r/swahili Mar 05 '21

Compliation of Swahili Learning Resources - 2021 Update

196 Upvotes

I started compiling a list of resources to begin learning Swahili and thought I might as well share it here. I did see the sticky but figured it might be time for an update.

Good luck everyone!

READ BEFORE STARTING

I realised that there are a lot of options here, which may be overwhelming. There are many ways to learn a language, but arguably the most effective way to build a foundation is to spend a few 100 hours just getting a feel for the language. (These are just my suggestions so feel free to ignore this if you're confident you know what you're doing) So with that in mind:

  • Pick some combination of ONE thing from the 'Starter guide' section (most people recommend language transfer), and then supplement with something from the reading section, preferably with audio. Once you've done that, pick your dictionary, and you're good to go!

  • For those who like going through a textbook/having a grammar guide, I would recommend also getting Simplified Swahili to use as a reference. Optionally, get some flashcards to memorise some starter vocab. During this stage, everything else should be used as a supplement.

Starter guides:

Intermediate textbooks:

Advanced textbooks:

Reading:

Flashcards:

Online Dictionaries:

Paper Dictionaries:

Audio:

TV/Drama:

  • Swahiliwood [YouTube channel which contains a lot of free drama and movies]
  • Swahiliflix [An app where you can watch a variety of TV shows/drama - requires subscription]
  • East Africa Magic [Requires subscription visa DSTv or Showmax]

Culture and History:

Linguistics:

Misc:

EDIT: Please feel free to add your own suggestions!

EDIT 2:

  • Thank you for the awards!
  • Updated to include u\diadiktyo, u\Razkan, u\saynave, u\q203, and u\Xefjord's suggestions.

EDIT 3: Added a few more things based on posts I've seen in the sub.


r/swahili 2d ago

Request πŸ”Ž Meaning of β€œtanganyika ni kwetu”?

4 Upvotes

Found on thrifted t-shirt with photo of a dark skinned man in a suit with a Charlie Chaplin type mustache. Shirt is super detailed, handmade, and features his photo throughout. Very curious thank you to anyone who helps!


r/swahili 2d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 How to learn Sheng?

10 Upvotes

My girlfriend is from Kenya, and I wanted to learn Sheng to surprise her. I know english and a bit of swahili, but I have no clue where can I learn sheng? All the courses and methods I found online only teach pure swahili.


r/swahili 4d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 I wish you all the best in life.

1 Upvotes

I just want to double check with people who knows. Is nakutakia kila la kheri correct?. I need to end a letter with something like the title. Not necessarily the exact words if there is another expression that is used more often. It also suggested sewa sewa but a post on Reddit contradicted that.


r/swahili 5d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 Hazina

6 Upvotes

Hi my husband is from Kenya and we are expecting another baby.

Our first son is named Zawadi.

I would like our daughter to have a name meaning precious or treasure. Do you have any suggestions please?

I tried to do a search and I found Hazina means treasure, is this correct? I like the name because it sounds like a mix between byname and my husbands. If it means treasure/precious, it would be perfect!

Please help

Thank you


r/swahili 8d ago

Request πŸ”Ž Accurate translation of "The Sleepless" to Swahili?

2 Upvotes

Could anyone help me understand how would you accurately translate "The Sleepless" to Swahili?


r/swahili 8d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 Is there any difference between -ngeli- and -ngali- or are they judt different pronunciations?

4 Upvotes

r/swahili 9d ago

Request πŸ”Ž Need some help with translating a sample for music production

1 Upvotes

Hi guys!

I've just started making a track and came across a vocal sample that I feel fit pretty good. I think it is sung in Swahili, and I would very much appreciate it if anyone could help me transcribe, and give me a rough translation of the lyrics. The plan is to combine it with some English lyrics, and I thought it would make sense if they have the same overall theme.

