If you have been making searches such as “English to Swahili” and ‘Swahili to English, then you have come to the right place!

This language is part of the Niger-Congolese family, more specifically of the Bantu branch. It is the most famous indigenous African language. Its origin dates back to between the 8th and 12th centuries A.D. However, sources show that both Arabs and Persians frequented the coasts of Africa as early as the 2nd century A.D., so the language usually featured. Both groups came to the East African coast in search of new markets. This has influenced the language to such an extent that it takes about 40 % of its vocabulary directly from Arabic.

Thanks to the trade of the Arabs, the arrival of the Portuguese, the British and the Germans, the language expanded into the interior of Africa. For this reason, the language has also acquired words from Portuguese or English and, to a lesser extent, from German. With the growth of the language, the Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (BAKITA), the Tanzanian academic institution that regulates the Swahili language, began working in 1983.

LINGUISTIC ASPECTS

Today, this 24-letter language uses the Latin alphabet, Although characteristic letters such as Q and X do not exist. Until the 18th century, the language used the Arabic alphabet.

This is another reason why Arabic heavily influenced the vocabulary. In fact, the name “Swahili” (سَوَاحِلِىّ) comes from this language and means “coastal”. Other words which came from Arabic are “dakida”, minute; “saa”, hour; and “fafadhali”, please. As mentioned above, there are also words that came from Portuguese, such as “meza”, table; from English, such as “machi” March; and from German, such as “shule”, school.

This language is binding. As far as grammar is concerned, nouns are divided into classes and each class has its own prefixes for the singular and plural. The verbs create a root system to which prefixes and suffixes are added to establish relations with time, objects, aspect, subject…

This language has no tones and it is read as it is written.

Like any other language, it has a wide variety of dialects. However, these varieties are mutually intelligible, differing only in certain phonological and lexical features. The Territorial Language Committee established the standard Swahili dialect in 1930, basing it on the Zanzibar coastal dialect. Examples of other dialects are Kihadimu, Kipemba, Kimrima or Kingozi, a literary dialect used in classical Swahili poetry.

IMPORTANCE OF SWAHILI

Swahili is the language spoken in the administration and universities of countries where it is present.

It is also the most famous in Africa and essential for international relations, due to the trade in minerals. Many media outlets also use it, including German National Radio, Australian SBS, Radio France International, BBC Swahili…

An interesting fact: although few people know it, this language has touched the hearts of all children with the famous Disney film: The Lion King. His famous phrase “hakuna matata” is a Swahili phrase meaning “no worries”.