Part 1: The origin of the Swahili Language.

The Swahili language originates from East Africa. It is a rich mixture of different languages such as Arabic, Portuguese, Indian, and Persian. It developed as a result of trade between the coast people of East Africa and the other mentioned languages. The origin of Swahili was a little more from Kenya, where the Swahili language developed from a Bantu language called Pokomo. The Swahili-speaking people are called waswahili. Countries that speak Swahili include Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, DRC, and Uganda.

In Kenya, it is the national language and most Kenyans are fluent in Swahili.

In DRC, Swahili is spoken widely as the second language.

In Uganda, they used to speak Swahili a lot but not as much today.

Part 2: Introduction to the Swahili alphabets and pronunciation.

The Swahili alphabet is easy to learn as it uses almost the same alphabet as English.

The Swahili alphabet consists of five vowels and twenty-five consonants.

The vowels include a, e, i. o, and u.

The consonants include b,c,d,f, g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,r,s,t,v,w,y,z.

The missing consonants are q and x.

However, the additions ch, dh, gh, ng’, sh, th are considered consonants because of their unique Swahili pronunciation.

These sounds are unique. We pronounce each one differently; however, in most cases, the [ha] sound will cover them. I have taught how to pronounce them in the video, check it out. 

Try practising how to pronounce the Swahili alphabet and vowels.