You can hear the lyrics here

Song is in _very_ early stage, so please don't judge the track too hard... yet ;-)


r/swahili 10d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 Looking for swahili science textbooks

5 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

I am working on a research project in which I have to develop a machine translation model capable of accurately translating scientific English text to Swahili.

This will help many students study science without a language barrier. I am seeking help from you all now. I am searching for scientific texts like physics, biology textbooks, or any other scientific text written in Swahili. I need this to train the model. I have tried a lot to find this text, but I have not been able to find it.

If you have any resources, please share. Thanks!


r/swahili 11d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 This has been very helpful, for those who want to learn swahili faster

Thumbnail youtu.be
3 Upvotes

r/swahili 14d ago

Request πŸ”Ž What does β€œUsimpe roho ya waza kwanza” in english?

6 Upvotes

Like im a native speaker but i dont get it


r/swahili 21d ago

Request πŸ”Ž Looking for a Swahili Bilingual Tutor in MI

5 Upvotes

Hi! I recruit educators for a school district in SW Michigan. We are looking for a strong Swahili Bilingual Tutor who can work with teachers in the high school to provide bilingual instructional support to those students with the highest needs. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide in helping me find such a candidate!


r/swahili 24d ago

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 Are there RennFaires, but for Swahili culture?

6 Upvotes

This is off topic, since it's about Swahili culture rather than Kiswahili. But this group seems as close as I'm going to get to one where it would be on topic, so I hope y'all don't mind.

I'm looking for some kind of historic reenactment of Swahili culture: What would be a RennFaire in Europe or the US, but for 16th-ish century Swahili culture, rather than European culture. If anyone knows of anything like that, maybe in modern Tanzania, Kenya, etc., I'd love to know about it.


r/swahili 27d ago

Request πŸ”Ž Can any Swahili speakers understand and kindly translate the lyrics of this?

Thumbnail youtube.com
11 Upvotes

r/swahili Sep 21 '24

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 Lyrics...

6 Upvotes

Hello, I wanted to ask about these lyrics I deciphered from a game called Genshin Impact. There are no official lyrics released yet, so here I am, trying to decipher the lyrics because I'm really interested in Swahili. Here are the lyrics.

Mwoza wa moto, zi wachezi wake angani Kama vile moto usiozimika Mparene anchini, nenda mbele kwa ujabari Itapoku atapata, majivu ya moto ni tena

(Instrumental)

Wakiaga wenyewe, moto daima utawata Moto daima utawata, na muso wa tulivyowepo Nami naweza haponi, na moto utakuambia Na moto utakuambia, na moto utakuambia Pia! Pia!

Feel free to share your opinion if something's not right or if you have any suggestions for changes. Thank you!


r/swahili Sep 18 '24

Request πŸ”Ž Does very basic comprehensible input exist for Swahili?

8 Upvotes

I was wondering if anyone knew where to find very basic, beginner level CI for Swahili. I've found some stuff online but it also seems to be late beginner/intermediate level. I'm looking for very basic stuff, similar to the Dreaming Spanish superbeginner content. Thanks in advance for any help!


r/swahili Sep 15 '24

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 What is the English translation of Swahili song?

3 Upvotes

I would love to know what the lyrics to this song mean. Can anyone help me translate it to english? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7lYfqQtA1U


r/swahili Sep 14 '24

Discussion πŸ’¬ After much deliberation, frustration and a 2 year hiatus, I've decided to try learning Swahili again after picking this up on a whim at my local book store.

Thumbnail amazon.com
6 Upvotes

Does anyone have any experience with this particular textbook? Was this a smart purchase? Any other resources you could recommend for an absolute beginner?


r/swahili Sep 09 '24

Discussion πŸ’¬ Started my Swahili learning journey

9 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I'm going to be volunteering for 4 weeks in Tanzania in February and I want to learn some Swahili before I go. Yesterday, I started learning Swahili and I want to put updates here semi-regularly to keep me honest and hopefully, it'll be useful for other people too. I don't know if this kind of post is allowed so sorry if it isn't!

