Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Hujambo - Hello in Swahili

Hujambo - Hello in Swahili
 
The Language

Swahili or Kiswahili (known in Swahili itself as Kiswahili) is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Indian Ocean coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoros Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Mauritius, Oman, the Seychelles and Somalia. Although only five million people speak Swahili as their native language, the total number of speakers exceeds 100 million. It serves as a national, or official language, of four nations: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.



Swahili is a Bantu language that serves as a second language to various groups traditionally inhabiting parts of the East African coast. Some Swahili vocabulary is derived from Arabic through more than twelve centuries of contact with Arabic-speaking inhabitants of the coast of Zanj. It has also incorporated Persian, German, Portuguese, English and French words into its vocabulary through contact during the last five centuries. Swahili has become a second language spoken by tens of millions in three countries, Tanzania, Kenya, and Congo (DRC), where it is an official or national language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swahili_language
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