The Swahili Language
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2024
- This video is all about Swahili, one of Africa's major languages and a lingua franca in much of East Africa.
Are you learning Swahili or another language? One great resource to check out is Innovative Language podcast programs: langfocus.com/innovative-lang....
Thanks to Mugizi Robert Rwebangira for the Swahili audio samples in this video.
Support Langfocus on Patreon: / langfocus
Special thanks to: Nicholas Shelokov, Sebastian Langshaw, Brandon Gonzalez, 谷雨 穆, Adrian Zhang, Vadim Sobolev, Yixin Alfred Wong, Kaan Ergen, Sky Vied, Romain Paulus, Panot, Erik Edelmann, Bennet, James Zavaleta, Ulrike Baumann, Ian Martyn, Justin Faist, Jeff Miller, Stephen Lawson, Howard Stratton, George Greene, Panthea Madjidi, Nicholas Gentry, Sergios Tsakatikas, Bruno Filippi, and Brian Michalowski for their generous Patreon support.
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Music:
Digya by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Intro music: “Foundation” by Vibe Tracks.
Outro music: “Circular” by Gunnar Olsen.
Hello everyone! Are you learning Swahili? Check out SwahiliPod101 ( bit.ly/Swahilipod101 ). They have hundreds of audio and video lessons (with text transcripts) for learners of all levels.
For 33 other languages, check out my review! langfocus.com/pod101/.
(Note: if you upgrade to a paid plan, Langfocus gets a small referral fee that helps support this channel, at no extra cost to you. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't recommend it!)
Hi will you be doing a video on Somali? Thanks :)
Actually there are two languages in the Comoros:
- Shingazidja (Comorran) spoken in the main island.
- Shimaore, shinzuani and shimaore which are the same language in the restof archipelago.
No they are not dialects of Swahili. It's better to see them all as a branch of the Bantu family.
Too bad you didn't make a video about the three of them.
Great job still.
When are you making a video on Bantu languages? African languaged seem overlooked by Linguists. Tim Donner is one of the rare TH-camrs who paid them respect.
You forget to say kiswahili alphabet ics is read as a Arabic way but written in Latinic
Very great video of Swahili people and their territories but you forgot to mention Swahili islands in somalia 🇸🇴 from mogadisho, kismayo to Raskiamboni.
please do somali language
I am from Zanzibar, Tanzania and this is the most accurate video about Swahili language I have ever seen. Thanks a lot for doing this.
+Said Said It's my pleasure! I'm glad you like it!
Indeed
am sorry to rain on your parade but the noun classes or 'ngeli' as we call them have been changed instead of m-wa we have a-wa instead of m-mi we have u-i
Is it really ninapenda kula or is it "napenda ku kula chakula" and it could also mean i like to eat.. same thing like/love
How do y'all feel about Americans going to live there? Would it be a nice place if I had money?
I am from Somalia
I studied Kiswahili in Kenya
Swahili the African language 👍👍👍
Ah, hujambo kaka
Malik Huska hayee waria see wayeee
@Chief Kingalu get over yourself.
@Chief Kingalu you sound so stupid. Zanzibar is the capital of Tanzania
@Chief Kingalu again, get over yourself dickhead.
I’m a native portuguese speaker and the sounds of the combination of the words are very similar, I’m learning Swahili with a Kenyan friend and it’s been very funny and cool. Ninaipenda.
Safi
Kazi mzuri
Ninakipenda not ninaipenda
Karibu-welcome
Karibu kwenye luga rafiki
As a native German speaker, I find the pronunciation exceptionally easy (even easier than English - or Bavarian German 😂). The noun classes and the many prefixes in verbs are a challenge - by the time I’ve put a future verb together, I need to change the tense marker to past, because it takes me too long 😁
In my early stages of learning, though. Hope it will get better.
Gluten tag I love germany language too
Das ist rechts
Great, Am learning German myself😃..
congratulations, the trick is listening to more sentence and master grammar point as you go
I'm a native Swahili speaker from Tanzania. The only problem when it comes to the subject of native speakers is that western sources tend to group "ethnicity" and "native speaker" as being one in the same. I'm not ethnically Swahili. Very few people in Tanzania are ethnically Swahili. However, tens of millions of Tanzanians (especially those born after 1960) would definitely consider themselves as native Swahili speakers only because in many parts of Tanzania your ethnic language is almost always secondary to Kiswahili. Also, in most cases (especially today), coming from a certain ethnic group does not necessarily mean you are able to communicate in that ethnic language. Kiswahili is such a widely spoken language that most people don't even put emphasis on their ethnic language. My father is of the Zanaki ethnic group but he doesn't know how to speak the language. His "native" language is Swahili by default. Most Tanzanians' native language is Swahili by default, even though we represent some 120+ different ethnic groups. So in reality (and as far as most Tanzanians are concerned), the actual number of native Swahili speakers should be higher while the number of second-language speakers should probably decrease a bit.
I'm going to begin learning it. Tanzanian Swahili, it is!!
It's a shame to see Kenya and Tanzania unthinkingly copy the European states' ethnocidal language policies. Why not use all your languages?
***** What's your ethnic background Eslan, if I may ask?
We have over 42 languages/dialects in Kenya - for purposes of communication across one's ethnic group, their is need to learn a national language thus Swahili and English were chosen. But note that these are used as 2nd and 3rd languages, most Kenyans speak their native languages every time they meet their tribes mate or are in their own ethnic lands.
