Just for fun:

Who of you all has learned a few local words/phrases while hunting in Africa?

"Ach nie man" kind of universal, I think.

Learning the name of the African animals has alway been fun for me also, who'd a thunk "Cameelpard" would ever amount to Giraffe????

I grinned when my PH wrote "rooibok" (impala) on the trophy fee list on my first safari.

I also learned warthog is "vlakvark".

And probably everyone should learn these basics before their first safari:

Goeiemore - Good morning
Goeiedag - Good day
Goeiemiddag - Good afternoon
Goeienaand - Good evening
Baie danke - Thank you very much
Asseblief - Please

And while we're talking about this, unlike some AR members, I've never minded African PHs speaking Afrikaans to each other in front of me, and I don't think its rude. I think its a beautiful language and I enjoy trying to figure out what they're saying. I always request that my PH say grace in Afrikaans before we eat dinner - I just love the sound of it. I go to other countries to experience new and different things, and this is part of it. I hope to learn a lot more Afrikaans in the future.

You mean like chop chop?

When you hear the trackers in Zim use the words "gusu" or "gomo" you know it's going to be a lllooonnnngggggg day!

After my first trip to Africa, I felt compelled to learn some Afrikaans so I bought some language cd's and a book/dictionary. I was terribly surprised at some of the things the PH and the tracker discussed. They were terribly surprised and embarassed when I answered some of their questions for them. And, amazingly, the term fuken wiet kaffar stopped coming out of their mouths.

The only Afrikaans I remember is "koue bier" because it sounds so much like what it is in English - Cold Beer. At least when I finally get back over there I wont go thirsty....

Mumbo Jumbo

It means there is a lot of baloney on Accurate Reloading.

I mostly learned names of game animals in Shona:

Buffalo - nyati
Elephant - nzou
Leopard - mbada
Waterbuck - dumukwa
Impala - mhara
Kudu - nhoro
Lion - shumba
Civet - bvungo
Bushbuck - dzoma
Giraffe - tweeza
Klipspringer - ngururu
Grysbuck - nimba
Wildebeest - ngongoni
Zebra - Imbezi

that's all I can remember off the top of my head

Mangwana (which in Shona means "not today" , and probably not tomorrow either!)

A few more words come to mind:

Tambudzai - which means "trouble" in Shona - it is also my affectionate nickname for Tamela Moss at Safari Classics (it fits)

Tatenda - which means thank you in Shona - thank you is also shown by clapping one's cupped hands

Mangwana

Not sure of the spelling but the Shona "rumba" or something close to it means "bite me"

Pole Pole (rhymes with holy). Means slow. Used on Kilimanjaro.

"Jambo" - used by American tourists who have climed kili and think they have immersed themselves in Africa

This reminds me of a funny story a colleague shared. Had breakfast with two guys from Finland. Waitress poured coffee and as she walked away one of them said, "Coxy sucer" (rhymes with "gooker").

Waitress turned around and said, "What did you just call me?"

Coxy is Finnish for two and sucre is sugar. He was asking his friend for two sugars.

many moons ago my PH taught me to cuss. While he was teaching me the cook came out of the kitchen and chewed him out royally for being such a bad man

quote:

"Jambo" - used by American tourists who have climed kili and think they have immersed themselves in Africa

There are two guys at my work from Nairobi, which I started saying "jambo" to during passing. I was quickly informed that "jambo" is a tourist thing, I should try saying "sasa" instead. Thanks to these two guys, have increased the Swahili to include (and forgive the spelling):
Habari Yako - how are you
Mzouri Sana - I'm fine
Kwa Harri - Good bye
Asante - Thank you


And from the trip to Mozambique I learned in Shona:

Kunjun - Hi
Mieta - Thank you
Puessa mina lo vora - Pass me a water
Moeshi - good (not sure if that is shona, but the PH's used it a lot)

Whiski nyingine tafadhali.

And a bit more, but that was really important to get down.

quote:

Originally posted by pagosawingnut:
After my first trip to Africa, I felt compelled to learn some Afrikaans so I bought some language cd's and a book/dictionary. I was terribly surprised at some of the things the PH and the tracker discussed. They were terribly surprised and embarassed when I answered some of their questions for them. And, amazingly, the term fuken wiet kaffar stopped coming out of their mouths.

