Learning Lugandan

Tomorrow (so by the time this is online: yesterday) I’ll be here for six weeks. We arrived late May and we’re now approaching half July. A lot has happened (duh…) and I’ve shared most of what’s worth sharing with you. There’s one thing I haven’t talked about yet, and it’s time to do so: the language! I’m not sure how useful this will be for anyone reading this, but I feel like I should write something about it. And given that this blog is no democracy and I determine what is posted I guess you’ll have to live with that decision. But who knows! Maybe you’ll love the language or discover that you had been waiting to wish your friends goodnight in Lugandan!

That’s right, Lugandan. Just to keep it complicated. In Uganda there is a kingdom called Buganda. The Bugandan speak Lugandan. Easy, right? You probably know a lot of people mistakenly call the Netherlands ‘Holland’. They do so because Holland used to be the most important province and now contains the most prominent cities. Similarly, Buganda is the most prominent area of Uganda in the center of the country, and Uganda is derived from Buganda. The Bagandan are the largest ethnic group and thus their language, from the Bantu linguistic family, is spoken in the Kampala area and some other parts of the country. However, in total there are (I think) around 50 different (small) languages in Uganda, so it's not a language that will be useful everywhere in the country… Anyway, it’s the one that’s most useful in our daily life here, and as a sign of respect towards people here we began learning bits of Lugandan a few weeks ago. Rebecca (with some help of Coney and Brian) teaches us Lugandan, and in return I teach her some Dutch and Anna teaches Brian some Swedish.

The language is complicated and in my opinion most words look alike. As a result, most of the words we’ve learned so far are either short sentences or isolated words. My attempts to make sentences with the words I know fail based on a lack of grammar, but usually saying good morning, good night or thank you for the food is enough to show people you are trying to learn a little. The pronunciation is usually rather straightforward. I’ve typed the notes from my notebook in a document that I’ve copied below. Unless otherwise stated the words are pronounced the way you see them.

Ki or ky are pronounced as chi / tchi (kind of like in chips)

Double letters usually mean that’s where you put emphasis.

Most vowels are pronounced long (e.g. webale = weebaalee)

Yes (polite) wanji (pronounced as if ‘wangi’)

Yes

No neda

Thank you webale

Than you too kale nawe webale

Okay / sure kale

Hi! / How are you? olyotya

Response jendi (I’m okay)

Response nsanyuse nnyo (I’m very happy! – with a specific thing)

Good morning wasuze otya

Plural mwasuze mutya

Response nasuze bulungi

Good afternoon wasibye otya

Plural musibye mutya

Response nasibye bulungi

Good night sula bulungi

Plural musule bulungi

Goodbye welaba

Have a nice weekend! Weekendi nunji

We’ve had fun/ we enjoyed tunyumidwa nnyo

That’s fun kinyuma

Sir / man sebo

Madam / woman nyabo

Thank you for the food ofumbye nnyo

I am going to ... ngenda mu ...

Example ngenda mu ekibuga (silent e after mu) (I’m going to the city)

Are you going to ... ? ogenda mu ... ?

I’m going to <specific city> ngenda <specific city>

Example ngenda Jinja / ngenda Kampala

I’m going to <person> ngenda wa <person>

Example ngenda wa Rebecca / ngenda wa Anna

I’m going to <specific location> ngenda ku <specific location>

Example ngenda ku Manhattan Guest. / ngenda ku Makerere Univ.

To tell the taxi to park Parkingi / Maaso awo (first o is silent)

Where are you? (singular) oli wa?

Where are you? (plural) muli wa?

How far on your journey are you? Otuse wa? (singular)

How far on your journey are you? Mutuse wa? (plural)

City ekibuga (ki / ky = tchi)

Village ekyalo

My name is ... amanya gange nze ... (Julien)

I come from the Netherlands nva mu Nederland

I study in Ireland nsomera mu Ireland (pronounce: nsomela)

I am 22 years old nina emyaka abili mwebili

Well done! / Good job! jebale kko! (pronounce: dje...)

Reply kale nawe jebala kko! (same)

Can I have ... (food) njagala kulya ...

Example njagala kulya matoke / njagala kulya spaghetti

Can I have ... (drink) njagala kunywa ...

Example njagala kunywa soda / juice / beer

Beer omwenge

To eat kulya

To drink kunywa

One emu

Two bili

Three satu

Four nya

Five tano

Six mukaga

Seven musanvu

Eight munana

Nine mwenda

Ten kumi

Eleven kuminemu

Twelve kuminabili

Thirteen kuminasato

Fourteen kuminanya

Fifteen kuminatano

Sixteen kuminamukaga

Seventeen kuminamusanvu

Eighteen kuminamunana

Nineteen kuminamwenda

Twenty abili

Hundred kikumi

Twohundred bibili

Threehundred bisatu

Fourhundred bina

Fivehundred bitano

Sixhundred lukaga

Sevenhundred lusanvu

Eighthundred lunana

Ninehundred lwenda

Thousand lukumi

Two thousand nkumibili

Five thousand nkumitano

Ten thousand mutwalo

Twenty thousand mitwalo ebilii

Fifty thousand mitwalo etano

Goat embuzi

Pig embizi

Dog embwa

Duck embata

Cow ente

Chicken enkoko

Cat kapa

Happy Birthday! amazalibwa amalungi!

You look good olabika bulungi / onyilila

I’m very happy to see you Nsanyuse nnyo o kulaba

I appreciate nsimye nnyo

(sort of Ugandan version of ‘ik maan roos vis’)

Moon / month omwezi

Lose okufirwa

Fish ekyenyanja

Toe akagele

Nose enyindo

Belly olobuto

Eye eliso

Box ekiboxi

Pussycat kapa

Cookie cookie

Ice ici

Soap sabuni

House enyumba

Road ekubo

Path akakubo