The world is becoming more interconnected and a global village. If we chose Swahili, how would I would be communicating with you now? For business, trade, professional purposes...you need to learn another more 'global' language. English was selected as we were colonized by the british already had English speakers by independence + an education system. I cannot imagine learning computer science, medicine, engineering, calculus in Swahili...
I’m Kenyan norm but currently live in the USA. Since I grew up in Nairobi, we spoke both English and Kiswahili but mostly a mixture of the two, as teenagers we spoke a corrupt version of the two called ‘Sheng which was pretty cool. The older folks didn’t have a clue of what most of our conversations were about when they tried to be nosey. Ha!
People in Nairobi always were jealous of the folks from Mombasa and even Tanzania for their fluent Swahili language. Haha!
Shoutout from Atlanta! 😎
Big up kamaa 👊👊
ako Nyeli
@@RonSimiyu 😂😂😂😂
Ati wapi
This “Sheng” thing is a very very practical tongue. I guess one day someone resourceful will find its usefulness in AI. I am serious! Language-wise nothing compares to it when it comes to practicability!
So the Tanzanian register of Swahili uses less English or more pure?
I'm Hungarian and somehow this is the most logical language, that I've ever encountered besides Hungarian. I really like it!
Yes, especially the object infix instantly reminded me of Hungarian! 💜
You should consider learning Japanese, btw 😉
@@AndersGehtsdochauch The writing system frightened me there, so probably won't learn it yet, but maybe in the future :D
You know Hungarian you should have no fear of Japanese lol
@@ethan3986 The Japanese language per se is much more simple than Hungarian.
But gyurto is right, the writing system is really scaring many people off - for good reasons. It _is,_ to say the least, annoying to learn. But also fascinating and beautiful, once you get there!
@@ethan3986 Well a new japanese language just opened near me so maybe I will give it a try :D
I am from Kenya and the accuracy of this is just astounding.
Thank you, sir!
Siri means secret? Damn you apple!
lol...
I think it's a coincidence. Apple probably named Siri after Iris (Iris spelt backwards)
What of safari? also a coincidence..don’t think so Haaha
😂😂😂 but why ???
😂
Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan Kusini, Burundi na Uganda ! Umoja wetu ni nguzo yetu !
Kiswahili chetu ni umoja wetu !
United States of East Africa or Confoederatio Swahilica* in future? 🤔🤔🤔
Umoja wetu ni nguzo yetu - great motto...
Salamu kutoka Uswidi =)
* Like Confoederatio Helvetica aka an official variant of the name of Switzerland.
Umesahu DRC 😭😭😭
Ongeza DRC hapo juu.
Sawa
Ushasema. Pamoja tukitunze Kiswahili.
Swahili is becoming the African language. More and more people are learning Swahili. I am a native Swahili speaker from Burundi, I also make videos in Swahili often.
Nimeiona hiyo video yako kaka ila huwa nawaambia Wakenya kuwa Burundi wanaongea Kiswahili kizuri kuliko Kenya eti wanakataa.
@@simonkobero3601 uongo
@@ijakaa_evans ukweli mtupu
Good for you.
I am african but i will never learn swahili because of its roots (arabian and so) cause this language is a Torjan horse...
PEACE.
@K. Shottry, while there are many Arabic words incorporated into Kiswahili (especially in Tanzania), the syntax and structure of the language is most definitely a Bantu, African language.
This is the most accurate Swahili analysis I have ever seen from a white man!!! Kudos from Kenya🇰🇪
I’m sure that Paul had this video double and triple checked by native Swahili speakers to verify the accuracy of its content.
@@GoLongAmerica He also does that with every other language he covers
@@GoLongAmerica except for the words Nala & PUMBA
He's wrong & partially correct
it is now official in Rwanda
good
Hi
@@hanadgigis8049 whats good
Levinichob 。 should be official for the whole African continent
Unfortunately
I'm Kenyan, and I have learnt Kiswahili up till I was 18 years old. I love this language because you get to appreciate the rich literal (literature) culture of the Swahili people. Beautiful poems and captivating stories cannot be appreciated succinctly in any other language. Although we share similar grammar and vocabulary library as Tanzanians, these two countries use the language in very different contexts. Tanzanians speak a more fluid and rich vocabulary and the emphasis is on polite conversation. Kenyan Kiswahili is a lot more direct and formal.
This is a well down video, highly recommended! Great job.
Basi ongea kiswahili. Jivunie kiswahili
Hey! Could you recommend some Swahili poems/stories? I love learning languages mainly because of the literature you can gain access to
@@unforcastedstorm as a tanzanian I can say the best stories are those narrated by an individual directly to u but u can read takadini it's a nice story, if u are interested i can recommend other stories fr u
@@alizetikoku7016 I hope to have the experience of someone narrating a story to me one day! Thanks a lot for the recommendation, i'll try to find it :)
@@unforcastedstorm I'll ask around fr some other stories/poems u cn read
Swahili is the National Language in Kenya, you learn it at school, English is the second Language also taught in school and the we have other language( Mother tongue) some taught in school but not all, Swahili makes it easy for everyone to communicate no matter which tribe you are from.
Hakuna matata sounds like a mix of Zulu “akuna” and Sotho (mathata). Means no worries too
There are more Kenyan dialect words related to isizulu,xhosa and sotho..and
literally mean the same thing
Can you join me sir
@@musimbimourine2858 I have noticed that too. And this gives me an idea that maybe I should just make time and start learning it.
