There
is a general belief that
language is power. By implication one can conclude
that the more languages one knows, the more "powerful" one is. For someone truly in the quest for such "strength", linguistic barriers therefore no longer make
much sense as they are readily broken down. It is for that reason that a
language such as Swahili spoken in Eastern Africa may find eager learners in
places as far away as Europe, the Americas and Asia. The globalisation of
language learning, if one may call it that, has been greatly facilitated by the
New Technologies of Information and Communication (NTIC). As a result, today, one
can learn a new language through internet, for instance.
However,
despite the rapid advance of modern technology, a book, the good old book,
still has its place in society. That is why the book remains the one source of
learning that is easy to handle. It is long-lasting, does not need power
generation in order to be used and is cheap to obtain. It is in that category
that the book, Swahili-English
Dictionary falls.
Published for the first time in 1965 before being reprinted later
because of its popularity, the 42-year old book which is published in the Teach Yourself Series comes to the user
in the form of a pocket size publication.
The Swahili-English Dictionary is an effective reference handy book that enables the user to quickly
look up words. Although it is entitled Swahili-English
Dictionary, that designation really does not tell the whole story because
in addition to the Swahili-English
section, the authors have also provided an English-Swahili section. From
that point of view the book would be of interest to both English-speaking
learners of Swahili and Swahili-speaking learners of English. The authors have
taken care to include in the work a vocabulary range that incorporates most, if not all, the words and expressions a
learner is likely
to hear in the language.
Nonetheless,
it would be erroneous to regard the book as just a bilingual dictionary or a
glossary. This is because the user is offered a lot more. For instance, there
is a
section that treats Swahili grammar and another that devotes attention to
the pronunciation of the language. The grammar section serves a dual purpose in
that it gives the learner a general grounding in Swahili while making this specific Swahili course easier
and more enjoyable. As the learner will discover, one of the factors making the
learning of Swahili easy and enjoyable is the fact that basically, words in the
language are pronounced as seen.
In
addition to the Swahili-English
Dictionary, other Swahili-related books published in the Teach Yourself Series include Swahili and English for Swahili-speaking people (Jifunze Kiingeriza). Ideally, the three books
should be used in conjunction with each other. However, if just one book is
found, it will still yield its own level of satisfaction.
Obviously
learning Spanish like any other new language may be quite a process. If that is
what you think then remember the saying that the longest journey begins with
the first step. Start today and you may soon realize you have become the one
now explaining to others, for
instance, that moja
is ''one'' in
English, mbili is ''two'' and mara mbili is ''two
times''. Okay, kwa heri
(good
bye)).
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