cafegroundzero
Illinois
A question about this place:
What languages are spoken here? What's it like to learn one of them?
Answers:
georgianna
Lee
Zambia was a British Colony and so English the official government language. However, there are over 70 African dialects spoken around the country. Where I was staying near Chisamba the most common languages were Bemba and Nyanja. Speaking Bemba you can greet people with “Muli Shani”...which means “HI, how are you?”.
JP Creighton
Miró: Chicago
Thank you very much for replying and for this information! So how many people do you think speak Nyanja? Is it the same dialect as Malawi’s or Zaire’s? Is it Ci-Cewa? Do you remember any of the Nyanja?
Oh, for anyone else interested, I found http://www.albany.edu/~lb527/LOZ.html
jels
10 places
some basic nyanja
hello – bwanji (boo-ahn-gee)
how are you – muli bwanji?
i’m fine – ndili bwino
thank you (vey much)- zikomo (kwambiri)
goodbye – pitani/salani bwino
my name is… – dzina langa ndine…
nyanja is widely spoken across the whole country but especially in the eastern provine, lusaka and central province.
seeing as nyanja-speaking people originate from the eastern province which borders entirely with malawi, i am pretty sure that there is a strong relation…
cheers!
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