Answering Questions from Week 1

Habari!

Some of you sent in some great questions this past week, so I wanted to post them below along with my answers before tomorrow's new blog post!

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Aaron, from Mr. Kennedy's class, would like to know if people in Tanzania use the same alphabet as we do.

Aaron, people in Tanzania use the same alphabet as we do when they are learning to read and write Swahili! However, they don't use some of the letters because they make the sounds using other letter combinations. 

Therefore, in Swahili, there is no 'Q' and no 'X'. 

Zayquan from Mr. Scott's 4th grade class at Genesee would like to know how you got to Tanzania (by boat or plane) and how long it took you. 

Hi Zayquan! To get to Tanzania, I took a plane from New York City to Zurich, Switzerland (8 hours). Then, I took another plane from Zurich to Dar es Salaam, which is the main city (but not the capital) of Tanzania, which took 9 and 1/2 hours.  

The view from the airplane before I arrived in Tanzania

From Dar es Salaam to get to my village, I first took a bus across the country. That took 36 hours! Then, I took a car to my village, which was another hour away driving, even though the distance was only 30 miles. It took us a lot longer because the road to Muyenzi is not paved.  

This is about one mile from my house on the road I was talking about. It's actually a very steep hill down...and then back up!

Nathan from Mr. Musso's class wants to know how long it took you to learn Swahili and how you learned it?

Hi Nathan! I started learning Swahili when I was a sophomore in college. I had class three times a week for almost two hours at a time. My junior year, I studied abroad in Kenya, where I practiced my Swahili and took another language course. My senior year of college I did not take any Swahili classes -- and I forgot a lot of my vocabulary!

A lot of it came back to me though when I moved to Tanzania. Although a lot of people in the big cities can speak English, when you go to rural areas, fewer people can speak English. Where I was living, only my students and other teachers knew how to speak English...and some of them were just beginners. So, I was able to practice my Swahili a lot. I even attended an 8 hour long meeting -- mostly conducted in Swahili! 

I would still say that I am far from fluent. There are lots and lots of vocabulary words that I don't know yet, and I am not very good at remembering things! It is important to keep practicing any language you're learning (even if it's your first language, like English!) to keep growing your vocabulary and improving your reading and writing skills. 

Mrs. Liberatore's 5th grade class would like to know if there is inflection at the end of a question.

Mrs. Liberatore's class, thanks for the question! Well, it's a bit complicated. In some cases,when speaking Swahili and asking a question or making an exclamation, you produce the same inflection you would as though you are speaking English if the question is framed as a statement.

For example, there isn't really a word for 'do' as in "do you...." so if you said "you want a soda" you would have to add an inflection to make it sound like a question (if it is one) or don't add an inflection, so it remains a statement. 

However, for shorter phrases and question words, you can just say the word. Whatever inflection you might give is just to show your own emotion. For example, Habari doesn't require any inflection. Many times, I would say it in a sing-song voice to the younger children, and they would sing back "nzuri!" 

Finally, Swahili also has 'question words', much like English, that indicate to the listener or reader whether or not the statement is actually a question. There is also the phrase "je" that can be added at the beginning to denote to the listener/reader that the following statement is a question. 

For example, "Je, unataka soda?" (Do you want a soda?) could either be said with or without an inflection because the 'je' asks as the question mark.

Phew, that was a long answer....but I hope it answered your question!

Casey Park students wonder where you went to elementary school.

Hi Casey Park! Great question. When I was in elementary school, I was not living in Auburn. I actually lived in Singapore - which is a small island nation near Malaysia - until I was 13 years old. My elementary school was called Overseas Family School.

Mambo from elementary-school Me!

When I moved to Auburn, I went to West Middle School for 8th grade, and then graduated from Auburn High. 

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Asante sana (Thank you so much) for submitting questions; and feel free to ask anything else that comes to mind as we continue!

Baadaye,

Marisa