Soon Soon!

Yes, another blog entry! Why so soon soon? I am in town with a clinic worker from my community for a workshop on HIV prevention and decided to write a blog about language. Why? Because I realized today that I have reached a point of fluency in compresension of local language, and so this occasion needs celebration. At over 20 months now, my speaking and writing skills still need work, but I understand fully when others speak.
To mark this occasion, let me entertain and educate my audience. There is alot of interesting cultural inferences to make from knowing local language, what words are being lost to corrupted English (kids study at sukulu) and what idiomatic phrases are different in Zambian English. My favorite lately is how widely useful the word nanchi is. Usually just a placeholder to indicate a question is being asked, but it can also be used as a response like serious? really? no kidding? It can be used even sometimes to convey a bit of disbelief. You did what?!
What else? So the title isn’t a typo, Zambians love emphasis through repitition. Any event happening soon soon will occur before an event happening simply soon. And driving fast fast is much more dangerous than fast. Kine kine – it’s true true.
I’ve found three really humorous ironies in the Kiikaonde language as well. It’s a language with a limited vocabulary, but there’s space for a word specifically for the gunk in your eyes each morning. Maputaputa. Then there’s verbs. Kusoka sounds like ‘to soak’, but actually means to burn. Then kungivi sounds like ‘to give’ but means (yep, you guessed it) to steal. Imagine.
Are we together? In Zambian English (hereafter Zamblish), this is like asking if your audience is following. Alot can be said about the Kaonde traditional situation through what’s missing. There is next to no vocabular for insults or slang. The Kaonde people are primarily rural. The towns/cities of Zambia are dominated by Bemba speakers and it is there where cultures are more exposed and influenced by other cultures. So when the ::cough:: situation arises, I end up mixing iciBemba with kiiKaonde.
I’ll leave you with a corny observation. Another favorite phrase lately is the phrase for getting rid of annoying or troublesome people. In English we might say we’d “chase out” these people. But in KiiKaonde, you “chase” – “kupanga” people and it’s more encompassing and much more fun to use. I love threatening to ‘chase’ my kids out of my yard, but they’ve now taken to threatening to chase me out of my own yard. Entertaining, but maybe a bit ineffectual. Mwende mutende bonse. Go peacefully all.