (there is an paid upgrade version with lots more words, of course, but the free version has enough to get started with). You pick the list you want to work on, and step 1 is that the software shows you the cards, and plays the sound, so you can start familiarizing yourself with the meaning of the words/phrases. Step 2, they show you one side while playing the sound and you try to guess the other side. Step 3, they show you one side and you have to write the answer. They keep track of what you get right and wrong, so you can concentrate on the words you don't know yet. In the paid version, you can create your own lists and load them into the software and it will incorporate it into the whole lesson methodology. And once you've created a personal list of words, you can also share it with other people -- maybe an opportunity for some informed Fodorite to create the perfect list of words/phrases we really want to know, and share it with the rest of us! By the way...if you download the free version, there are some other free lists also available on the website, that give additional useful words.

I've used Pimsleur for other languages, but not for Swahili (yet). It is a 100% auditory course, which is sometimes frustrating because I can't always catch all the sounds and want to be able to look up how the word is spelled. But it does a good job of getting you comfortable with a very simple conversation. There is enough repetition to make you think that you are in an endless loop. It gets a bit frustrating if you want to learn a different phrase, and you spend an entire 1/2 hour lesson learning two sentences that you aren't really interested in learning. In my neighborhood, I can often get Pimsleur through the library, so you might want to try that out before paying for it, to make sure you like it.

Rosetta stone has a good reputation, but it's expensive. I wasn't motivated enough to pay for it.

MyDogKyle

I realized I never posted my husband's smile-winning phrase: "Ninapenda chakula cha hapa sana sana." (I like the food very much/the food is delicious here) Thank you, In-Flight Swahili!

Jonzania

a shorter way to say the food is delicious is what my host family is Dar-es Salaam told me: Chakula kizuri.

CarrieT

Ann, I tried to learn some of the basics and actually used the words there (my guide would have a good laugh!). But I think he was very appreciative that I tried and did teach me the correct way to say things. I think a little goes a long way and they appreciate the effort. I also only drink diet soda and I did have an issue finding it...but I ended up drinking mostly water as a result which was perfect for the weather in any case.

I actually bought a CD on e-bay to learn it. It was a "Defense Department" CD so it had all of the normal phrases (and came with a GREAT phrase book) but a lot of it I could never use (for example, "Put your hands above your head" and similar phrases).

You'll do great!