(1) What is the difference between "Swahili" and "Kiswahili?"

None. Both terms denote the same language. Whereas "Kiswahili" only refers to the language, the word "Swahili" is also used to designate the culture of the inhabitants of the East African coastEast African coastThis is the coastal strip
stretching from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique. and the people who speak the language.

(2) In which countries do the inhabitants speak Swahili?

Mainly in the following countries and regions:

• in Tanzania [as a lingua franca and second official language]
• in Kenya and Burundi [as a lingua franca]
• in DR Congo, as a majority national language [In Congo, Swahili is a.k.a. "Kingwana"]
• in Uganda [as a national language]
• in Rwanda, Mozambique [as a minority language]
• in the Comoros [as a minority language]

After the accession of Rwanda and Burundi to the East African CommunityEast African CommunityThe initial member states were: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in June 2007, Swahili is now poised to prevail across the Great Lakes Region,Great Lakes RegionThe Great Lakes are mainly: Lakes Tanganyika, Kivu, Victoria, Nyasa and Albert boasting more than 140 million speakers!

(3) How old is Swahili and where did it originate from?

Swahili had its origin at the East African coastHence the name "Swahili"The term "Swahili" originated from Arabic and means "coast". where it was used as a lingua franca and trade language, starting from the 7th and 8th century A.D. At that time the local people were involved in brisk trade especially with Arabs etc. But they did not have a common language among them and there were no major ethnic groups whose language could be adopted. Thus everybody spoke their own language in order to interact with others and as a result, a linguistic mixture came into being. So nobody can claim that Swahili is their mother tongue, even though these days there are many East Africans who speak only Swahili as their mother tongue due to intermarriages among the different ethnic groups. The small Kenyan coastal town of Lamu is generally regarded as the cradle of Kiswahili.

(4) What kind of language is Kiswahili?

Grammatically Swahili belongs to the "Bantu language family".Bantu languages cover East and Central AfricaCentral AfricaAs far as Kiswahili is concerned, Central Africa is: Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo. Politically, Central Africa also includes: Central African Republic, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville. as well as southern Africa (except Namibia). The lexis and the grammar are based upon these languages. However, a lot of words have been adapted especially from Arabic and English. Others originated from Portuguese, German, Hindi, Persian etc.

As is the case with all Bantu languages, a lot of specific vocabulary in the fields of science, technology, politics, psychology etc does not have vernacular equivalents. But because Kiswahili is also used as a medium of instruction in many Tanzanian schools, there was a need for such vocabulary to be formulated. Thus the Institute of Swahili Research (known by its Swahili acronym as TUKI) at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, and the National Swahili Council (known as BAKITA by its Swahili abbreviation) were launched in Tanzania. The former is involved in neologism (i.e. coining new vocabulary) and the latter in standardizing it for the general public.

There are various sources of neologisms (i.e. new words). To start with, TUKI checks whether a missing Swahili word does have a semantic equivalent in any of the vernacular languages. If not then the Institute adopts and then adapts an English (or sometimes Arabic or Latin) term. However, artificial words which do not originate from any other language are occasionally coined. This makes Swahili the most dynamic African language which is evolving constantly to cater for the needs of a changing world. So it is quite a challenge even for native speakers to keep abreast of all the new developments!

(5) Are there any regional differences in Swahili?

Due to the fact that Swahili covers an extensive geographic area, regional differences did arise and the most wide-spread regional variants are those spoken in East and Central Africa. The differences include accent, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Traditionally, the main dialects are:

•Kimrima [around Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania]
•Kimvita [around Mombasa, Kenya]
•Kiunguja [in Zanzibar]
•Kiamu [around Lamu, Kenya]
•Kingwana [in south-eastern Congo]
•Kingazija [Comorian dialect: this dialect is significantly different from the other ones]
•Kimtang'ata [to the north of Dar-es-Salaam and south of the Kenyan border]

Apart from Kingwana (a lingua franca in Congo) and Kingazija (the main lingua franca in the Comoros), the other dialects are hardly evident in present-day East Africa. And whereas Tanzanian Swahili is fairly uniform (apart from the fact that many Zanzibaris and some coastal inhabitants on mainland Tanzania tend to use more Arabic words than up-country Tanzanians do), in Congo and to a lesser extent in Kenya, there are some interesting regional differences.

In Congo words from local Congolese languages have also been assimilated and the main linguistic variants are: in the south-eastern provinces (Haut-Katanga, Lualaba, Haut-Lomami, Tanganyika), and in the north-eastern provinces (Sud-Kivu, Nord-Kivu, Maniema, Ituri and Tshopo). In Kenya there is a difference between the coastal and the so-called "up-country Swahili". The latter is less grammatical. What's more, East Africans mix Swahili with English but Central Africans mix it with a lot of French. For example the Central Africans would use French even to tell the time, because Swahili time (as used across East Africa) is largely unknown there. This signifies the fact that Central African Swahili did not evolve substantially.

The Kiswahili spoken in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania is regarded as the standard version ("Kiswahili sanifu"). In addition, Tanzanian Swahili is also by far the most complicated. Many Tanzanian tabloids have a habit of using numerous, unofficial or complicated words (locally known as "bombs") which are incomprehensible to many Tanzanians (especially those living abroad)! It is not worth learning such words as they keep changing every two to three months! Thus, anyone who uses the so-called "bombs" is generally regarded as being superior to those who do not understand them!

(6) What is "Sheng"?

Basically, "Sheng" is a new colloquial Swahili variation spoken mostly by young people in Nairobi. It is admixed with a concoction of Swahili, English and vernacular languages in Kenya. However, the grammar used is mostly as in Swahili. Only some words (nouns and verbs) have been adopted from other languages, and the noun class agreements are totally mixed up. But any Swahili speaker would understand most of what is being said.

Thus it would be fair to say that colloquial Swahili spoken in Dar-es-Salaam on the one hand, and Sheng on the other, are inevitably drifting apart. If this trend goes on, some day, translators or interpreters might be needed: to translate Swahili into Swahili.