In the nearby future, Kiswahili may not simply be a
language of choice by people in East Africa but rather mandatory. The language
is gaining a strong ground and influence as the East African countries try to
forge a common language for easy communication across their boarders and in
business transaction. Although Rwanda and Uganda have been a little behind, the
language has taken off with a high gear. It has been implemented especially at
schools beginning from ground level of education. The influence of Kiswahili
goes even beyond East Africa. There are a significant number of other countries
in and outside Africa where the language is spoken. The influence of Kiswahili
as one of the powerful world languages can be based on the increasing demand
for Kiswahili interpreters and translators to execute Kiswahili translation for various companies and agencies. These agencies may be legal service providers, schools, manufacturing industries among others In
Europe, Asia, and America, Kiswahili leads the African languages taught making
it a serious language
Brief
Facts about Swahili Language
“Jambo” is a common word for saying hello in
Swahili. The familiar term for Swahili language is Kiswahili which comes from
an Arabic word meaning language of the coastal dwellers, with Waswahili as the major
people who speak Kiswahili and they make a population of about 500, 000 people.
Swahili holds an official language status in Tanzania and Kenya and is also
widely spoken in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi,
South Sudan, Zambia, and many more areas along the deep harbors of the east
African coast.
Kiswahili has got many words in its vocabulary borrowed
from the Arabic and English languages but its grammar and syntax put it in the
Bantu language family. There are more than 15 million people who speak
Kiswahili as their first language but in general Kiswahili has more than 150
million speakers using as first and second language respectively.
Though English is commonly used as an official
language in some Kiswahili countries like Kenya, the language is becoming more
dominant in East Africa as it is set to be an official language of the East
African Community.
In Africa, Swahili language is considered the
easiest language to read and learn by any English or other language speakers.
Brief
history of Kiswahili
Most of the original Swahili people are Muslims from
the influence of people coming from the north and also across the Indian Ocean.
They hold the minority population in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Swahili today primarily live in urban areas of
Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu, Tanga (mainland Tanzania), Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
Over the years, most of them have migrated to North America, the Middle East
and Europe mainly for economic reasons. The others mainly rely on trading,
fishing and farming activities as well.
The use of Swahili was widely spread by colonialism
which was surprising because, instead of suppressing it, the colonialists chose
to adopt the language using it as a common tool for communication. Even the
Christian missionaries learnt Swahili as the language of communication to spread
the gospel in East Africa hence spreading the language the more. They even
created the first Swahili-English dictionary.
Telling time in Swahili starts at 6.00 am. So one
needs to count time carefully if you were told to reach somewhere at a certain
time as you may need to line on six hours.
Musical and poetic expressions are very vital in
Swahili language with their parable, proverbs, and their music being very
poetically rich.
With the frequent use of Swahili’s phrases in
popular movies like Out of Africa and good songs by great musicians like
Michael Jackson and Mariam Makeba, has helped to increase on its international
appeal.
The broadcast media have also contributed enormously
to the stretch and promotion of Swahili language. It is perhaps the widely used
African language in radio broadcasts in the world. You can tune in to Swahili
programs in major media houses like BBC (England), VOA (America), RFI (France)
CRI (China) and many others around the world.
Kiswahili
and business
Kiswahili has registered a significant growth
especially in East Africa. With the attention given to the language due to its
influence in the East African Community, it is set be the major business
language in East Africa. The business community from foreign countries already
existing in East Africa has began embracing the language by taking a few class lessons
in a week. For example the Chinese in Kenya have made it a matter of serious
concern so as to ease their business transactions with the local Kenyans. In Uganda,
it is driving to the same as the language is being emphasized and taught right
from the basic primary level of education.
It is therefore, very important for the business community
to take Kiswahili seriously or else more business challenges in terms of
communication. If you're are interested
in taking business to East Africa, you may need some information in Kiswahili
so as to be appreciated by the community and attract more customers to your business
Are you interested in learning Swahili? Swahili
language is taught in many recognized institutions around
all corners of the world but you can as well use a translations agency to help you meet your Swahili needs. It is quite easy to learn Kiswahili compared to other
languages because its lyrics and poetic nature makes it a more interesting
language. As a strong African language, very many translation companies including
Google Translate offer it for translation. This therefore means you can even
learn it by following the translated texts.