Who the hell were they refering to ? If you were the only one around, I trust that no tips were handed over, and a letter to PHASA is past due ! ! I think that such a pair of bastard sh*t-heads should be named and shamed !

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
Mumbo Jumbo

It means there is a lot of baloney on Accurate Reloading.

I learned what kind of animal a "sitbok" is...

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
There are two guys at my work from Nairobi, which I started saying "jambo" to during passing. I was quickly informed that "jambo" is a tourist thing, I should try saying "sasa" instead.

"Sasa" in KiSwahili means "now" so i don't see the relevance?

nothing wrong with Jambo in my view and i use it all the time towards my peers or someone younger than me

Respectful greeting towards an elder or someone of authority would be:
Shikamoo
Marhaba = response to above

wherethehellarewe

Now, just now, and just now now.

And who could forget "refinance", "home equity loan", and "a Lexus costs less than this".

I kid . . . It is worth every red cent.

Some useful Zambesi Valley terms, all are phonetic spellings

"Landa ene" = track them
"can john" = hello
"niga" = give me (that)
"mbofo" = gun
"mabele" = big
"piginini" = small
"vakadsi" = female
"adziko" = nothing
"manzi" = water
"buya lapa" = come here
"laka" or "moshe moshe" = nice
"murungo una pinga" = white men are crazy
"madala" = old
"madziko" = how many?
"lapa nasi teena heenya" = In the jesse we will shit ourselves!
"machende pumosore" = Our tresticles will tighten in fear!

465H&H

Nyama = meat

Kukuli = dugga bull

Makulu menege. It is what I call my Newfoundlander (Very Big) Fanagalo

Tchela tchuala mbili- i want 2 beer
Amanzi- water
Luma- close
Nkalagata nliovo- enormous elephant
Makulu- big
Mpizi-hiena
Ingwe- leopard
Seabonga- thank you
Lapa bechana-kangani- different distances
Mbalabala- kudu
Shumba- lion
And on and on... I want to become fluent in ndebele but it is not easy

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:

"Sasa" in KiSwahili means "now" so i don't see the relevance?

nothing wrong with Jambo in my view and i use it all the time towards my peers or someone younger than me

Respectful greeting towards an elder or someone of authority would be:
Shikamoo
Marhaba = response to above

The way it was explained to me was it's a shortened version of "say something now," which he equated to "Hey" in English. Just a quick thing to say in passing.

Only learned one word and that was what the trackers called me - Madala - and although my close friends in Zimbabwe all spoke Afrikaans,they never spoke it around me except in a business circumstance. I have a tough enough time in American as my close friend used to always tell me and I really should learn to speak proper English he would say, and he was Boer. But his mother was English as was his wife. Languages are not my thing. I live in a multi-lingual environment and have for over 30 years (30 miles from the border with Mexico) and my first wife was Spanish but I still cannot order a meal in Spanish. just do not have the faculty for it.

In Shona, I am pretty sure Madala is an endearing term for old man or sage.
Mangwana

Diki is another Shona word - it means young or little. As an example, we call out PH's son "shumba diki", which means young lion.
Mangwana

Having been brought up, so to speak, on Hemingway and Ruark's African books, I already had a tiny working vocabulary of Swahili before arriving in Nairobi. Ker, Downey and Selby in those days supplied their clients with a vocabulary sheet giving useful phrases ("Kofia yangu iko wapi" Where is my hat) and I later acquired two books of Up-country Swahili, as opposed to Coastal Swahili. Up-country Swahili is a kind of lingua franca, combining Coastal Swahili, Arabic, Hindi and English words, so that "bunduki" for gun comes from the Arabic, "gari" for car or wagon comes from Hindi, and "tini-kata" for can opener and "piksha" for camera come from English. Anyway, I soon had enough of a vocabulary to venture out with only a tracker/gun bearer, armed with handy phrases like " doumi iko wapi" (Which one is the bull?) and "kulia", "kushoto" and "kati-kati" for "right", "left", and "in the middle", and, of course, "lete risasi kwa bunduki kidogo" (bring some cartridges for the little rifle). Add to this the names of the animals encountered, and there was satisfactory communication.

