INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SWAHILI CULTURE



Swahili is said to be an easy African language for an English speaker to learn. It’s one of the few sub-Saharan African languages that have no lexical tone, just like in English. It’s also much easier to read as you read out Swahili words just the way they are written.
The Arabic language has had a significant influence on Swahili – a significant proportion of the Swahili vocabulary comes from Arabic. This stems from the centuries of contact between inhabitants of the eastern coast of Africa and Arabic traders. Swahili is a member of the Bantu group, despite its heavy Arabic influence. Swahili’ was the word used by Arab visitors to East Africa to describe ‘the coast’ The first Arab visitors to East Africa used the word “Swahili” to describe the coastal region in general, and it gradually came to apply to the distinctive East African culture in that area.
The Arabic and Persian influence is very much present in the Swahili cuisine. Most of the cooking is rich in spices – the use of coconut, cardamom, garlic, saffron, turmeric, and pilau masala – a unique mix of black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and cumin used in many rice and stew recipes. Popular Swahili dishes include biriani, mseto, vitumbua, haluwa, kaimati, mshikaki, mahamri, pilau, boko bokoInteresting facts about the swahili language and culture_cuisine

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