I have to love Shona from Zimbabwe. There are so many similarities with Swahili.
@@sefunjege7798 I agree.
I was listening to someone speaking Shona and it sounded like Swahili that I could not understand. It is very interesting.
Born in Nairobi I studied Swahili till I was ten.This video brought back sweet memories."Kitab" means book in Hindi too
Also in Turkish "kitap" is book :)
Let's just say spoken, day-to-day Hindi, or Hindustani. People don't say "main pustak padh raha hoon" or things like that very frequently in everyday conversation, if you know what I mean. Kitaab is used more often (while speaking).
Also in Arabic Kitab means Book!
commented without watching the video HAHAHAHAHA
Mo Nalayè Chill Mate, Hakuna Matata
I' m from Comoros and I'm so glad you have talked about us 😊😊. Our language is 30% arabic vocabulary, 60% swahili and 10 % French and other languages words 😂. But generally, we are considering that our language is In the same family as swahili. I was, once, shocked when I Heard Lupita Nyongo said in a interview an expression exactly the same way as us comorian say it 😳😨😂😂😂😂. Love y'all ❤️ # EastAfricaPower
I find the comoro so fascinating..I want to learn ki komoro... Can we exchange numbers?
On est la les comoriens
Zo kweli ?!! On n'est pas oublié 😭😭😭😭
Tu est de quelle île ? Wami mdzuani 😊
Yes, as a Congolese who can fluently speak both languages Swahili and French once I heard my first time Shikomori I was surprised 'cause I could hear all what people were saying. Do you guys understand the standard Swahili? Curious to know, love from Congo 🇨🇩
The best part about Swahili is that if you’re from Africa, every American will ask if you speak it because its the only African language we’ve heard of.
Nah they still ask me if i speak African 🤣 💀 😂
@William Hancock are those African in origin?
@William Hancock but they aren't african
@William Hancock Arabic is the language of Islam. Do you really think it could be African?
@William Hancock do you even know a single thing about Islam or arabic? Arabic is from the Arabian Peninsula, which is in Asia. Arab, Arabia, Arabic.
Islam is an Arabian religion. It originated in Arabia.
Here in Poland we sometimes use the word Swahili as a synonym for a very complicated or weird text that is difficult to understand (something like "double Dutch" in English). What is funny, it turns out that actually Swahili is not that complicated and its phonology is very similar to Polish 😁 Well, I'm not saying that it's super easy but it's definitely much easier than I expected ;) (We also use "Chinese" to mean "double Dutch" =D )
from now ,, use greek.. thats what we use out here..lol
I'm from Poland and never heard of it, people say Chinese when they don't understand a text
That's pretty cool. 😂 I live in Poland and I find these nativisms amusing
哈哈哈我是个肯尼亚的人Swahili 比中文一点儿复杂. Basically what he is explaining is how the bantu languages work....but I can tell you....the base of it is easy in pronounciation and writing.... but I can tell you. The expressions in words and combinations are really complex
Never heard of "double dutch" in English. The saying is "that's greek to me".
This made me want to learn Swahili, I like the sound of it
I can teach you +255652207562 check me out on WhatsApp
Swahili is hard my tests literally freak me out like kinu what is kinu-
Karibu
@@ItsAlorella29 lol i have a terrifying kiswa teacher
You should do it. I speak it good & I’m American
I am from Tanzania and a native swahili speaker and this is the most accurate video about Swahili I have ever seen so far.
Hakika! Umenena kweli.
I learned Kiswahili 1970 in preparation of a stay in Kenya. The best tool was the book "E. O. Ashtons Swahili Grammar". It contains training and a lot of good examples. Plus it teaches words needed for the excersizes. As far as I can see it is still available. Strongly recommended for anyone who want to get grips on Kiswahili and start using it. (Presently living in Kenya and using Kiswahili daily since 1979.)
Kwa hiyo mpaka sasa uko bado kenya au umesharudi nyumbani kwenu?
Congrats 👏👏👏👏
Hau ni sawa muthuri 👏
Which country did you come from exactly?
I'd like to learn Swahili as it is widely spoken in africa,love from Ethiopia.
Sad y'all don't speak it there
@@gidd no it's no sad we have our own languages
@@machiatorobel622 what are you even saying
It's a fan language to learn in Kenya we speak Swahili and English as our national language but at home we speak our mother tongue
Funny, I had the same idea: to learn the (as far as I know) most widely spoken African language. I did not come very far though. But you are in a better geographical position: I almost never meet people from Africa.
Best wishes from Italy 👋.
Hi. Just for the record 'Nala' is a verb translated as 'i'm eating', or 'Nakula'.
'Gift' means 'zawadi'
That's true
Don't that is a principal issue (nala means gift) that's just happened as a mistake, try to confess the fact that the presenter is well prepared and your way of condemning just presents some peoples of your group with such nature of weakness to stick in minor things as a source wrong interpretation, be wise if you can but don't tell others that you are wise
@@kaseleshekh4039 I speak Swahili and nala really mean "I'm eating".... Or at least I've spoken Swahili all my life. Zawadi is gift. Unless kiswahili changed
@@chareemuchareemu1197 sir, maybe you appreciate me wrongly, I am not against you, but I support you 100% lam against someone comments who stick on recoding mistake on that word, while the fact about your presentation is accurate
@@kaseleshekh4039 the idea is to correct not judge
I think you and Geography now should collaborate! :)
Yes, this is a good idea.
