Even those who do not know what the lyrics mean still vibe to the music.
That is about to change, because many now want to know the meaning of the words coming out of the speakers.
Some tourists visiting Tanzania come prepared with basic Kiswahili, mostly for the fun of it or to show their appreciation to their hosts.
However, an increasing number of travellers are choosing to enrol in classes and truly learn the written and spoken Kiswahili.
This aspect of tourism that does not involve going into the jungle to see wild animals is gaining traction and creating employment for Tanzanian youth in the linguistic sector.
Dickson Zablon, a Bachelor’s degree holder, is one of them. He iscovered his talent for teaching Kiswahili while living in the Morogoro region.
There he was teaching at a Morogoro Language School, but after the Covid pandemic and facing job uncertainty, he relocated to Arusha.
There, he began offering both online and in-person classes, helping visitors ranging from beginners to those aiming to improve their Kiswahili proficiency.
He chose Arusha as his centre for its reputation as the regional tourism hub, but like any initial stages of a venture, he had to earn the trust of his clients.
There are categories for visitors coming to Tanzania, he said. Some travel into the country for a long-term stay, expatriates coming in to live in the country, so knowing Kiswahili is very crucial for them to be able to navigate around, and knowing Kiswahili might give them a business advantage over others. Many more come as tourists for a few days or weeks.
Dickson said they all need to learn Kiswahili, but at a different level, and he has to tailor his lessons according to what the client requires.
The duration of his courses ranges from 18 hours to several months. “Some just want basic terms, like how to negotiate in the market, a few words to get by,” he said.
Some of his clients would run to him with their phones playing a Swahili song and ask him what it means. From traditional music to the latest Bongo Flava hits, he has translated them all. So much so that he decided to add music to his daily lessons in class.
He realised songs can be a powerful tool in helping his students learn faster and understand both formal and informal Kiswahili. The language is evolving, and on the ground, people do not speak the formal language that most foreigners learn in classes, so he had to adapt.
He would play a song in class and let the students listen. Afterwards he would discuss with them what the words mean, explaining the street slang and new words to their ears.
The traditional songs like Jambo Tanzania are favourites among his foreign students. And the Bongo Flava they hear when they go out at night becomes the subject in their class the next day.
“There is this song that says, furaha ni kulewa na marafiki. They have asked me numerous times to explain what it means, so I have used it during my lessons. And my students love it,” he laughed.
Dickson is relentless in getting his work seen and known.
He has posted flyers in hotels, airports, and frequently promotes his social media posts with sponsored adverts.
In his line of work, he meets some people from English-speaking countries, so he has a reference language that helps during his teaching, but even for those who do not speak English, he has developed his own techniques on how to teach them.
He has had clients from South Korea and other Asian nations who do not speak a common language, but he has been successful in teaching them. His tutoring has helped him further promote Tanzanian tourism.
For the online and in-person lessons, he has used the tourist hotspots in sentences as he is teaching them.
“I would use Kilimanjaro and Serengeti when forming a sentence for my students,” he explained.
That, he said, has been his way of reminding them of the attractions his country has. Indeed, on many occasions, it has paid off.
Some of his students living abroad, whom he had only met online, have travelled to Tanzania to see the places their tutor kept mentioning, and he is proud of the small part his Kiswahili lessons have played.
With the advance of artificial intelligence, Dickson has had to adapt accordingly; he has chosen to make the technology his ally and not view it as a threat.
There are some jobs he has lost due to AI. Some people would just use ChatGPT, but he admits to using the same app as a source of information.
He is confident that human skills and presence are still essential in learning the Kiswahili language, and so far, he is not afraid that he will be replaced by a chatbot.
He is planning to have his lessons on online platforms, from YouTube to Spotify.
He is keen to keep up with technology to help him reach as many people as possible, knowing that the growth of the language will ultimately lead to growth in the tourism sector.
He insists that learning the language is not hard at all; it only depends on the willingness of the learner and the teacher’s skills.
“It is one of the easiest languages to learn, because I have seen students who came without knowing a single word but ended up speaking like natives,” he said.
For now, he is using Facebook and Instagram to reach his students outside the country and plans to start his own website, just one way of expanding his reach.
Learning Kiswahili can be rewarding during a visit to the country. Being able to negotiate prices or understand lyrics adds value to the travel experience.
Taking time to learn Kiswahili, even over a few weeks, is a worthwhile endeavour.
The Kiswahili language is, at its core, a Bantu language from its structure and much of its vocabulary. It has also absorbed words from Arabic, Portuguese, English, German, and other languages. It is now spoken by more than 200 million people.
While the language may come naturally to natives, teaching Kiswahili to those who are interested helps broaden its global reach. In countries such as the United States, Russia, and the Scandinavian nations, the demand for Kiswahili teachers is increasing.
Dickson hopes to teach abroad one day and encourage people to visit the country where the language originated.
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