Useful Swahili

Pipestone County Star  - 08-15-2013

Some of you are aware that I just came back from Tanzania on July 27^th after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with my husband.  There is no way I would be able to write a column about the trip considering there’s just not enough space, BUT I thought I’d pass off a few words in Swahili that might be vaguely useful.  All right, they’re not even remotely useful around here, but they are interesting!

Jambo! (JAM-bow): Hello!!

Hakuna Matata (Ha-KUN-ah Ma-TA-ta): Sorry, now you’re probably singing the song from the Lion King and you probably already got to the part “It means no worries…”  Hakuna Matata is a good phrase to remember – stop worrying about everything.  Worrying doesn’t help fix anything at all – try telling that to a professional worrier like myself.  I think this was the biggest lesson the mountain had to teach me.

Trende Sasa!  (TREN-day SA-sa): Might actually be useful for you – it means Let’s go NOW! and was a phrase used to get us moving if we stopped too long.  Stopping was fine, but when it was time to move, sometimes we needed a little extra boost to get us going.  Try saying it, it’s fun!  You can, of course, just say Trende (let’s go), but it’s not nearly as fun as adding the NOW.

Asante Sana (a-SAN-tay SA-na): Thank you very much.  Asante is thank you, but it sounds better if you use the whole phrase.

Maji (MAH-gee):  Water.  Since we were drinking three to five liters of water a day while we were hiking, this was a good word to know!

Pole pole (POE-lee POE-lee): Slowly!  You can try using this on people walking faster than you, but if they don’t speak Swahili, it might be useless.  We were told this time and time again on the mountain since we had to walk very slowly (like a mile an hour) to allow our bodies time to acclimate to the altitude.  Try it on the treadmill sometime – it’s really hard to walk that slow.

Words for farm animals:  We saw a lot of cows, sheep, goats, and donkeys on our trip, being herded and overseen by younger boys usually, and I couldn’t resist learning all the words.

Ng’ombe (n-GOM-bay): Cow (if you can do the glottal stop, you’re amazing)

Mbuzi (m-BOO-zee): Goat

Kondoo (KON-doo): Sheep

Punda (POON-dah): Donkey

Words for Animals on Safari: And more animal words – try teaching these to small children.  The words are very fun to say!

                Twiga (TWEEG-ah): Giraffe

                Tembo (TEM-bow): Elephant

                Simba (SIM-bah): Lion (Disney totally cheated naming the Lion King “Lion”)

                Tumbili (toom-BEE-lee): Vervet monkey

                Sokwe (SOCK-wee): Chimpanzee

                Kiboko (Key-BOW-koe): Hippopotamus

Mbuzu (m-BOO-zoo): The final word is a good one for me.  It means white person.  You may feel free to refer to me as Crazy Mbuzu for writing this article.

I will be speaking about the trip in a travelogue at the library in September – stay tuned for more details on that as we get closer.  I’ll have some of my 485 pictures and some of my equipment with me for a laugh.

Hope you’re having an awesome summer!!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  Call us for the date of the next meeting!

Book Club Reminder: The book club takes a break during the summer months and they are currently on hiatus until September.  Their meetings are the fourth Tuesday of the month and over the summer, they read what they want to and report back to the club on those tomes during their first meeting.  If you enjoy reading, you should try it out!  Everyone is welcome!!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM and Saturday from 10AM to Noon.  Summer hours are in effect from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day Weekend.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.