Yesss!!! I thought the same thing.
yes!
YES
But Paul already has his geo focus chanel.
I am a Greek of Cyprus and our language doesn't have any kind of connection or similarity with Swahili. What I liked while learning the language is that Swahili is a logical and not a hard language. I AM confusing the "to-" verbs all the time (like "kula" and "kulala" are completely different verbs) but again the language is pretty simple to say the least..
to eat is kukula, ..not kula....
kula is eating...
ku" is the "to" then "kula" is eating...
ku ~lala...and so on
This was a very well thought out and easy to digest presentation. I want to learn every language possible to be able to communicate with everyone.
I'm from Oman and I do speak both arabic and swahili
alasmi92s is Arabic and Swahili is similar
@@jonathannestor360 no
But there are some words in swahili language that are Arabic origin .
Moved to Oman and I'm always happy meeting Omanis proficient in Swahili
Hakika
Is Swahili is a dialect of Arabic
Swahili sounds like such a fun language.
Mostly the songs💞💞❤️
Yh it is 🔥
Very funy
I really found kiSwahili very very interesting. It's such a logical language, very intuitive
Really
😊😊
Swahili is so Awesome!! Once you mastered the grammar and noun classes it's very exciting to speak.
Yes! And one cannot just master Swahili just by being a proficient Arabic speaker simply because Swahili grammar is 100% Bantu. Arabic maybe about 20% of the vocabulary at the most. English vocabulary is also gaining momentum to replace some Arabic words.
@@mwafrikahalisi2549 swahili is grammatically bantu so a congolese bantu speaker would have an easier time learning it then say a syrian would
@@whoreofdragonstone1031 I agree with you! I meant to say Swahili is 100% Bantu. Thanks for bringing the error to my attention...
My native language is Arabic, one day, I was watching foreign BBC news channel (Swahili BBC) and I noticed that some words were so familiar to my ears, I was really confused lol then started reading more about and decided I want to learn it, I like how it's gender neutral, the most challenging thing is that I can't find many sources and I can't practice with native speakers 😭 I really wanna have language exchange pen pals from any Swahili speaking country 😘
Iman Groove I'm Comorian
iman don't worry ,I come from Swahili speaking country,Kenya I can help you learn Swahili if it's ok by you
Isra Ismaël Hi Isra :) beautiful Island, I wish I can visit someday
austininflorida thank you for suggestion this very very helpful site. The Swahili teacher is very good and I find his lessons far more practical and easier than the regular way of teaching languages
Lucy Akinyi I'd like to visit Kenya someday! I love listening to Kenyan music. If you have italki user name let me add you as my language partner
Ninapenda kusoma lugha ya kiswahili!! Lakini nitamaliza somo moja hapa katika mji wa Nairobi na nitarudi nyumbani, Marekani. Samahani kusema kiswahili vibaya sana, mimi ni mzungu hahaha hope that made sense, I'm so bad at swahili but I'm trying!! Mimi ni mwanafunzi hodari!
Usijali utajua na kuwa hodari kwenye kiswahili
Umeweza kujieleza vizuri sana hongera
Sadaktaa Dadangu.Naongea Kiswahili katika Taifa ya Somalia..
Hongera sana hodari
Hapo powa Mzungu!!!! 😂
I just love the way you are elaborating this so clearly
Am a Malawian, based in South Africa I can tell you my second mother language is swahili apart from Tonga swahili is so sweet more than any other African languages apparently it's African English my stay in Tanzania made me feel like am in England 🇲🇼🇹🇿🇿🇦❤️❤️
I am a native swahili speaker from Kenya. Generally Kenyans can speak both English and Swahili fluently since these two subjects are taught in primary and secondary schools. People switch between the languages depending on who you are speaking to, so one can choose either English, Swahili or their mother tongue.
True then they have added a peer to peer or youth language known as Sheng only spoken in Kenya...a future Patwah (patois) of Jamaica
i am from Tanzania.my first language is swahili. but i cant explain swahili this GOOD
willy nkya because you're not a linguist
Martin Hemligt Paul isn't either.
Olá sou Brasileira podemos trocar , lhe ensino Português e você me ensina Swahili? marilin.vellar@gmail.com
because you are african. the vast huge majority of africans dont understand their own language's structure or history. Africans tend to just go from point a to point b and not ask why they are doing that
Don't be so quick to put all africans into one basket.
Wow this is amazing. I am Pedi from South Africa and I always thought that hakuna matata is my language Sepedi just pronounced and spelled incorrectly. The similarities between Swahili and my Sepedi always make my jaw drop, some words are exactly the same.
Karibu sana Tanzania
Im from Nairobi but i realized i took kiswahili classes for granted. I have began relearning swahili sanifu by reading more swahili novels!! I no longer want to stutter while speaking😁
I’m from DRC Congo . I do speak Swahili. Our Swahili sounds really really different from Tanzania and Kenya. Their Swahili sounds a little bit like Arabic
can you guys understand each other though ?
@@orinthompson6360 Yeah, I'm Kenyan and Congolese Swahili is a little different from ours, but still easy to understand
@@TK_197 Congolese Swahili is more rigid and stiff
If your not fluent in SWAHILI
It's hard to understand Congolese
Tanzanians can understand almost any SWAHILI dialect with absolute ease
I've long heard that Swahili is heavily based on Arabic.
