Friday, June 29, 2007
Swahili
I've been trying to teach myself some Swahili before I go to Africa. So far, I really like the language. It's very rhythmical. To say, "No sir," you use a rhyming phrase: "Hapana bwana." The stress is always on the before-last syllable (more predictable than English!) and the pronunciation is similar to Spanish in many ways.
Some of the more interesting aspects of the language:
-there are somewhere between six and eight classes of nouns. Where Spanish has two classes (male and female), Swahili has a class for words relating to people, a class for words relating to abstract ideas, and so on. Often you can identify a noun's class by it's first letter--words in the class of nouns relating to people all begin with m or mw, for example.
-to pluralize a word, you change the beginning of the word instead of adding something to the end. Mtoto (child) becomes watoto (children). Kitabu (book) becomes vitabu (books). The nature of the change depends on the noun's class.
-as far as I can tell, there are no genders. There's a single word that means both he and she, and a single word that means both son and daughter.
-As Disney tells us, Hakuna matata really means no worries. Also, Simba means lion and Rafiki means friend.
Some of the more interesting aspects of the language:
-there are somewhere between six and eight classes of nouns. Where Spanish has two classes (male and female), Swahili has a class for words relating to people, a class for words relating to abstract ideas, and so on. Often you can identify a noun's class by it's first letter--words in the class of nouns relating to people all begin with m or mw, for example.
-to pluralize a word, you change the beginning of the word instead of adding something to the end. Mtoto (child) becomes watoto (children). Kitabu (book) becomes vitabu (books). The nature of the change depends on the noun's class.
-as far as I can tell, there are no genders. There's a single word that means both he and she, and a single word that means both son and daughter.
-As Disney tells us, Hakuna matata really means no worries. Also, Simba means lion and Rafiki means friend.
The Ponds of Kalambayi
In the mid-1980s, Peace Corps training was an interesting experience.
I'm reading a book called The Ponds of Kalambayi by a guy who served as a volunteer in the Congo (then Zaire) in the 1980s. His job was to teach people fish-farming, so during training he had to learn fish-farming himself. The training went like this.
On the first day, the woman training them had everyone sit in silence for several hours. Every now and then she would call someone to come out of the room and talk to her. She asked one question: what are you doing here?
The author of the book first responded, "I'm here to learn how to farm fish." Apparently that was wrong, because she sent him back to the room.
The next morning he was called out again. He said, "I'm here to teach myself how to farm fish." This was the correct answer, so he progressed to the next question: "What do you need to farm fish?" "Fish?" he tried. This was wrong. "Water?" he said. "Correct," the teacher said. "Now go find a place where you can farm fish. When you find it, wait there and I'll pick you up for lunch."
So he trekked through the woods of Oklahoma, where the training was, for several days. Once he found a likely pond and waited by it, but the teacher never came. Meanwhile some members of the class had mysteriously disappeared, apparently having found the correct spot. Finally the author of the book sat and thought, wait, it makes no sense for all thirty of us to find a different spot to raise fish in. There must be one place with thirty fish ponds. We're at a university, so how about the biology department?
He walked into the biology building and asked the receptionist, "Where are the Peace Corps fish ponds?"
The receptionist glanced around to make sure no one was watching them. Then she asked for identification. "If I'm not supposed to talk to you, just tell me," the author of the book said.
"No," the receptionist said calmly. "This is what you're supposed to do. You were all supposed to find your way here eventually and ask about the fish ponds." And so after all those days of trekking through the woods, he was simply directed to the correct spot.
Apparently some people in the class weren't so lucky--they never found the ponds, and had to go home.
Now I don't think Peace Corps training is like this any more. But if it is, it will be interesting.
I'm reading a book called The Ponds of Kalambayi by a guy who served as a volunteer in the Congo (then Zaire) in the 1980s. His job was to teach people fish-farming, so during training he had to learn fish-farming himself. The training went like this.
On the first day, the woman training them had everyone sit in silence for several hours. Every now and then she would call someone to come out of the room and talk to her. She asked one question: what are you doing here?
The author of the book first responded, "I'm here to learn how to farm fish." Apparently that was wrong, because she sent him back to the room.
The next morning he was called out again. He said, "I'm here to teach myself how to farm fish." This was the correct answer, so he progressed to the next question: "What do you need to farm fish?" "Fish?" he tried. This was wrong. "Water?" he said. "Correct," the teacher said. "Now go find a place where you can farm fish. When you find it, wait there and I'll pick you up for lunch."
So he trekked through the woods of Oklahoma, where the training was, for several days. Once he found a likely pond and waited by it, but the teacher never came. Meanwhile some members of the class had mysteriously disappeared, apparently having found the correct spot. Finally the author of the book sat and thought, wait, it makes no sense for all thirty of us to find a different spot to raise fish in. There must be one place with thirty fish ponds. We're at a university, so how about the biology department?
He walked into the biology building and asked the receptionist, "Where are the Peace Corps fish ponds?"
