Learning Swahili for Free Through Music – Jambo Bwana
August 29, 2009 by Admin · 4 Comments
Part of the Free Swahili Course we offer will be supplemented with some Swahili Music Videos. Its a fun way of expanding and reinforcing your Swahili vocabulary.
Here is the first music video
Swahili Pronounciation
August 29, 2009 by Admin · 1 Comment
Ive been asked by a loyal reader to give some more information about Swahili Pronunciation prior to our free Swahili course.
Swahili Pronunciation
The Swahili alphabet is identical to that of English, with the exception of X and Q, which do not exist. Most consonants have almost the same pronunciation as English. The vowels have specific pronunciation rules, which are never broken.
Swahili Vowel Sounds
a … Father
e … Egg
i … Bee
o … Door (be careful not to ‘close’ the o sound at the end, as in low)
u … Loop
Special Swahili Consonant Sounds
The following combination’s of consonants create specific sounds, some identical to the English equivalent.
dh … there (do not confuse with thanks)
th … thanks (do not confuse with there)
sh … shopping
ch … church (never charlatan or chemistry)
ng … jingles (do not confuse with sing)
ng’ … sing (do not confuse with jingles)
Note that whenever m is followed by another consonant, there is no vowel sound between the two letters. Similarly, when pronouncing a word beginning with m, the mouth should be closed to begin with – there should be no vowel sound before the m.
In Swahili, there are no silent letters, and neither do letters change pronunciation depending on spelling, as in English (compare cough and through). Each letter is pronounced individually, the same way every time. This rule is true for vowels as well as consonants.
Note that the consonant combination gh is generally pronounced like g, though technically it is similar to Scottish loch, but voiced.
Swahili Emphasis
The emphasis, or accent, is almost always placed on the second-to-last syllable of a word. The exceptions to this rule are extremely rare, and are usually found in words borrowed from other languages, mostly Arabic (for example, maalum).
In the case of doubled vowels or vowel combination’s, each vowel is a syllable in itself and is pronounced separately (for example, the word maalum actually has three syllables, as each ‘a’ is pronounced individually).
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Thank you for asking, please do not hesitate to use our contact form if you have any questions
Learn Swahili . net
Swahili Translation options
August 27, 2009 by Admin · Leave a Comment
Aside from the great living dictionary the Kamusi Project offers Google Translate has opened up its doors for Swahili translation.
It will still take some time before the Google tool, will be flawless as they usually start feeding the tool with official United Nations Documents. In time though the translations will get more accurate.
Head to translate.google.com and try for yourself. Additionally we will start working on implementing it right on our site.
LearnSwahili.net upcoming changes
August 26, 2009 by Admin · 1 Comment
Hi all,
some comment and question was sent recently:
You know what would be really great – if you did the Swahili word of the day!
I am anxiously waiting for the free course. Any update?
I really like the idea of a “swahili word of the day” – What topics would you like to get covered? Either send it through our contact form or post a comment on here.
We are still working on the free Swahili course at the moment, but as its taking too long we will soon launch the unedited version of it. You will not be dissapointed.
Best Regards,
Learn Swahili . net
Basic Swahili Vocabulary & Numbers
August 24, 2009 by Admin · 2 Comments
Here are some basic Swahili words and Phrases followed by some numbers in swahili. Whats nice about Swahili is that its a phonetic language, which makes pronunciation easy.
English vs. Swahili
Hello = Jambo
How are you? = Habari?
Welcome/Come closer = Karibu
(very) Fine = Nzuri (sana)
Thanks (very much) = Ahsante (sana)
Please = Tafadhali
Mister/Sir = Bwana
Mrs/Ma’am = Mama
Good-bye = Kwaheri
Peace = Salama
Yes = Ndio
No = Hapana
OK = Sawa
No problem = Hakuna matata
Where? = Wapi?
Here = Hapa
There = Hapo
How much? = Bei gani
Food = Chakula
Water = Maji
Shop = Duka
Me = Mimi
You = Wewe
Counting in Swahili:
One = Moja
Two = Mbili
Three = Tatu
Four = Nne
Five = Tani
Six = Sita
Seven = Saba
Eight = Nane
Nine = Tisa
Ten = Kumi
Hundred = Mia
Thousand = Elfu
10 year old speaks 11 languages! – including swahili
August 24, 2009 by Admin · Leave a Comment
Arpan Sharma, 10, from The Blue Coat School, Edgbaston, Birmingham, has reached the final of a national language contest for the second year. Arpan speaks his mother tongue Hindi at home, learnt four languages at school and has been using interactive, multimedia CD-ROMs for the others.
Amazing story, interesting he adds the fact that he had some challenges picking up the Swahili Language
Interesting quote from the Dean
It certainly makes children able to appreciate language more and makes them realise that it’s not something that’s simply spoken by ‘funny foreigners’.
Learn Swahili Tips – 1/6
August 20, 2009 by Admin · Leave a Comment
Learn Swahili . Net 6 important Tips on How to Learn the Swahili Language Fast
Seeing the increasing amount of interest to learn Swahili, we have felt the urge providing you with some tips on how to proceed . Many are planning holiday to Tanzania or other Swahili regions aside from the usual benefits of mastering a second language. That all aside we would all like to learn a language as fast as possible.
Learn Swahili Fast Tip 1:
Do not procrastinate. Once you set a time-plan and resources, stick to it for at least a month. Then evaluate your progress and make modifications on your following month if needed. maybe within that month you have learned what you intended to.
Tip 2 on learning Swahili fast will be coming soon, be sure to bookmark us.
Free Swahili Course