@@gringo3002 nope
Like English and other languages
Kiswahili is originally a Bantu language with influences from Arabic, English, German and other languages
This is because slavery and colonisation under arabs, English men, and germans influenced grammar of Swahili
For example the term Swahili comes from Sahel (meaning coast in Arabic)
Kiswahili is purely bantu meaning Swahili language/culture
I am a teacher of Kiswahili in high school here in Kenya and i just love it.I can teach you the basics if you need.I would like to correct that "Pumba" is not actualy stupid.The correct word for stupid is "Pumbavu"
that makes more sense
Mwas John but mwalimu PUMBA ni makapi (mf makapi (mabaki ) baada ya kukoboa Mpunga,ngano au mahindi kinachobaki ni PUMBA)
Kusema Pumba ni stupid ni sawa maana limetumika kuonyesha mtu anayeongea Ujinga/kitu kisicho na mantiki
sisi tunasema jamaa anaongea PUMBA kuliko kusema jamaa PUMBAVU(mpumbavu)
Mimi siyo mwal wa Kiswahili sina uhakika kama concept yangu imeeleweka 🙌🏼
Pumba pumbavu
Legea legevu
He is right according to Zanzibarians
@@gloriousn6425 you are totally right and our teacher from Kenya is also right
Kumbavu in luganda
Thanks for this awesome video!!! I was born in Kenya but we moved when I was 11 and I never got a chance to learn kiswahili properly. Here I am 12 years later in Australia using Duolingo and other media to learn it. My dad helps a bit too -- he's Kenyan born and raised and speaks kiswahili, kikamba, kigiriama, and bits and pieces from other languages and dialects in East Africa. He learned it informally, working in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but since I don't have the opportunity to practise with native speakers anymore, I'm trying to learn standardised Swahili. I've done a bit of Arabic as well, so it was funny when you said that speaking Arabic helps with Swahili, because in my case, Arabic words like 'baarid' and 'samak' were recognisable for me from Swahili. :D Swahili is such a cool and vibrant language with an awesome grammatical system!!
Can we practice am from zanzibar, ?
Whatsap me +255 712999906
Karibu sana
Strangely this language makes very sense to me I'm a native Persian speaker and with Arabic understanding I could understand a lot of it. besides the grammatical system is very easy to pick up on to me, I'm kinda getting obsessed with the language.
You are right, Swahili language is very easy to learn
I was surprised to hear few Persian words same as Swahili eg kalamu meaning pencil or pen. Kiswahili is 50% or more Arabic
Swahili is afroasianitic language, so some part is Arabic and Persian
@@upendo.3570 Swahili is not Afro-Asiatic, but it has Afro-Asiatic influence
I'm teaching myself swahili, it's a great language... Noun classes (ngeli) have been really challenging for me. Nobody speaks swahili over here (I'm Brazilian) and it makes things even more challenging. Great explanation, by the way.
Nini ilisababisha utake kujifunza Kiswahili?
@@atomisedman6235 Habari, kaka. I Iove the African culture but I've never studied an African language. Some years ago I made a Kenyan friend (on the internet). He showed me the language and I thought... Why not?? It's an amazing language... Samahani, sikuweza kujibu katika Kiswahili. I'm still a beginner.
It's so nice to see people learning my language .I have a similar story to yours I met a friend fom Colombia and I just fell I love with Spanish .
Nakutakia kila la heri katika kujifunza kiswahili
How is the progress 2 years on??
Muito legal ver um brasileiro aprendendo swahili!A língua parece legal de se estudar,quem sabe aprendo um dia kkkk mas agora o meu foco está no sueco e italiano
I love how you dig into the actual structure of the language. Fascinating.
I'm from Rwanda. Kiswahili is very closer and similar to other bantu languages like Kinyarwanda (spoken in Rwanda and Burundi ), luganda and lunyankole (spoken by in some parts of uganda. But intresting thing is how every bantu language speaker can try to understand each other. Guy let us know how similarity is among kiswahili,kinyarwanda and Kirundi.👍👍👍
I’m from Tanzania spoke Swahili my whole life but when it comes to studying in class the Swahili subject is hard 😂🚮
Absolutely 😆😆
Same
Very true😆😆😆
Same
I'm Kenyan and I went through the same struggle
i love when people talking my language, i am Tanzanian TRANSLATION IN SWAHILI Napenda watu wanavyo ongea kuhusu lugha yangu, mi ni Mtannzania.🤗
mimi dadako apa nafurahi sana
its watu wanaoongea si wanavyoongea
I have a friend from the Congo. We speak French at work, but I was surprised to learn he speaks Swahili with his family. He's from the South. I think Swahili is more widely spoken in the Congo that the map would suggest.
Yes swahili is the most speaking language in DRCongo before franche and lingala.
Swahili have 15 provinces to 26 the others is for other 3 languages.
True
Almost all Bantu languages sound like Swahili too
@@faithfultoyeshua4576 no I don't think xhosa or is way different from Swahili
@@alibashi994 ok. Some
Young generation born out of Africa with parents from Swahili speaking language countries, needs to keep Swahili going.🇰🇪🇰🇪
I am a logophile and linguaphile even though I'm not multilingual in practice, I have so much love for the world's thousands of languages and your videos give respect and pay homage to Earth's many tongues! Your videos should be required in schools if they're not already! Thank you for all your efforts and presentations about the one gift that distinguishes us from all our fellow creatures: SPEECH AND LANGUAGE!
