Woe to the Reader

When I didn't really know a foreign language, I always got annoyed whenever some author tried to slip one into a novel.

"Oh yes," I would imagine myself rather sarcastically telling the author, "you're so intelligent for knowing all these different languages and by translating for us, the poor hapless readers, you're doing us such a great service!"

Well, what can I say? I like Swahili words. It's more interesting. It's become the language of life (and love) for me. I suppose I'm taking a chance on annoying you, my dear reader. Forgive me my excesses.

If it makes you feel any better, I still regularly make mistakes in speaking--saying nazi (coconut) instead of nanasi (pineapple)--and in comprehending speech. Learning a second language is a battle of will and determination. (Though that battle can be much easier or more difficult depending on the context.)

Of course, there's Swahili on a couple spots on this page. For those readers who want to know: Nyumbani Kwetu means "our home." Wapenzi Wawili probably best translates as "the two who are in love with each other."

I'll try to do my best translating Swahili wherever it appears. I might even ask Halako to post in Swahili, if she feels more comfortable with doing that. Under those posts, we would translate it back to English.

There's a great online Swahili dictionary here but as anyone who's tried to study a language knows, a dictionary will only take you so far....