expatiari expatria

Kiswahili is a Bantu language of east africa with the most speakers of all Sub-Saharan African languages. With five million first-language speakers, and spoken by over 50 million people, Kiswahili has become a lingua franca for East Africa and surrounding areas.

The name ‘Kiswahili’ comes from the plural of the Arabic word sahel ساحل: sawahil سواحل meaning “boundary” or “coast” (used as an adjective to mean “coastal dwellers” or, by adding ‘ki-’ ["language"] to mean “coastal language”). The word “sahel” is also used for the border zone of the Sahara (”desert”). Kiswahili refers to the ‘Swahili Language’; Waswahili refers to the people of the ‘Swahili Coast’; and Swahili refers to the ‘Culture’ of the Swahili People.

Swahili time runs from dawn to dusk, so that 0700 is saa moja asubuhi (hour one morning). I suspect lunch time is hour six and dinner might be between hour twelve and saa mbili usiku (hour two evening).

While there is no de jure official language, Kiswahili is the national language of Tanzania, used for intertribal communication and for official matters. English has greatly diminished over the last decades after British rule, and is now practically absent, it is now more common to regard Kiswahili as the only de facto official language.

Some common Kiswahili phrases (hover the mouse over to see translations)

Wikitravel: Swahili Phrasebook