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探访中国传媒大学斯瓦希里语专业

2019-12-04 17:05

来源：澎湃新闻·澎湃号·政务

这是官微英文音频部的第18期节目

如果你是《狮子王》的粉丝

你很有可能听说过这样一句话：

Hakuna matata!

无忧无虑！

这句话来源于斯瓦希里语

听起来很陌生

其实在生活中你可能已经接触过它了！

前几年爆火的鬼步舞神曲Seve

《文明4》主题曲Baba yetu都是斯语歌曲

那么，问题来了

斯瓦希里语到底是一种什么样的语言呢？

今天就让传传带领我们走进斯语的世界吧！

Swahili originates from Tanzania as a branch of Bantu language. Swahili is spoken in East Africa, serving as a national language of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It is also one of the working languages of the African Union. The number of Swahili speakers, be it native or second-language speakers, ranges from 55 million to 100 million. Without exaggeration, Swahili is a key to the African culture.

斯瓦希里语发源于坦桑尼亚，属于班图语支。斯瓦希里语主要使用地为东非,是肯尼亚、坦桑尼亚、乌干达的官方语言。它还是非盟的工作语言之一。它的母语和第二语言使用者约为5500万至一亿。毫不夸张地说，斯瓦希里语是通向非洲文化大门的一把金钥匙。

下面，让我们了解一些最常用的斯语对话吧！

Asante.

It means "Thanks."

Kwa heri.

It means "Goodbye."

Mambo/Jambo

It means "Hello!"

"Mambo" and "Jambo"

are used to greet

people at your age.

And the right way to

respond is" poa".

Shikamoo!

It also means "Hello!"

But it is used to greet

people who is elder

than you.

成立于1960年的CUC斯瓦希里语专业

不知不觉已经走过了59个年头，

2019年

新一批斯语小白杨开始了学习历程。

（2019级斯瓦希里语专业师生）

What does it feel like to learn a lingua franca of Africa？Juni shares her feelings with us.

学习一门非洲通用语言是一种什么体验呢？Juni同学与我们分享了她的感受。

Q: Before starting to learn Swahili, did you have any understanding of it ?

在学习斯语之前，你了解它吗？

A:Yeah，l had known a lot about Swahili. There was a graduate in my high school who majored in that. Swahili is one of the three biggest languages in Africa and l love that pristine land.

是的，我了解了很多。在我的高中曾经就有一位毕业生学的是斯语专业。斯语是非洲三大语言之一，我很喜欢非洲这片圣土。

Q: Do you have any unique experiences in relation to Swahili that you can share with us?

你有什么能与我们分享的与斯语相关的独特经历呢?

A: At first, I did not decide what to learn after finishing the college entrance examination. In holiday, I reviewed The Lion King. It was my favorite in childhood. Afterwards，I learnt that “Simba” means lion in Swahili. It struck me that Swahili had accompanied me all along!

一开始，高考之后我不确定要学什么专业。在假期里，我重温了一遍我童年最爱的《狮子王》。之后，我了解到“辛巴”在斯语中就是狮子的意思。我一惊，原来斯瓦希里语一直陪伴着我！

Thomas作为母语者他又会有什么样的感受呢？

Q: As a native speaker, what does Swahili mean to you?

作为母语者，斯语对你来说意味着什么？

A: One of the beautiful and major languages in the world. Swahili is our mother language.

世界上一种美丽而且主要的语言。斯瓦希里语是我们的母语。

Q: What features does Swahili have in your eyes?

在你眼中斯语有什么独特之处？

A: I think it has a large vocabulary, and it will continue to grow up. It's easy to learn，because it absorbs some words from other languages like Arabic, English and so on. It also uses the same alphabetical order with English. And there is no tone when you speak Swahili.

我觉得斯语使用的词汇量很大，而且还会继续增长。它很容易学，因为吸收了许多其他语言的词汇，比如阿拉伯语、英语等。它还使用与英文一样的字母顺序。在讲斯语的时候是没有声调的。

Q: What effect can Swahili have on forging a stronger relationship between China and Africa from your perspective?

你认为斯瓦希里语在构建中非之间更加紧密的联系中会发挥什么样的作用？

Juni: l think it can make the communication more convenient. Speaking different languages may bring about hassles sometimes. In addition, language plays an important role when we try to understand another society and its culture. Learning Swahili can expand the appeal of East Africa among the Chinese people. Finally, the cooperation between China and Africa is the trend of the time. From this perspective, Swahili is quite promising.

我认为它会让沟通更加便利。使用不同的语言可能会带来一定的麻烦。此外，当我们想尽力了解另一种社会及其文化的时候，语言可以发挥巨大作用。学习斯瓦希里语可以提升东非对中国人的吸引力。最后一点，中非合作是当今时代的发展趋势。从这个角度来看，斯语是很有前景的。

Thomas: It helps to expand political and economic relationships，because language is the main bridge to connect all the people in an easy way. Having a larger number of Swahili speakers in China leads expansion of doing business and builds strong political relationship between both sides.

增进政治经济联系。因为语言是人们沟通的桥梁，用一种简单的方式，将所有人紧紧联系在一起。更多的中国人讲斯语将有助于扩大贸易，在双方之间构建更加稳固的政治联系。

Even though Swahili is the most spoken language in Eastern Africa, it’s still unknown to most of us. In recent years, however, this has changed a lot. With the rapid development of The Belt and Road, the demand for Swahili has escalated a lot. Although English is well received throughout Africa nowadays, it still can’t replace the native languages. After all, as one of the colonizing languages, it doesn’t root in the history and culture of Africa.

尽管斯瓦希里语是东非使用最广泛的语言，但对我们中的大多数人而言，它仍然是陌生的。近几年，这种情况发生了许多变化。随着“一带一路”的发展，斯瓦希里语的需求急剧增长。虽然在今天的非洲，英语被广泛接受，但它仍然不能代替本土语言。毕竟，作为殖民语言之一，它并非扎根于非洲本土历史文化。

Language is the amber in which thousands of precious and subtle thoughts have been imbedded and preserved. Full of sense of rhythm, Swahili always takes us into a land which is awash with enthusiasm. But sometimes it can be as tender as the traditional Swahili song Malaika. Thousands of miles from us though, the language leads us into Africa that totally differs from stereotyped image in our mind, as if we were standing there.

语言是孕育着千百种宝贵和微妙思想的琥珀。富有韵律感的斯语常常带领我们走进一片充满热情的土地。但有时候，斯语也会像传统斯语歌曲Malaika一般柔情似水。哪怕相隔千山万水，斯语仍带领我们走进了与我们脑海中刻板印象天差地别的非洲, 仿佛我们置身于此。