Learning the Language

The official language of business and government in Swaziland is English.  This makes our work easier in many ways.  For example, any native Swazi who has attended school through high school can converse in both English and siSwati, so we have numerous translators available.  Also, it is possible to have a conversation with most Swazis in English, with little to no knowledge of siSwati.

But I really wanted to learn the language, so armed with my small spiral notebook and a pen (thank you Rick Buddemeier for the training) I got off the bus in Madudula for the first time near the grocery store pictured below, and set out to introduce myself and learn. 

I should mention that when we saw the sign for the grocery, a lot of us saw the "PHILA" and thought of home in the Philadelphia metropolitan region.  That's pronounced "PEEL-ah" but I didn't know that when I first arrived back in 2007.

The first person I met was named Nhlanhla Ngwenya.  All consonants are pronounced.  Yeah, that was a challenge.  For what it's worth, the second person I met was named Archie.  Of course he pronounced it with a British English accent so it sounded like "AH-chee" but I figured it out when I asked him to spell it.  Nhlanhla was much tougher.

I should mention that many African languages were non-literate prior to contact with Europeans.  Please note I said non-literate, not illiterate.  Illiteracy suggests that the language is written but that a person does not know how to read and write.  Non-literate means that the language simply has no codified system for writing it.  SiSwati and many other languages were reduced to writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mainly through the work of missionaries.  After all, you can't give a person a Bible if you can't write it down in their language.

Anyway, the upshot of a language that has only been written in a standard form for a hundred or so years is that the linguists who reduced it to writing avoided many of the irregularities that make English such a mess to learn.  In siSwati (as far as I have been able to determine), all consonants and vowels are pronounced.  Once one learns how to pronounce them, one can read the language (understanding it takes considerably more work).

One pitfall was the fact that siSwati uses sounds that are not used in English.  One is a click made with the tongue on the palate which is represented by the letter "C."  Another is a kind of hiss sound made by aspirating with the tongue pressed up against the palate.  To pronounce it, press your tongue against your palate like you are going to say the letter "L" and then breath like you are saying an "H."  Cool sound right?  Well, that is written (sensibly enough) "HL" in siSwati.

Back to the guy I met, his name was Nhlanhla.  All consonants pronounced.  I had to listen to it three times before I dared try to pronounce it.  And when I did, it sounded like "Shaa-shaa."  It sounded right to me.  Not to him!  He told me to call him "Lucky" because that is what Nhlanhla means.  But I was determined not to give up (as I mentioned, this was the first person I met).  Finally I got closer, pronouncing the "N's" and saying something like "Nshaan-shaan."

I think I eventually got better, maybe not.  But I am determined to keep trying.  There is very little material available in the States on learning siSwati, but I've had very good tutors while I've been in Swaziland.  Most of all, being someone whose (very easy to pronounce) name is often butchered, I want to learn to say the names of all the wonderful people I have come to know in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

More on language later.  I have to leave for a team potluck and meeting ...