Swahili is written in the Roman alphabet and the letters are pronounced more or less as in English, apart from these vowel sounds and a few consonant blends.
a as in far
e between the 'e' in bed and in cafe
i as in Lima
o as in orange
u as in flute
Numbers zero through ten... sifuri , moja, mbili, tatu, nne,
tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi
yes - ndiyo
no - hapana
ok - sawa
hello - habari
good morning - habari za asubuhi
good evening - habari za jioni
goodbye - kwaheri
see you - tutaonane
thank you - asante / no thank you - la asante
How are you? -hujambo?
I'm fine - sijambo
How much is it? - ni bei gani?
sorry - samahani
please - tafadhali
nice to meet you - nimefurahi kukutana nawe
What do you do for work? - unafanya kazi gani?
I am a teacher, and you? - mimi ni mwalimu, na wewe je?
happy birthday - furaha kwa siku ya kuzaliwa
What is your name? - unitwa nani?
Hello, anyone in? - hodi
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4 comments:
OK... I really tried to go through and pronounce these... You may have to show me later... Those vowel sounds messed with me... I'm probably over thinking it... and I never over think things... Yikes... ;-)
Are you getting pretty good at speaking/using the language? Do you get to use it a lot?
There must be a lot of birthdays over there is that makes the top few "need to know" swahili phrases! Is there lots of cake too?
kwa heri!
I will make these translations available to my kids as they are writing their letter this week. Hopefully all the letters will be sent this time!
Brad- I'm sure you did great with the pronunciations. We'll do a quick review when I get back, then a test. j/k. I myself am still learning. If my Kenyan friends have anything to do with it, I will be fluent in Swahili before I leave. I still have a long ways to go though.
A great idea Chris! Looking forward to receiving your letters. I'm glad we decided to do penpals.
That depends... I think if I had a good teacher I would do OK with a "quick review"... I do still have a few months to prepare... ;-)
Good luck with your own fluency. Maybe things would go smoother if I give you the test... What do you think?
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