Tembelea Butiama

Tembelea Butiama

Karibu Butiama / Welcome to Butiama

Karibu Butiama / Welcome to Butiama

Kurasa Muhimu

Monday, October 18, 2010

Lugha yetu Kiswahili

Nilitembelewa Butiama hivi karibuni na Andrea Wobmann, raia wa Uswisi, ambaye alikuwa Tanzania kwa miezi kadhaa akifanya kazi ya kujitolea katika kuendeleza shughuli za utalii jijini Mwanza.

Alisindikizwa na mwenyeji wake toka Mwanza (ambaye jina lake nitaliweka hapa baada ya muda kwa sababu silikumbuki kwa sasa) aliyevaa fulana iliyoandikwa "mzungu."

Awali nilihisi kuwa ile fulana angeivaa Andrea, lakini nilivyopekuwa kwenye kamusi nikagundua kuwa yawezekana sifahamu vizuri tu Kiswahili. Neno hilo, kama lilivyoandikwa kwenye fulana lina maana nyingine zifuatazo, zaidi ya ile maana ambayo wazungumzaji wengi wa Kiswahili tunaifahamu:

1. jambo lisilo la kawaida
2. mafunzo yanayotolewa kwa wanafunzi wa ngazi ya awali
3. ujanja; uerevu

Ingekuwa maandishi ya kwenye fulana yalikuwa "Mzungu", yaani na herufi kubwa ya mwanzo, basi ile maana niliyoidhania mimi ndiyo ingekuwa sahihi, kwa mujibu wa Kamusi ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza ya Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI) ya mwaka 2001.

1 comment:

Madaraka said...

Andrea Wobmann ameniomba nimpe tafsiri ya taarifa hii/Andrea Wobmann has asked me to provide a translation of this post:

I was visited recently by Andrea Wobmann, a Swiss citizen, who was in Tanzania for some months as a volunteer in cultural tourism activities in the city of Mwanza.

He was accompanied by his host from Mwanza (whose name I will post here after a while because I do nor remember it) who wore a t-shirt written “mzungu.”

Earlier I thought that the t-shirt should have been worn by Andrea, but when I perused through the dictionary, I discovered that, perhaps, I do not understand Swahili that well. That word, as written on the t-shirt, has other additional following meanings, in addition to the one that many speakers of Swahili know:

1. Something that is unusual
2. Training that is given to preschoolers
3. Slyness, craftiness, shrewdness, cleverness

If the words on the t-shirt were “Mzungu”, that is, with a capital letter at the beginning then that meaning which I had initially though of would have been correct, according to the Swahili-English Dictionary of the Insititute of Kiswahili Research (TUKI) of the year 2001.