After watching this I ordered a copy of "Teach Yourself Swahili" and a dictionary. I'm actually learning Arabic and it might be fun to dip into Swahili. Also I know a lot of East Africans.
As an East African, I'm really happy to hear that!
Hahaha. Again.
it's an easy language. I speak Swahili fluently ❤
Aj Rollo, and how did you get on learning Swahili?
I need to order myself one. I speak basic Swahili as a Ugandan. I need to advance my knowledge and fluency .
I forgot to say that you are really a great lecturer, good work
Thank you!
@@Langfocus great stuff.
@@Langfocus kaka wamekusifutu ila bado kijana jitahidi kusoma
@@Langfocus umetoa wapi zile takwimu
Umepata mahali gani ati nala inamaana ya zawadi
Nenda kasome historia ya kuingia kwa Wabantu in East Africa kisha soma asili na mgawanyiko wa Watu in East Africa halafu soma archaeological evidence about the local people of is the African and indigenous people of is the African usisahau kusoma kwa kina Wepi wakaazi wa kwanza au mwanzo kuhamia coastal of East Africa pia soma linguistic history and variety of theories about Swahili language mwisho kabisa kua mdadisi wa mambo na uyachambue kiundani upana wake na urefu wake is the way of avoiding subjectivism mwisho ndio ujekutoa elimu kufanya haya si kutaukuza uelewa wakotu bali pia kutatoa taarifa sahihi miongoni mwa wafuatiliaji
I don’t know how to thank you for your helpful content, I’m watching your videos respectively and I love them so much
😇😇
I believe that Swahili deserves a reboot language profile video, having in mind your excellent one on Turkish, which was much more detailed in grammatical and syntactical phenomena than the previous one as well as very appealing in its outcome.
Love and admiration for your incredible content, as always, from Greece!❤
whenever I have any question about any language, I immediately come to this channel. THIS IS MY FAVORITE CHANNEL ON TH-cam.. thank you Paul for your great efforts. I enjoy every video you upload.
My Occupational Therapist Is From Kenya & She loves teaching me her language
Am from Tanzania welcome
Amber Wimer Kenyans don't know to speak Swahili like Tanzanians if you want to speak fluent Swahili come to Tanzania a Land of Peace
@@sammwanza4402 ondoa pumba hapa!
@@sammwanza4402 tafadhali acha kudhalilisha Wakenya, mbona unajipendekeza bure ?Tupendane Waafrika
Sam mwanza Shida yako ni gani wewe?
This is the best Explanation of Swahili I have ever encountered!! Kudos from a Kenyan proficient in Swahili.
I’m Omani , I’ve spoken Swahili my entire life and I’ve never been to east Africa
Omani traders in the past were so critical and influential in the creation of the Swahili language.
Even when Omani President visited east african countries he was speaking swahili and I was shocked
@@itgamingke He never foot at any East African countries. It was his ministers who had root in ZANZIBAR.
I've always wanted a video that will explain how swahili started..I'm an Arab born and raised in Kenya...we speak kiswahili and Arabic at home..Amazing video i love it keep it up.
Which part in kenya
So you are kenyan arab or you consider yourself as just arab ?
@@marthakiiru8016 born and raised in mombasa, i live in Nairobi since 04
@mostAphA nArgisi haha yep nadhir brathangu mdogo :) MashaAllah umenitambua na ka picture kadogo kweli wewe msharp MashaAllah
@@henringallikingue910 yes I'm Kenyan/Arab and i consider myself a proud kenyan ❤
Swahili sounds beautiful
Desert Rose it does !
It's like music and poetry when spoken
Thanks
Asante
Wow, I didn't know Swahili was this simple! Great language, might learn!
Join me for free man
Kiswahili Lugha Yetu Tukipende Kwanza Sisi Wanawa wa Africa,Hata Wagen Watakipenda.Tunatakiwa Tuwe Wazalendo Kwa Kupenda vyakwetu na kuvitunza.
Fantastic presentation. Very systematic. I'll probably refer back to this multiple times. Thanks for the video.
"Following Kenya's independence in 1963, the first Prime Minister, and later first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta adopted "Harambee" as a concept of pulling the country together to build a new nation. " ~~Wikipedia
Dicks Out
marwen naceur what are you talking about
😂😂😂
How is harambee related to the discussion?
he was on an acid trip, smh..
I grew up in Kenya and Tanzania, learning what non-natives called "kitchen swahili" - basically a lazy European's version of Swahili, inevitably containing many English loan words such as "biciceli".
I used to frequently hear "Harambee" called out together in unison, as a chant, when workers were doing something that required coordinated effort, like pushing a car or truck that was suck in the mud: "HaramBEE...HaramBEE..." (the BEE pronounced as a single syllable like the "Be" in "Beto O'Rourke".
I do so enjoy your videos, and am stunned by your detailed knowledge of so many languages.
This is a real _tour de force_ among the LangFocus videos and has packed a great amount of information in a short span of time. I always learn a lot for these. Keep making them!
that was some deep research right there, i really appreciate. am a Kenyan raised in Nairobi and I have been toying with the idea of learning Arabic and with this video am now more motivated than ever.
