Swahili Sanifu it is called when one is speaking the language. Swahili is one of the most important languages in Africa. It is classified as Bantu language. The national language of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. Also spoken in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Southern Arabian countries such as Yemen and Oman, as well as other parts of the world.
The word Swahili comes from the Arabic word sahil which means coast or boundaries. Swahili was influenced during the era of Western domination in the 19th century by England, Portugal and Germany. Example of this words are (Mvinyo — wine, pesa — coin, msumari — nail)
- Swahili is important for business: English is not yet fully grounded among the population of East Africa that is if you want to start a business and direct it to the common people. It is a language of political, economical, social influence and also a compulsory subject in the Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan school curricula. Many investors here in Kenya invest in IT infrastructures, mobile and online solutions. These new companies will require advertisements and many/almost all will use Swahili to reach all Kenyans.
- Swahili has an awesome culture: Swahili has an awesome culture and innovative ideas behind it. Swahili people are known for coming up with a creative idea when it comes to jewelry that attracts tourist from all over the world. People in East Africa use their creativity to come up with art, which they create expressing themselves take for example Kangas in Tanzania it was designed for women and now everyone in the world is wearing them.
- Swahili is an easy channel for passing information: Even though we are moving into a digital world, it is only part of the society that is migrating and those are the youths and the educated people, but take for example a literate woman who has educated all her children. The children can communicate both in English and Swahili however, most families will tend to only Swahili to keep the conversation flowing.
- Swahili is used to bond different communities in the society: In most cases, capital cities have people from different communities. Even though English is also used, it is at a lower rate, unlike Swahili which is used by everyone in this kind of societies just to bond this person and be as one.
- Swahili is needed in the market: Many telecommunication companies need people who can speak fluent Swahili to handle customers who don’t understand English. For example, at Tunapanda Institute we do help clients to do research on their product and during this research, we use Swahili to allow our interviewee to be more open and talk about the product. In East Africa, most customer care agents have to be fluent in Swahili and English in order to get a job.
This is how Swahili is important in East Africa and according to how investors come to Kenya, this proves that Swahili usage will continue to increase and it will not die. If you are planning to start a life in East Africa you should be willing to learn Swahili and ensure it is Swahili sanifu.
