Overview of the Swahili Basic Course

The Swahili Basic Course is divided into 150 Units, many of which are composed of dialogues, notes, and supplemental vocabulary. The course assumes the student has no prior knowledge of Swahili and is fully self-instructional. This means that while an instructor/native speaker would be helpful, it is not imperative to learn Swahili with this course. There are 20 CDs and a 587 page textbook or 1 DVD with all Units on MP3 with the textbook in a PDF file format. When finished with this course, you will learn to speak Swahili with recognized fluency.

Unit 1: Routine Greeting

Unit 2: Midday Greetings

Unit 3: Evening Greetings

Unit 4: Greetings to a lady

Unit 5: Variants on the greeting routine

Unit 6: One more common variant in routine greetings

Unit 7: Test

Unit 8: Breakfast in the dining room of the hotel

Unit 9: Breakfast at the hotel..continued.

Unit 10: Aramian enters the dining room, in company of his friend Beltrano, who speaks no Swahili

Unit 11: Aramian brings his children into the dining room between meals

Unit 12: One of the hungry children

Unit 13: Lunch or Dinner at the New Africa

Unit 14: Afternoon Tea

Unit 15: Bread and butte with the tea

Unit 16: Preparing to buy food at the door

Unit 17: How are the oranges?

Unit 18: What do we need?

Unit 19: Buying at the door

Unit 20: Where do yo live?

Unit 21: Where is Morogoro from here?

Unit 22: In a village

Unit 23: Where are you going?

Unit 24: Where has Juma gone?

Unit 25: Gone to pay taxes

Unit 26: Where has Hamisi Gone

Unit 27: Who is that?

Unit 28: An Introduction

Unit 29: Do you know Mr. .......?

Unit 30:Mr. Ochieng

Unit 32: You're a farmer, aren't you?

Unit 33: What do you do with your crops?

Unit 34: I'm a cook nowadays.

Unit 35: He's a day laborer

Unit 36: Where were you yesterday?

Unit 37: What is your tribal background?

Unit 38:Where have you been?

Unit 39:Do you speak Luo

Unit 40: Planning a holiday trip

Unit 41: Getting ready for church

Unit 42: Trouble in the kitchen

Unit 43: More trouble in the kitchen

Unit 44: Bicycle trouble

Unit 45: Trouble with a pen

Unit 46: I've lost a letter

Unit 47: Broken dishes

Unit 48: Lighting the lamp

Unit 49: Lighting the lamp

Unit 50: I'm not hungry

Unit 51: What grade are you in?

Unit 52: If you don't drink too much....

Unit 53: Juma hurt his leg

Unit 54: Where have you been recently

Unit 55: How's the family?

Unit 56: When are you coming to see us?

Unit 57: Where will you go after you leave?

Unit 58: Why didn't you come to see us?

Unit 59: Is your wife feeling better?

Unit 61: I don't feel too well

Unit 62: You've hurt your finger!

Unit 63: Late to class

Unit 64: Classroom routine

Unit 65: A letter from a student abroad.

Unit 66: My parents are going to night school.

Unit 67: What is it like at night school?

Unit 68: What about the tuition?

Unit 69: A shortage of professional people

Unit 70: A day off

Unit 71: Let's visit the farm

Unit 72: The farm needs rain and fertilizer

Unit 73: Should I get a crop loan?

Unit 74: Farm implements

Unit 75: Times for planting and weeding

Unit 76: Boy or Girl?

Unit 77: Prenatal care

Unit 78: Post-natal care

Unit 79: When are you getting married?

Unit 80: Come along to the wedding

Unit 81: Getting into the town from the airport

Unit 82: A trip to Tanga

Unit 83: How much is the basket

Unit 84: Settling on a price

Unit 85: Settling on a price

Unit 86: Buying trousers

Unit 87: Negotiating the price of the trousers

Unit 88: Where is the embassy?

Unit 89: Where is the consulate?

Unit 90: Clothes for the laundryman

Unit 91: Doing the wash

Unit 92: A good looking uniform

Unit 93: Making a bed

Unit 94: The mosquito net

Unit 95: A guest is coming for dinner

Unit 96: At the table

Unit 97: Washing dishes

Unit 98: Caring for the lawn

Unit 99: Trials of a baby-sitter

Unit 100: Trials of a baby-sitter

Unit 101: Riding a bicycle on the streets

Unit 102: Conditions of employment

Unit 103: Conditions of employment

Unit 104: Rearranging the furniture

Unit 105: Planning a trip by car

Unit 106: Planning a trip by car: continued

Unit 107: In a shoe store

Unit 108: In a shoe store: continued

Unit 109: In a shoe store: continued

Unit 110: I live in the country

Unit 111: I live in the country: continued

Unit 112: You'd better not go hunting without a license.

Unit 113: You'd better not go hunting without a license. continued

Unit 114: Time to get up

Unit 115: Time to get up: continued

Unit 116: Time to get up: continued

Unit 117: Where does the highway go?

Unit 118: Footpaths can be dangerous

Unit 119: Footpaths can be dangerous: continued

Unit 120: Footpaths can be dangerous: continued

Unit 121: Fetching water

Unit 122: Planning a hunting expedition

Unit 123: May I go along?

Unit 124: Hunting

The course assumes no previous knowledge of the Swahili language. It is taught through presentation of English translations and phonetics. The course presents Units in dialogues, drills, exercises, and English language narration.

The Swahili Basic Course - was originally produced to help students learn Swahili at the U.S. State Department Foreign Service Institute. The Swahili Basic Course was designed to help students reach a level of proficiency which will enable them to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations.

About The Swahili Language

The Swahili language, is basically of Bantu (African) origin. It has borrowed words from other languages such as Arabic probably as a result of the Swahili people using the Quran written in Arabic for spiritual guidance as Muslims.

Swahili is one of the Bantu languages and is spoken in most East African countries, and around the Congo. Some of the countries that speak Swahili include: Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mayotte, Rwanda, Tanganyika, Tanzania, and Uganda.

As regards the formation of the Swahili culture and language, some scholars attribute these phenomena to the intercourse of African and Asiatic people on the coast of East Africa. The word "Swahili" was used by early Arab visitors to the coast and it means "the coast". Ultimately it came to be applied to the people and the language.

Regarding the history of the Swahili language, the older view linked to the colonial time asserts that the Swahili language originates from Arabs and Persians who moved to the East African coast. Given the fact that only the vocabulary can be associated with these groups but the syntax or grammar of the language is Bantu, this argument has been almost forgotten. It is well known that any language that has to grow and expand its territories ought to absorb some vocabulary from other languages in its way.