Thank you Langfocis for that dose of Kiswahili language,although there is only one lady who can speak Kiswahili in my neighbourhood(Soweto West South Africa)
I want to keep on learning it for trade sake ,I am aware that it has now become a lingua franca of Africa.Thank you once more.
I'm From Tanzania...Thanks a lot, this will light up Swahili more to the other people around the word... To be hosted Swahili is the best language and very simple to learn.
Keep on doing this... Thanks again
Although I have not studied Swahili, I have a friend from Tanzania who
lived right next to my room. One day I just happened to know that he
knew Swahili and I was always attracted to the language, so I
methodically analyzed (what linguists do when they want to know
something about a language) and as usual; the noun classes fascinated
me! But the verb confused me and I ended up concluding the noun classes
as different genders because the adjectives were behaving differently
(this is what happens in Prakrit {Hindi}) and I was too lazy to actually
look up and do the research. Each and every one of your video is a
marvel, I can only imagine how laborious it would have been to combine
Phonology, Syntax Analysis, Comparative Philology and History. Bravo!
Swahili is a simple and beautiful language. In fact, because I know Urdu
which is derived from Farsi and Arabic, most of the words are
immediately recognizable. I know Spanish and due to its nearly 90%
intelligibility with Portuguese, another major part of Swahili becomes
recognizable. I can't tell how exciting that sensation is!
Thank you for such fine work Paul, you are a true linguist to the bone!
Interesting do you also speak Hindi ? I started watching Bollywood movies as a child and was surprised to see how many shared words between Hindi and Swahili. Gari- Car, Bas- Enough, Pesa- Money, dunia- world etc..
I do speak Hindi. Gari, Pesa, Dunia.. they are all Urdu words. Pure Hindi is difficult for even a native. :D
Urdu sounds beautiful because it uses less phenomes (only 36) as compared to Hindi (Prakrit- which has 52)
@@elsandinda gadhi also is afsomali
@@alysakaryuky1200 LOL... written Swahili is hard. Spoken not so much. imo!
Nimefurahi kuona video hii. So proud of the way you talk about my language. Wow
Congratuations. You are so good in talking Kiswahili. In 50 years to come Swahili will be spoken worldwide. You are a very good Teacher.
Your channel is the only one that makes me stop everything I do just to watch your videos!
Keep it up!
Thanks, I'm glad to hear that! Just don't stop anything that's really important! ;)
I am a Kenyan resident. True to your words, I started speaking Swahili as my first language. My parents are from different tribes, and so, that was the only compromise. I have lived in most of the major urban centers in my country, for example, Nakuru, Nairobi, Kisumu, etc. The thing is, for educational, economic, and religious settings, most of these places use Swahili widely. However, at their homes, most of the people heavily use their vernacular. That has pressured me and my other siblings to use French, just to fit in with the multilingual diversity. To answer your questions, most of the adult population, from 25 - infinity, use Swahili as a second or a third language. If they happened to have been born in the urban setting, then probably as a first language. In addition, whenever you come across a settlement inhabited by people of a distinct tribe, then, chances are that Swahili is rarely used.
The good news though is that children born in the 21st century, even those in the rural areas, speak Swahili as L1. I can say about 80% of the population at the next half of this century will be native speakers. In summary, there are lots of native speakers near the coastal regions, and urban places.
swahili was my highest score subject in high school and I LOVE IT!!! 🇰🇪 🇰🇪 🇰🇪 🇰🇪 🇰🇪
😂 The only subject in which I didn't score A plain. Locked me out of Architecture, I ended up in Computer Science.
Amazing video. And to add to your kiswahili vocabulary. " Asante sana kwa ujumbe huu"
As to why Ugandans(in Baganda at least) don't speak swahili, it's because it was the language of Idi Amin's military which caused great terror in the country during the 70's that's why Bugandas loathe the language and it has such a negative connotation.
Interesting!
they shouldn't let one man ruin a language. i mean.... if it was spoken before in Uganda.
Thanx for the info!
+RoScFan it wasn't spoken there, it was the linua franca, especially in the north where the country is linguistically very diverse, the rebels were from that region and thus spoke swahili. The people in the south speak other bantu languages like luganda and lusoga.
+roaringfire357 So how many people in Uganda speak Swahili now?
All your videos are interesting but the Swahili one is especially so. When I lived in Oman quite a few years ago, a number of our local Arab staff (we also had many Indian staff) would speak Swahili amongst themselves, rather than Arabic, as they had either been born in various parts of East Africa (places like Tanzania or Rwanda or Burundi - some of those also spoke French) or had family connection there. Even before that, when I lived in Djibouti, we used to incorporate a few words of Swahili into our internal coding system. I understand a little Swahili, basically because I know Arabic pretty well, but don't speak it. However I do think it is a really attractive language to listen to, even sometimes being said are not so nice - it is euphoric in the way that Italian usually is in my view :)
.. Missed out a few words near the end - after sometimes, insert "if some of the things being". Oops! ;)
as a native Swahili speaker I wondered if non speakers would find Swahili attractive to listen to. But as for me Italian is attractive to listen to.
Omani Arabs did have colonies along the East African coast until the British and German conquest upon which they returned to Oman. Some of these Omanis kept the language alive from what I've heard. So it's interesting that you mentioned it here.
