Berkley Center

Swahili, also known as kiSwahili, is a Bantu language primarily spoken in countries along the East African coast. Although its reach extends past Tanzania to Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and the Comoros Islands, it is most prevalent in the first four countries (Tanzania-Uganda). As the official language of Tanzania, Swahili is both the language of administration and medium of primary education, and also serves as a lingua franca for Bantu-speaking tribes.* This contributes significantly to the unity felt among Tanzanians. In contrast, Kenyans generally learn English in school and are taught their parents’ tribal language, in addition to Swahili. If their parents come from different tribes, they are more likely to learn neither language than one or both of the tribal languages. Additionally, tribal languages are geographically concentrated, which results in many Kenyans communicating in English along with Swahili.

The interactions between Arabic traders and East Africans, spanning centuries, resulted in Arabic having a significant influence on the language of Swahili as well. For example, the Arabic word sawahili is a “plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning ‘of the coast’.”* Although the exact number of Swahili speakers is unknown, sources report over 100 million people speak Swahili as either their mother-tongue or a second language. However, Swahili is not merely a language—Swahili culture is an inherent component of many Tanzanians’ lives.

Swahili culture places a lot of importance on respect, which starts with greetings. Someone can spend almost a minute exchanging greetings before commencing their conversation. We have been taught the common greetings and responses. However, Swahili has various phrases for asking how someone is doing, for example, which is similar to English in that there is “what’s up,” “how is it going,” “how are you,” etc. An important difference that I have noticed though, is that in Swahili, people will say multiple of the greetings that I consider to be synonymous in English. Either way, it conveys friendship and establishes a rapport in preparation for the more substantive part of the conversation.

Respectful greetings are particularly important when interacting with elders. For example, when greeting someone older than you, you start with shikamoo (pronounced shi-ka-moh), which translates to “I touch your feet.” The elder responds with marhaba, which translates to “bless you.” While I became more comfortable naturally addressing the traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in my research project who were generally older women with this greeting, I had not expected to receive this greeting from children. Even back home, I am only akka, which means "older sister" in the South Indian language we speak, as opposed to “aunty.” The historical context for shikamoo takes us back to when East African residents were applying for documentation to live as residents of Tanzania. However, during the immigration process, the distinction between those who knew Swahili culture (native Tanzanians) and those who only spoke the language was made by those who started their conversations with shikamoo as a sign of respect.

Culturally, there is also such a thing as Swahili time—an entirely different way of telling time. In Swahili, 7:00 a.m. represents 1 o’clock, and again 7:00 p.m. represents 1 o’clock. The day is divided into a.m. and p.m., but appears to follow the movement of the sun, with when it rises and sets. We learned about time in Swahili when one of the people at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR, where I am interning) asked us to come for a meeting the following day “at 3 o’clock...no, 9 a.m.!”

Another fundamental component of Swahili culture is generosity, as exemplified by one of the TBAs in my study. She was just returning from the shamba (farm) with a bucket full of ripe passion fruits when we arrived at her house. She readily accepted to being in my research study and patiently answered the 50+ questions that the survey-interview comprised. As a small token of our appreciation, we provided each TBA with 10 pairs of latex gloves for future deliveries at the end of their interviews. After we gave her the gloves, she offered us the passion fruits—not a couple of pieces (enough for my four-person research team), but the entire bucket. I was in awe of her selflessness and generosity. I cannot imagine how much money she could have made by selling those fruits, and could not have anticipated how much we needed to graciously refuse before she brought a small bag and filled it to the brim with fruit, instead. The experience not only taught me more about Swahili culture, but also reaffirmed how generosity of the human spirit can spread so much joy. I am grateful for the memories I have made thus far in Tanzania, have included a picture of a beautiful village we went to for data collection, and look forward to the experiences with Swahili language and culture to come.

*Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Swahili language: African language. Aug. 26, 2014.