Sometimes no words at all were needed, like the time a covey of francolin came up in front of me as I was walking into a clearing and I brought up my shotgun to shoot. Suddenly, I felt Kaoli's hand on my arm, and I stopped and turned to look at him. He said nothing, but pointed. There, on the other side of the clearing, and directly in linie with the covey's flight, was a small family group of elephants, resting in the shade. I doubt that they would have been pleased to have their siesta so rudely interrupted.

Here are Kiri-bhi, Sabuni, Kaoli and on the far right, a nameless cattle-herder, who somehow got in the act.

Madala is respectful word for an old man

quote:

Originally posted by dwarf416:
Madala is respectful word for an old man

I believe the word is "Baba". My trackers called me madala and I don't think it was in respect!

465H&H

One more tidbit that I just thought of for all of you John Taylorites. The makori-kori tribe lives along the Zambesi River in Zim, Zambia and Mozambique. In their language "mondoro" means lion. Taylor's native name was pondoro which means lion like one.

465H&H

xausa,

More where that came from please!

asante-sana!

Well in all actuality I AM an old man of 78 so I suppose it was an apt description. I was on good terms with all of the trackers and staff ,in fact the cook used to volunteer to hunt with me when I went out for camp meat.

scriptus,
tips were extremely LIGHT! I can speak and understand about 30-35% and Damn were they embarrassed. Plus, I'm 6'4 and 235 so I didn't figure they could whip my ass. I took the pH aside and told him that I didn't appreciate his and the trackers comments at all and gave him a chance to redeem himself. He didn't. I found someone else to hunt with. He ain't worth a letter but everyone I know has heard the story and he ain't getting anyone's business around here. I think he retired the following year so..........I wrote it off as one of those things.

quote:

Originally posted by pagosawingnut:
scriptus,
tips were extremely LIGHT! I can speak and understand about 30-35% and Damn were they embarrassed. Plus, I'm 6'4 and 235 so I didn't figure they could whip my ass. I took the pH aside and told him that I didn't appreciate his and the trackers comments at all and gave him a chance to redeem himself. He didn't. I found someone else to hunt with. He ain't worth a letter but everyone I know has heard the story and he ain't getting anyone's business around here. I think he retired the following year so..........I wrote it off as one of those things.

Man he was lucky then. If it had been me, there would have been a whole lot of punching and kicking going on and hopefully the SOB screaming for his mommy !

I have picked up quite a few kiswahili words (70 or so) and can count up to 100.

Words I learnt on my first visit:

Lekker (Good)
The Lekker Loo (The sweet Life)
Twala (Beer)
Linjane/Kinjane (Hello). They tended to open a few doors
Phole Phole (Slowly Slowly
Povo (peasant/common man)
Gomo/Kopjie (Hill)
Bobo (Baboon)
Tot Tot (Illegal spirit)
Robot (Traffic Light)

Slang:
Slay Iron (Rifle)
Zing (Safety Off) as in 'tune to Zing' or automatic
Vitamin S (Sun)
Doppies (empty cartridge cases)

The kids got right into the Afrikanes in 2008 and we still use in the house:

Stum/Stoom (Stop)
dis 'n plesier (It's a pleasure)

Sorry for the bad spelling.

A very young Code4. NW of Gwanda in 1984

I wasn;t feeling at all lekker so I needed some mootie for the Thamalakane 2-step I got from all from the grog at the braaii. Later i drove to the bottle store and nearly hit a muna with the bakkie (shat on him from a dizzzy height) and had to have a dop on the way back to calm myself down. (slang courtesy Gail Selby :-))

And always important in foreign countries "Choo cha kuoga iko wapi?(where is the toilet?) Be careful with that choo though... can get you in trouble in some areas...unless of course you need to get your back straightened...so to speak...

When the wife was in the hospital after her cancer thing she had a nurse from Kenya. once when I was there the nurse said she would go get some ice and I said "Asante-sana" and she about passed out, she was all excited a white guy even knew a single word of Swahili.

Another time I was at a convenience store and I heard two people talking in what could only have been swahili, I said as they passed by, "Si-jambo rafikiangu, habari za asubuhi? (hello my friends, good morning/how are you etc) They also about freaked.

My wife thinks im crazy but when I was on the road a lot the language tapes were by best friend to keep from going nuts!