Alex Haynie, an associate at Strathmore University Foundation, is now in Kenya until December on a three-month exchange assignment to further the collaboration of SUF with Strathmore University.  A 2008 graduate of Princeton University from North Wales, PA, Alex is interning with three of Strathmore’s departments: athletics, community outreach, and alumni development. He is keeping a journal of his experiences and impressions.

 

Kenyans speak four languages!  Americans speak one! 

 

Being fortunate enough to travel to a few different countries recently, I’m finding that the short joke that my friend Evan O’Reilly tells is very true.

 

What do you call a person who knows three languages?  Trilingual.

What do you call a person who knows two languages?  Bilingual.

What do you call a person who knows one language?  American!

 

Kenya used to be a British colony (until the 1960s), and English is one of Kenya’s national languages (Swahili is the other).  In preparation for my trip here, I began to teach myself some Swahili back in Princeton.  I thought my learning Swahili would enhance my experience in Kenya and ingratiate myself with the people—but I knew that it was unnecessary “since everyone in Kenya speaks English.” 

 

Well, after a week here, I’m cramming in my dorm room and I take a pad and pen everywhere I go so that I can ask friends how to say things in Swahili. Kenyans do know English (most people speak it, certainly at Strathmore where it is the language of instruction, but many on the street are not fluent, and I often need to speak slowly and enunciate and repeat myself). But most Kenyans that I am around speak Swahili almost all the time, unless they are in class or speaking around me.  Correction—most Kenyans speak either Swahili OR Sheng (a slang version of Swahili, which is different than Swahili—and is even different depending on what part of Nairobi you are in) OR their mother tongue.  Mother tongues are the tribal tongues, and there are ~42 tribes in Kenya.  The biggest tribes are Kikuyu and Luo, and each tribe has its own tongue, which is so different from the others that someone speaking Kikuyu could not understand someone speaking Luo. 

 

 

So while my learning Swahili is not absolutely necessary, I’m realizing that I really should learn as much as I can so that I can participate in as much of the culture as possible.  My friends seem to enjoy teaching me Swahili, and I get lots of big smiles and “ohhh, you know Swahili?” when I speak to Kenyans in their national tongue.  And so I reply to them, “Ninasema kiasi, lakini ninataka kujifunza mengi.”  (I speak a little bit, but I want to learn more.”)