I don't know anything about Swahili, but I heard some recordings ( www.jw.org/sw/machapisho/vitabu/biblia-inafundisha/je-hivi-ndivyo-mungu-alivyokusudia/ ) and I fell in love with the language.
Im native spanish also speak english and french! I find it super cool! Im now learning swahili, JUST FOR FUN, BECAUSE IN AMERICA NOBODY SPEAKS SWAHILI HAAHA
After this very accurate analysis, I have subscribed to this Channel, Thank you.
I am a native swahili speaker from Dar es salaam and I can't get enough of watching this video. I am not a language teacher yet I teach my friends swahili here in Canada in my spare time. I liked the sentence you used in your example "Tembo wanakula majani" if you pluralize that sentence "Tembo" will not change because it is among of those words remain the same in both singular and plural.
Omg! It sounds so gorgeous! Amazing video, thank you so much for the effort. Greetings from Mexico!
I loved this video! Very interesting and informative! I didn't realize how much of an influence Arabic has had on Swahili, but it makes sense.
And knowing that words like "safari" is Swahili is so cool, and that it comes from Arabic too.
And right now, learning 7 languages with Duolingo, seeing the grammar and phonology of this language makes more sense...because since different languages have different rules and setups, it makes them much more connected and intriguing.
And of course, thank you for all the effort you always put into these incredible videos!
BEAUTIFUL i AM FROM MOMBASA . THIS VIDEO BROUGHT MEMORIES THANKS !!!
Thank you for your introduction. I am trying to learn Kiswahili for a few years, with limited success. The language turns out to be very complex, especially all the forms of verbs that may completely change the meaning of the verb. The noun classes have far more impact than you could explain in this video and there is not so much consistency in the use of them. This makes it hard and a lot to remember. So be warned if you try learning it. But, on the other hand it is awesome to speak a little more that just the tourist vocabulary if you visit the region and it is a very interesting language to learn. I think it is also very good if people in the first world care to learn an African language on order to show respect to the rich African culture.
Very happy to see a language from Africa.
Ni kweli kiswahili .ni mchanganyiko WA. Lugha mix yaani kilichanganyika na lugha za wale wageni walokua wakiingia au walokua wakitawala kila mtu na wakati wake .waportugisi .wao walileta neno meza .Pera .na mengine.india wao walisema champal au neno bas. Arabian .ndo mengi wao ndo mengi Zaid maneno Yao kuliko kabila zilizotawala zanzibar.ndio maana tukaitwa waswahili.kwa umaarufu ya hii lugha yetu ya kiswahili.inatokana na kisiwa hichi. Zanzibar.nichimbuko la kiswahili.ah lugha tamu na nyepesi..Kiswahili oyee.
Asante sana
Great, great episode! Probably one of my favourite. This is probably the first episode when you separated the history, phonology, grammar etc, and it works great. I was often not really satisfied when, in some episodes, you talked in-depth about history or geopolitical context while somehow neglecting the features and characteristics of the language.
In this episode you managed to fully cover almost everything necessary and to keep the length of the episode similar to the previous ones. I especially liked this 5-point grammar characteristics of how the language works. This is exactly how I think these language-profile episodes should look like. Keep up the great work!
I very much agree, it's obvious, that a lot of work and thought were put into this video It really payed.
I'm an L2 speaker of Arabic, and I've studied a bit of Swahili... thanks to all of the Arabic loanwords, I can already understand a good deal of Swahili, and if I really studied, I feel like I could learn it in about a year.
I'm starting Sawahili lessons next week in shaa Allah, I found your video really informative and encouraging.
Thank you! I’m glad to hear that. Good luck with your lessons!
Thank you for this truly beautiful introduction to Swahili and Swahili grammar. It is wonderfully concise, accurate and an enormous help. One could say more, of course--for instance, linkages between nouns which also vary according to the noun class--but many thanks. To answer your question, working with the noun classes is indeed the greatest challenge in Swahili. There are 18 (though many people simplify them), and learning to switch prefixes--especially for adjectives and links is a mental and physical challenge. However, if you know Turkish you get a boost, because it too is agglutinative (and it has lots of Arabic borrowings).
So much enjoy your videos, so well researched and clearly presented. By the way, I enjoy your on-screen personality too!
this video is quite accurate .I love people who do such good research
Habari rafiki yethu. I speak swahili already but still learning from your polished swahili, Asante sana
Asante. Kazi nzuri.
Kali vizuri🤣👊
Amejitahidi vyema kuelezea ..... Waswahili wenye kiswahili tumelala kutoa maelekezo kama haya.... Very good job !!👌
Thank you! I have been learning Swahili but without the benefit of understanding the structure. This clarifies it stunningly well.
It’s my pleasure! I’m glad to hear that.
Has to add this is perhaps one of best well presented short script about swahili. I speak the language but always find hard explain to my friends in UK where I live.
Maelezo mufti!
wow. This is truly an incredible video! I just started Swahili a few weeks ago and this really helped alot! Im currently learning on Duolingo and they do not do a good job explaining the vowels, and consonants. This just made my life 10x easier lol i will keep coming back to this video! Thank you so much for this incredible knowledge
Thanks, Brittany! I’m glad you find it useful. 👍🏻
Fantastic, well researched video; thank you! Swahili seems like such a fascinating language.
thank you for covering such a wide variety of languages :) i'm ugandan so love learning about african history, they never teach us about it here in the UK!
Akuto dzidzisa mipanda kamukomana uyu. The research in this is amazing