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Why You Should Take Swahili as Your World Language

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at OSU chapter.

Every time I tell someone new that I am taking Swahili for my world language requirement, I am always met with the same confused reaction. What is Swahili? Why did I decide to take it? How did I even know about it? Where am I ever going to speak it?

Now that I am taking my third consecutive semester of the language, I can confidently say that choosing to study Swahili was one of the best decisions I have made since starting school at Ohio State. Here’s why you should make that decision too!

why did I choose Swahili?

At my small high school in Northwest Ohio, we were required to choose between two language classes, Spanish or French, and take at least two years of it. As a freshman, I chose French but only got through eight months of the class before school went online for COVID-19. We tried to continue learning from home, but with online learning still being a new concept (and the fact that my teacher wasn’t great with technology in the first place), we did not learn much.

When we returned to the classroom during my sophomore year, my teacher had health complications that prohibited her from joining us. Again, we tried to learn over Zoom, but it was not an effective way for her to teach. After more complications, French was removed from my high school’s curriculum. 

As a student in the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State, I have to take at least three semesters of a world language for my General Education requirements. As the end of my senior year of high school was approaching, I was conflicted about what language I would take as a freshman in college. Along with the fact that French is already a difficult language to learn, the circumstances surrounding my two years of the class left me with basically no knowledge of the language at all, and I was not confident that it would be a good idea to try and relearn it at the college level. Luckily, I received perfectly timed advice from a professor at Ohio State’s Lima branch campus. 

I grew up about 20 minutes from the city of Lima, Ohio, so when I was a senior in high school, I took a few classes at Ohio State’s Lima Campus for College Credit Plus. One of the classes I took was AFAMAST 2251: Introduction to African Literature with Zakaria Nyongesa to fulfill a General Education requirement. Yet another class I highly recommend, I learned so much about African culture, read incredible books like “Things Fall Apart” and had an absolutely amazing professor.

Towards the end of the semester, I talked to him about how much I enjoyed his class. He asked me about my plans for continuing my education at Ohio State and then asked if I had ever considered taking Swahili. I had never heard of the language before, but he insisted that I would have a good professor, that the language would be relatively easy to learn and that it would be another way to continue learning about African culture. After looking into it further, I decided to pursue Swahili as my world language at OSU.

origins of the Swahili language

As my professor Salome Fouts taught in Swahili 1103, there are many different theories about the exact origin of the Swahili language. However, we do know that Arabs came to the East African coast in the 15th century to trade. When they married the Bantu women living there, the African and Arab cultures influenced each other and the Swahili language was born

Today, over 50 million people speak Swahili, and a little over 1 million speak it as their first language. The language is usually spoken along the coast of East Africa, from Somalia to Mozambique, and the Indian Ocean islands just off the coast. 

Mwalimu Fouts

At Ohio State, there is currently one Swahili professor who teaches every section of the course: Salome Fouts. I’m going to be honest, when she burst into our classroom on my first day of Swahili 1101 and started quickly speaking to us in Swahili for about five minutes, I was nervous to have her as my professor. But now, I can confidently say she is one of the best professors I have ever had.

Along with being a hilarious and bubbly extrovert, being reasonable and understanding when it comes to homework, quizzes and exams and having a foolproof method of teaching, Mwalimu (teacher or instructor) Fouts genuinely cares about her students and making sure they actually learn and succeed, especially since a lot of us have had her as a professor for three entire semesters. 

Mwalimu was born in Uganda, grew up in Kenya and has visited other African countries like Tanzania. She said she loves how she can share her culture and talk about things she has experienced firsthand when she teaches Swahili. 

She also said she enjoys teaching because she likes people.

“I like to feel that even if my students don’t remember everything that I taught them, maybe [this] will be part of their life journey that will influence what they think about in the future,” Mwalimu said.

Being the type of person who doesn’t love to speak out in class, Swahili 1101 was an anxiety-inducing nightmare for most of the semester because Mwalimu Fouts cold calls her students and, most of the time, asks us not to use our notes.

But don’t let this fact steer you away from taking the course. She once asked us why we always looked so timid and scared every time we got called on, and someone mentioned that it was because she would expect us to answer her questions even when we didn’t raise our hands. It was a completely new language for most of us, so we often didn’t know the answers. To that, she said, “So what?”

Mwalimu agreed with us: of course, we would make mistakes. In fact, she expected us to make many mistakes. But why do mistakes have to be a scary thing? They’re part of the learning process. If everyone in the class makes mistakes, what’s the point of being embarrassed? 

