Khabelwa Jairus is a native and well-trained Swahili teacher who is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Swahili. He is able to offer all Swahili lessons to individuals and groups. I have been able

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• Did you grow up speaking this language? Or you were inspired by a trip abroad, an individual or a certain aspect of the culture.

  Am a native speaker of the Swahili language due to my Origin. This has enabled me to speak Swahili language fluently.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  The famous Swahili writers like Shaban Roberts wrote many articles using Swahili language and this enables the people to use Swahili as a medium of communication. The first presidents of East African countries embraced Swahili and made the language a national language in the 3 countries. This contributed to the wide use and spread of the Swahili language across Africa and the world.

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or expression in the language that you particularly like?

  Yes, there are some words that are widely used almost daily. The words are Jambo which means Hallo, karibu nyumbani which means welcome home and Amani which means peace. The words are used to promote cohesion and unity among people.

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  As a native speaker and scholar of the Swahili language, I always share my experiences to the whole world by teaching other people the Swahili language and the Swahili culture. This has enabled me to travel to different places to teach Swahili language.

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  Kiswahili is a mixture of the Bantu language and some few Arabic words. The structure of Swahili language is slightly different from the English language because of the classes of the nouns. Each noun belongs to a particular class that has specific morphs that are used together with the verb in plural and singular. The morphs cannot be interchanged from one class to another. The other aspect is the time morphs which are expressed differently when using English. For instance, the first noun clause is called ( a - wa ) which takes all the nouns that represent all things that can breathe and have life. It also represents the titles and the professions of various people. For example
  Mtoto wake anachora simba.
  Watoto wao wanachora simba.
  The conjugation happens on the verb to show various noun classes and the aspect of time. For example , the morph ta,…… future, na ……present, li…. Past tense.
  Mama anapika chakula. (mother is cooking food)
  Mama alipika chakula. (mother cooked food)
  a……. morph for noun lass
  na ……morph for the present tense
  pika …..the verb in the intransitive form.
  The proper guidance on the classes and the grammatical rules accompanied by regular practice has enabled me to teach the students and they have been able to speak Swahili language perfectly.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  During my school days, I was always amused on how the same root of the verb can be affixed differently and be able to generate words that mean something very different. This amazes most of my students when they generate very many words from the same root.for example , from the root - end .., we can get the words:
  Enda ……. Go
  Endea …….go for
  Endesha …..drive the car
  Endesha ….. to have a running stomach, etc.

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Am a member of a body that promotes the proper use and spread of Swahili language in East Africa. This has enabled me to travel in most East African countries promoting the use of the Swahili language. I have learned that various communities have different dialects of the Swahili language and this affects the pronunciation and the tone while speaking. This has helped me to guide my students on the standardized way of pronouncing the words without being affected by the dialect of any community or the country. This has made me the best teacher of the Swahili language.