ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605070077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
You probably already speak some Swahili.
Sasha Saari, Southwest Virginia's only college-level teacher of the language, recently showed me that I do - which, although I'd been studying it, still surprised me.
As an experiment and in wishful anticipation of someday traveling to Africa, I'd been trying to learn the Bantu-based language using Berlitz International Publishing's recently released interactive audiocassette tape. The tape aims to quickly teach a casual traveler enough of the language to communicate at a basic level in a foreign country.
When I sought someone for Swahili conversation, friends suggested Saari. We met at a local restaurant to determine whether I'd starve or survive by being able to order a meal in one of the east African countries where the language is spoken.
"Habari gani," charismatic Saari greeted me. From the tape, I recognized that she was asking, "What's the news?" a rhetorical greeting, similar to the English "What's happening?"
Not wanting to risk too many syllables too soon, I replied simply, "Jambo, nzuri" which means "Hello, I'm fine."
In English, we talked about her career, her children and her love of travel and antiques. Then Saari took on that universally recognized "teacher look." I instinctively knew it was test time.
Pointing to our menus, Saari asked, "Ungependa kula nini?" which means, "What would you like?"
If I could have answered in English, I probably would have had a heftier meal. But after flipping through several pages of my phrase book and dictionary to create an appropriate word combination, I opted for a simple "supa" (soup) and "salad ya wali," or rice salad. While waiting for our orders, we sipped coffee, "kahawa" and "chai baridi," iced tea.
I quickly learned that it's one thing to listen to a language being spoken, which I'd been doing for several months while driving around in my car. It's a "farasi" (horse) of a different color to speak it. My misplaced accents and improper conjugations would have made for interesting dining had Saari not first confirmed in English what I was trying to order. I was so slow in forming sentences, the food would have had time to grow mold. My malapropisms definitely provided some laughs, but learning should include laughter, Saari said.
"Some words are already familiar to us," she observed as we talked. Many of us know "safari," which means trip; or "simba," which means lion. Late-night TV and B-movie buffs might recognize "daktari," which means doctor; or "bwana," which means mister. And people who recall the black-power movement of the '60s and '70s learned through a loose translation in a popular advertisement that "watu wazuri," or "beautiful people" used Afro Sheen.
"[Walt] Disney has also done a lot of familiarizing us with some Swahili words," Saari said, like the greeting "jambo"; "rafiki" or friend; and "hakuna matata" or there are no worries, all popularized in the recent movie "The Lion King."
So, yes, I already spoke some Swahili. And the Berlitz tape and phrase books would probably enable me to survive - or at least not starve - in a foreign land.
But I think I learned almost as much during my brief luncheon lesson conversing with a real person as during weeks of mimicking the tape.
Language is a living thing, Saari observed. And I agree.
If you don't speak Swahili but would like to, Saari will offer a conversational class at Ferrum College this fall. Call 365-4331. Berlitz's 90-minute tape and supplemental materials cost $15.95 plus $1.50 shipping and handling. Call (800) 923-7548.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. ROGER HART/Staff. Sasha Saari (left) gives Bettyeby CNBBuckingham a refresher in Swahili with a trip to the Roanoke City
Market. Saari is Virginia's only teacher of Swahili, and Buckingham
is one of her former students. Saari likes to use practical
exercises for teaching language, like this trip to buy produce, a
common chore in Kenya. color. 2. Sasha Saair took his photograph
during a trip to Kenya in the mid-1960s. A Franciscan novice
comforts an orphaned girl at a Roman Catholic school for gilrs near
Lake Victoria. KEYWORDS: INFOLINE