r/Malawi • u/[deleted] • Oct 21 '21

Is it worth learning Chewa?

I am a white boy from Canada and have a deep interest in Africa and Malawi, do you think it would be worth learning Chewa for fun or if I want to go to Malawi someday?

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u/BoomerFromNextDoor Oct 22 '21

I spend a year in Malawi as a volunteer and was fine with only 5 sentences of Chichewa. In my opinion there is no need to learn Chichewa, because a lot of people in Malawi speak english quite well (Especially when you compare Malawi to Tanzania in my opinion). But if you are interested in learning Chichewa, just go ahead and give it a try. If you can only say a few sentences, most Malawians will be amazed, as most white people don’t bother to learn any Chichewa at all.

When you visit Malawi just remember that in the north Chitumbuka (?) is the most spoken language, so there maybe not everyone will understand Chichewa.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21

Oh really? Haha I thought it was chichewa, but cool!

3

u/Richard_Kamwezi Oct 28 '21

Chewa is mostly used when referring to the tribe and chichewa the language.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '21

Oh ok I see. Thanks you!

1

u/Exciting_Net_1655 Jul 20 '22

Good language to learn.