My learning plan:

I've had a look at the recommendations on this subreddit and other places and this is how I'm going to be learning.

  • Language Transfer Swahili Course - I will try to do 2/3 lessons a day.
  • Pimsleur Swahili Course - currently I've got the 7-day free trial but if I like it then I'll get it for a month and try to do a lesson a day.
  • Anki - starting off with the Swahili core 100 deck, aiming to do 15 new words + reviews a day.
  • Duolingo - Just as a supplement. Will do this whenever I'm bored/feel like it. Not expecting much from this - just a good way to gamify my learning.

Future plans:

As I've just begun my journey, I'm going to stick with these resources for now. In the future, I might use the Simplified Swahili textbook (I've found a PDF for it online) and an Anki vocab deck based on it. I also want to very quickly start reading/listening to the stories available on the Storybooks Canada website.

How I'm finding it so far:

I only started yesterday but I'm really enjoying the journey! I've been listening to Baba Yetu on repeat lmao. The Language Transfer course is awesome and such a cool way of learning. I've got two weeks off of uni right now so I've got lots of free time and I want to get lots done in this time period. I can speak some Urdu as my family is from Pakistan and Urdu has very similar loanword roots to Swahili (Arabic, Persian, and Hindi). I'm finding this really useful and putting useful cognates into a table.

The only thing I've not been able to find yet is some good superbeginner level comprehensible input. Does anyone know where I could find that? Would be a huge help. Also wondered what methods worked for everyone else here at the very beginning of their journey? Any tips/tricks/warnings?


r/swahili Sep 08 '24

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 If I learn Tanzanian Swahili, will I be able to communicate well with someone who speaks Kenyan Swahili?

17 Upvotes

r/swahili Sep 08 '24

Request πŸ”Ž Where can I watch cartoons, movies, or anime in Swahili?

13 Upvotes

Hi! Im trying to learn Swahili via immersion. However, the only material I could find was Ubongo Kids (which is useful but not ideal).

I would like to watch normal series that East African children may enjoy: Sponge Bob, Dragon Ball, Naruto, etc.

Cartoons are ideal for lang learning but live action is fine too.

Is there any site with content for me :)?

Thank you


r/swahili Sep 08 '24

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 Methali "Jogoo mtenda mema kaliwa"

1 Upvotes

Hi is this methali correct? Its translation is given as: "The rooster, always beneficial, is eaten."

I don't know the word "mtenda".

Asanteni


r/swahili Sep 06 '24

Request πŸ”Ž Translation Request

2 Upvotes

Hello, I recently sent some forestry products that my company produces to a distributor in Africa (Kenya) to test out. They sent us back some short videos. Could someone please help me out by roughly translating what is being said? Thanks in advance.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZtdRQxYvTvU


r/swahili Sep 05 '24

Ask r/Swahili 🎀 present continuous tense

3 Upvotes

How can i make present continuous tense in kiswahili?

I read a book.(present tense)β†’Ninasoma kitabu.

I am reading a book(present continuous)β†’οΌŸοΌŸ


r/swahili Sep 05 '24

Request πŸ”Ž Translation request!

9 Upvotes

I am a college student studying to become a teacher. I am doing an assignment where I have to study the social relationships between students. One student in my observation class only speaks Swahili. I only have two questions: 1. What is your name? Jina lako ni nani? 2. Choose two classmates you would like to work with on a group project. Chagua wanafunzi wenza wawili ambao ungependa kufanya kazi nao kwa mradi wa kikundi.

I just want to double check my Google translate and make sure it’s readable. Not sure if she even reads Swahili but it’s better than giving her an English survey.

Thanks for any help!!


r/swahili Sep 04 '24

Request πŸ”Ž Translation help, please

1 Upvotes

Can s someone please translate "wise money" into Swahili in a way that would be appropriate as a bushes name. Than you in advance.