The receptionist glanced around to make sure no one was watching them. Then she asked for identification. "If I'm not supposed to talk to you, just tell me," the author of the book said.
"No," the receptionist said calmly. "This is what you're supposed to do. You were all supposed to find your way here eventually and ask about the fish ponds." And so after all those days of trekking through the woods, he was simply directed to the correct spot.
Apparently some people in the class weren't so lucky--they never found the ponds, and had to go home.
Now I don't think Peace Corps training is like this any more. But if it is, it will be interesting.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Books and passports
Well, I found the shelf of Tanzania books at the Reed library.
I was surprised that there actually was a full shelf--I was expecting maybe two or three books. Unfortunately, the "full shelf" is mostly composed of anthropology books written in the fifties. I did find a single novelist who writes about Tanzania--a man named M.G. Vassanji who now lives in Canada. Reed also has a Swahili grammar from the forties which is technical and useless unless you've taken linguistics, a book about the adventures of a female anthropologist in Tanzania, and two books of speeches by Julius Nyerere, the first president of the country.
Nyerere may not have led his country to wealth and development, but he is an inspiring writer:
"And the very first part is that all human beings are equal. This being so we have to accept that the exploitation, the humiliation, the suffering, of all men--wherever it takes place--means the exploitation, humiliation, and suffering of mankind. All men are reduced by it."--from Man and Development
Oh, and passport applications are fun. For those who have seen me lately, what color are my eyes? I put 'hazel', but hazel is technically light brown. My eyes have brown, blue, and green in them. But I have the feeling that "blue specked with green and brown" won't go over so well in the passport office.
I was surprised that there actually was a full shelf--I was expecting maybe two or three books. Unfortunately, the "full shelf" is mostly composed of anthropology books written in the fifties. I did find a single novelist who writes about Tanzania--a man named M.G. Vassanji who now lives in Canada. Reed also has a Swahili grammar from the forties which is technical and useless unless you've taken linguistics, a book about the adventures of a female anthropologist in Tanzania, and two books of speeches by Julius Nyerere, the first president of the country.
Nyerere may not have led his country to wealth and development, but he is an inspiring writer:
"And the very first part is that all human beings are equal. This being so we have to accept that the exploitation, the humiliation, the suffering, of all men--wherever it takes place--means the exploitation, humiliation, and suffering of mankind. All men are reduced by it."--from Man and Development
Oh, and passport applications are fun. For those who have seen me lately, what color are my eyes? I put 'hazel', but hazel is technically light brown. My eyes have brown, blue, and green in them. But I have the feeling that "blue specked with green and brown" won't go over so well in the passport office.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Tanzania
Everything seems so sudden.
A little over a week ago I was telling people that I had no idea where the Peace Corps would send me, except that it was somewhere in Africa and I was supposed to find out by mid-July. Now I know I'm going to teach science in Tanzania, and I'm spending my time reading everything I can find on east Africa and the Swahili language.
Some background on Tanzania:
-it's in east Africa, south of Kenya and north of Mozambique
-it contains the highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilamanjaro
-it's a union of two formerly separate countries: Tanganyika (the mainland) and Zanzibar (an island)
-it was formerly a British colony, so English is the main European language and is used in the secondary schools. Swahili is the most widely spoken African language and is used in the primary schools.
-lots of tourists go on safaris there--Ngorongoro Crater is famous for its wildlife
-Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees there, in Gombe Stream National Park. The Leakeys found skulls of early humans there, at a place called Olduvai Gorge.
-it started as a socialistic dictatorship under Julius Nyerere. Now it's a democracy.
I'll be teaching science and possibly math at a secondary school. This means I'll be teaching in English, but I'll also be learning Swahili during training. I leave for staging (meeting with the other Peace Corps volunteers somewhere in the U.S.) on September 16, and begin training in Tanzania on September 19.
A little over a week ago I was telling people that I had no idea where the Peace Corps would send me, except that it was somewhere in Africa and I was supposed to find out by mid-July. Now I know I'm going to teach science in Tanzania, and I'm spending my time reading everything I can find on east Africa and the Swahili language.
Some background on Tanzania:
-it's in east Africa, south of Kenya and north of Mozambique
-it contains the highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilamanjaro
-it's a union of two formerly separate countries: Tanganyika (the mainland) and Zanzibar (an island)
-it was formerly a British colony, so English is the main European language and is used in the secondary schools. Swahili is the most widely spoken African language and is used in the primary schools.
-lots of tourists go on safaris there--Ngorongoro Crater is famous for its wildlife
-Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees there, in Gombe Stream National Park. The Leakeys found skulls of early humans there, at a place called Olduvai Gorge.
-it started as a socialistic dictatorship under Julius Nyerere. Now it's a democracy.
I'll be teaching science and possibly math at a secondary school. This means I'll be teaching in English, but I'll also be learning Swahili during training. I leave for staging (meeting with the other Peace Corps volunteers somewhere in the U.S.) on September 16, and begin training in Tanzania on September 19.
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