She also went on to explain how she found the best way to learn a new language is to dive right in and start speaking it rather than study textbooks or memorize notes and vocab. She calls on us so we have to actually think about what we are saying and why we are saying it rather than just regurgitating rehearsed information. Even though this concept was scary at first, most of my classmates would attest that it was the best, most effective way to learn.

Swahili is easier to learn

Compared to most of the languages offered at Ohio State, Swahili is definitely one of the easiest to learn because English and Swahili use the same alphabet. The Swahili alphabet has five vowels and 25 consonants, excluding the English letters “q” and “x.” 

Swahili is a phonetic language, meaning that what you see or write is what you say. A singular letter does not make multiple sounds like they sometimes do in the English language. In addition, Swahili and English have many similar-looking words with similar meanings (known as cognates.) For example, the word for “basketball” in Swahili is “basketboli” and the word for “bus” is “basi.” 

“Swahili Family”

At Ohio State, there is one section for each level of Swahili. This means that if you decide to take Swahili 1101, 1102 and 1103, you will be with almost all of the same classmates throughout all three semesters. At the start of Swahili 1101, Mwalimu told us that we would become a “Swahili family,” and in a way, she was right! 

In my opinion, because every other class we take only lasts one semester, the course ends by the time we truly get to know our classmates. In Swahili, this is not the case. When we returned to school for Swahili 1102, we already knew each others’ names and a little bit about each other, especially because there was so much group work in the class. This is not only helpful when people miss class and need to be caught up or when anyone is confused and has questions but also because it makes going to class much more enjoyable!

Swahili is useful!

The most popular question I get asked when I tell people I’m taking Swahili is, “Well, when are you ever going to need to know that?” Most people I know take Spanish because they believe it is the most practical language. Yes, Spanish is more widely spoken than Swahili, but that doesn’t mean Swahili isn’t important to know. 

Mwalimu Fouts explains that people who are interested in learning Swahili might be zoologists who want to study animals in Eastern Africa, archeologists who want to work at digs in Eastern Africa, people who want to help solve public health issues or those who might work in marketing and business and want to communicate with Swahili-speaking companies. 

Even at the hospital where my mom works in Lima, Ohio, they had a patient who spoke Swahili and asked if anyone could help communicate with them. Knowing another language is an important skill, no matter where you are in the world. 

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learning intercultural competence

Arguably the most valuable part of taking Swahili, or any other language, for that matter, is learning intercultural competence. Intercultural competence includes the skills and knowledge necessary to understand and respect each other across all types of cultural barriers. Since the beginning of Swahili 1101, this is the lesson that Mwalimu has always stressed to us.

“[Students] are not seeing the world only through their own lenses” Mwalimu said. “They’re decentering, and through this different language, [they] are learning about another culture, why other people do different things versus [their] own way of doing it and [they’re] getting out of [their] comfort zone. I think there are very many reasons for people to learn Swahili based on their interests, however, just learning a world language I think changes how a person thinks about how they view the world.”

In her own experience, teaching Swahili has helped Mwalimu reflect on the other cultural identities she’s picked up along her journey, especially as a Black woman living in America. 

“It keeps me in tune and at balance and mindful about intercultural competence and how I respond in all of these different settings based on where I came from and where I am now,” Mwalimu said.

Throughout each level of Swahili, Mwalimu teaches us about different aspects of the Swahili-speaking culture and has us react to certain situations, ensuring that she keeps intercultural competency in mind.

Because the roles of women are so different in African cultures than they are in America, I have responded to given situations incorrectly and in a way that to them, could be seen as disrespectful. I have learned that just because in our culture women have the choice of whether they want to get an education or focus on being a caretaker doesn’t mean that’s a choice every woman in the world wants to have.

It is important to acknowledge people of different cultures view the world in diverse ways, and instead of thinking that the way we see the world is the only way, we should respect their beliefs. 

challenge yourself!

Yes, learning a new language is intimidating. For me, starting to learn Swahili was scary and difficult at first, but now, I love it! Even if it’s challenging, the skills you uncover, relationships you create and lessons you learn are well worth it.

My name is Ellie Keehn and I am a sophmore at The Ohio State University. I am an English major with Studio Art and Media Production and Analysis minors. I am a writer and editor for Her Campus at OSU. I love to workout, hang out with my friends and read. My favorite book is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and my favorite author is Emily Henry! I also enjoy listening to music, and some of my favorite artists are Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and Phoebe Bridgers.