LEARNING TO SAY JAMBO
by Fr Chris O'Doherty
"who has just finished a four month's language course at Kiswahili . . . "
(taken from the WF / WS magazine no. 180, Oct-Nov 1971)

How different my second tour in Africa is to the first, I have just finished a four months language course in Kiswahili. This is a language which is spoken in Tanzania, Kenya and parts of the Congo, When I was in Africa from 1958 to 1961, I spoke Kisukuma, which is one of the 140 languages of Tanzania, Now since independence, Kiswahili is the official language of the whole country, So when I came back last November, I had to set about learning a new language. Not an easy task at the age of 47 when the grey matter and especially the memory is not as alert as it used to be. And so I began to learn to say "JAMBO" which means Hello, Naturally that is the first word one learns.

(left) : Fr Chris O'Doherty WF)


In the old pioneering days in Africa, learning the local language was a major undertaking. People at home have no idea of the number of different languages there are in Africa, They think of different dialects or accents, like say, between a Corkman and a Belfast man. In fact they are real languages and as different as French and German. In Tanzania alone there are 140 different languages, The first missionaries were faced with an enormous task. There were no writings, no dictionaries and no grammars. Thus, literally, they had to start from scratch.


A favourite method was to draw an object in the sand and ask, "What is that?" A pencil and a notebook was a very essential part of a missionary's equipment, He noted everything and painstakingly sorted and sifted what he learned. You can imagine his surprise when he found out that there was an amazing consistency and logic in these so-called primitive languages. He found out that there were certain "root" words that could be used in many different meanings by the addition of a certain set of syllables. Thus PAT A means to get ; patia to give, pasha to make somebody receive, patika to be got, patikana to be obtainable, patana to agree, mapatana treaty, mapato receipts. It was through the untiring efforts of missionaries and some others that the thousands of tribes of Africa got written languages. Thus the way was open for schools and education of all sorts. Naturally the first books to be written were the Bible and books of religious instruction. The religious lesson was often as much a literacy class as a formal teaching of religion itself. Thus converts came to be known as "readers" as well as "people who pray".

However as often as not the linguistic efforts of the missionaries was never printed. Grammars and dictionaries as well as treatises on local customs were laboriously transcribed by hand. They were passed on from person to person; the newcomers naturally profited from the labours of their predecessors. Thus when I arrived in Africa in 1958 my first task was to learn the "language". In my case it was KISUKUMA, a language spoken by about one million people on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. When I asked how I should go about the job, I was told to use my brains and "get on with it". The priests on the spot were far too busy to give me much help, However I was handed a much fingered typewritten grammar and a laboriously handwritten dictionary. I considered myself lucky compared with the pioneers, and so "I got on with it".

I would learn a few words and try them out on the cook and on any other willing listener—and truth to tell there were many, The schoolchildren in particular willingly suffered my first stammerings. After six weeks I tried out a little bit in church. In those days the Mass itself was in Latin, so there was no difficulty. I read the gospel and asked the people to sit down but they promptly stood up—I had used the wrong word! Naturally I was a little disappointed but really this was a harmless mistake compared with the many "gaffs" I committed later on. However gradually the mistakes became fewer and within about a year I could give a passable sermon.

. . . AND NOW
In those days tape recorders were large cumbersome affairs and their use was restricted to places which had electricity. Battery operated recorders were in their infancy. Later on, with the popularisation of transistor radios and the advent of the cassette tape recorders, things changed enormously. Now a man could have his own private language laboratory. He could record correct speech and repeat it as often as he needed.

(left) : Language without tears? The barriers are being broken down more effectively than in the past. Practice with skilled speakers (below) is an essential part of the language course.

This was a great step forward, The next logical move came in the early sixties. Group learning of African languages began to be organised. Sometimes the process of grouping was hampered by the fact that the number of learners at anyone time was very small. Many languages are spoken only by very small tribes, But where the language was spoken by a considerable number of people, and the number of newly arrived missionaries was sufficient, it became possible to organise proper language schools using the most modern techniques of language study. Thus schools were set up in almost every country in Africa.

Perhaps the most famous and efficient of these is the Kiswahili language course at the Pastoral Centre in Kipalapala, Tanzania. There was the advantage of a national language with a considerable amount of literature. A great deal of work has been done in adapting Kiswahili to modern needs; and the process is still going on.

Lessons with a fluent speaker

(Can you name any of the particpants, please ?)

After six months let nobody imagine that the student is fluent. However he has a basic working knowledge on which to build, From then on much will depend on his own natural talents and his eagerness to learn. But certainly he will know more than just how to say Jambo.