Swazi English

We all know that British English is different from American English, and might expect that Swazis would speak British English because that’s who colonized this region. After living here for 3 months, I can say that Swazi English is a language all it’s own. Below are some examples of how Swazis speak.

Americans say…	Swazis say…	Quotes from Swazis
Here	This side	Come this side. I want to show you something.
There	That side	Go that side to get to Maputo.
Very	Too much	You are too much clever. It is too much hot.
Pickup truck	Van	You can hire a van to transport small furniture.
Flatbed truck	Lorry	Peace Corps moved us to site using a lorry.
Jacket	Jersey	You are cold. Put on a jersey. (Yes, they do tell me that I am cold when I am not. When I tell them I am not, they tell me I am wrong and insist I go get a jersey.)
Bathe	Bath	Do you want to bath now?
Various expletives	Eish!	Eish! I almost got hit by that bus!
What???	How!	How! You cannot hand out Bibles in schools in America?
A polite request	Must	You must give me a job. You must give me that wallet. You must teach this one English. You must put on a jersey. You must give me 5 rand.
Various nouns	I-various nouns	Iwater bottle, imarker, ibed, iblanket, etc.
Him and her	Him	Make (mother) wants you to give him a tea bag. He wants to make for babe (father).
Thank you	Their surnames	Hlatjwago. This chocolate is very nice.
Really freaking huge spider	That small one	Oh, you are scared of that small one? They get much bigger than that.
Take a test	Write an exam	In November, we write our exams and then we have a break.
Hey, sexy.	I love you. Please marry me.	You are so beautiful. I love you. Are you for sale? Please marry me. How many cows to marry you?
Will you please loan me?	Please borrow me	Please borrow me some matches. Please borrow me some cooking oil. (No, this is not a question. It is an order. They do not accept no easily.)
Next week Monday	Next Monday	Are you working next week Monday?
9:30	Half past 9	The bus leaves at half past 9.
Thank you	Is there more?	Why have you given me one orange? Why have you not given me two? Do you have more?
Cook-out	Braai	We are having a braai next week Monday.
Pot	Dagga	All the youth do is smoke dagga and refuse to work.
Hard cider	Beer	Hunter’s is beer for women.
Beer	Ciders	Castle is one of my favorite ciders.
You’re cute. Can I get your number?	I want to be your friend. Give me your number.	I just want to be your friend. Maybe your husband. Give me your number. You must give it to me. We cannot be friends if you do not, and we are already friends. Fine. Well, can I buy some airtime from you? What’s your number?
Restroom	Toilet	What’s a restroom? Do you mean you have to go to the toilet? There’s a free one at the library. Otherwise, they cost 50 cents.
That’s nice.	That’s beautiful.	Your laptop is beautiful. Your bucket is beautiful. Your pants are beautiful. This food is beautiful.
Delicious	Nice	Is the food nice? I tried to make it nice for you. Oh, it’s only delicious? I will make it nice next time.
Z	Zed	You spell that name T-h-a-k-o-zed-i-l-e.
Sports team	Orlando Pirates or the Kaiser Chiefs	Do you like the Orlando Pirates? I like them. Did you see their hat in Shoprite? I have an Orlando Pirates belt buckle.
Track and field	Athletics	Our school’s first term sports are football and athletics.
I missed the bus	The bus left me	I was only 15 minutes late! Can you believe the bus left me?
Like	Love	Do you love carrots? Do you love driving a car? Do you love that man over there? (Swazis use love for everything!)

A lot of the phrasing here that sounds rude to American ears is simply an issue of being lost in translation. English is taught a certain way, and that is just the way it is spoken here. In addition, it is worth noting that Swazis show respect with gestures, whereas Americans show it with words. When shaking hands, you support the right hand with the left hand here. Ordering people around is not disrespectful - accepting a gift with your left hand is. It's different, and I hope that this has not given anyone a negative impression.

 

The pickup lines here are ones only used in jokes in America. I got two good ones this month. The first was in Boxer, a grocery store in Simunye. A man followed me for three aisles saying, “Rose? Rose?” I did not answer because I did not know he was talking to me. I caught on, and turned to look at him. “Isn’t your name Rose?” he asked me. I responded in the negative. He then said: “Oh, but you must forgive my mistake, for you are more beautiful than a rose.” I walked away without saying anything else.

Another was when I was walking in Siteki, my shopping town. A man shouted at me across the street: “Hello! How are you?” I responded that I was fine. He then gave me this gem: “I’m Trevor, and I like what I see!” I again walked on. The trick with these men is to just keep moving. I’ll do another post on the sexual harassment here – it really is something else.

Names are also interesting here. On my homestead surveys, I have met Lucky (male), Linda (male), Belly (female), Chenneth (male, and it was spelled like that), Girlie (female), Comfort (male), and many others. Something gets lost in translation over here at times. Names of stars are different too. Leon Rich is Lionel Ritchie, and there are other examples. It makes conversations very challenging because I can’t tell if I know what they are talking about or not.

There are also intersections with the culture. One of my Volunteer friends was playing football (soccer) with some Swazis. The ball was punctured. He commented that they need a new ball. In this culture, that is not an observation, but a promise to buy them a new one. They harassed him until he caved. I was asked by the police chief to buy cars, uniforms, and walkie-talkies for his force. I told him that Peace Corps is about teaching and training. He then told the Inner Council that I had promised to train all his new officers. It is a culture that will look for any chance to take you for all you are worth at times, and if they cannot get you for all you are worth then they will take as much as they can get.

I’m still learning Siswati, but I spend just as much time learning Swazi English and the tricks of Swazi culture. It’s harder than you’d think!