Tumaini CN-CNB
Member
- Feb 13, 2021
- 5
- 5
SWAHILI IN CHINA
Writer: Tumaini
First, I would like to explain how I came to learn Swahili. Actually it was more or less an accident. When I was a high school student, I started learning Russian as a foreign language. I was very interested and besides I studying Russian at school, I took follow-up lessons through the radio. These were conducted by the Radio Beijing Correspondence School for an hour three times a day, in the morning, at noon and in the evening. When I graduated from middle school, I could read simple novels with the help of a dictionary.
In 1961 I was admitted to the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, now the Beijing International Studies University. Originally I enrolled for an examination to study English, but at the beginning of the term I was told that I had been assigned to learn Swahili. This was decided by the institute on its own after the examination. Since that day I have had an indissoluble association with Swahili.
Swahili is the common language of East Africa and has spread rapidly to Malawi, northern Zambia, Mozambique, eastern Zaire. Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and the Comoros. It has also gained popularity in higher learning institutions in Africa and further afield. There are varying opinions.on the number of people who speak it and no unanimous conclusion can be drawn. According to different calculations one can light on any figure between 5 million and 60 million. Although I can not give an exact number, I can predict that the Swahili-speaking population will increase day by day.
The question arises, when did the Chinese first come into contact with Swahili?
The earliest years of contact can possibly be traced to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) or Song (960-1279). It is hard I to form a conclusion due to scanty evidence. However: it is more certain that it cannot be later than the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Navigator Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty voyaged to “the West Ocean” seven times between 1405 and 1433. His expeditions went as far as south of Mombasa on the east coast of Africa. In view of this, we can say that Zheng He and his crews encountered the Swahili language.
It is regrettable that, not very long after Zheng He's fleet visited East Africa, European colonialists swarmed into East Africa and contacts between the Chinese and East African peoples were obstructed and sabotaged. After centuries of colonial oppression, plunder and exploitation, the East Africans won their independence in the early 1960s, and this was follower by the resumption of friendly relations between the Chinese and African peoples.
Generally speaking, for historical reasons, the Chinese have lacked access to East African languages. Only after liberation have they begun to learn Swahili.
In 1960 the Beijing Broadcasting Institute set up the first Swahili department with a four-year course. In the same year the Beijing Foreign Langauges Institute formed a special Swahili class also with a four-year course. Then in 1961 the Foreign Languages Institute established a Swahili department with a five-year curriculum. That year there were 18 students.
In addition, some other organizations initiated Swahili short-turm training classes and encouraged students to study.
To meet the needs of the Chinese revolution and to develop talented people, the Chinese government has sent groups of students abroad and study the scientific achievements, technology and culture of other countries. In 1964 the first students were sent to study Swahili in East Africa. So far ten groups have been sent. I was in one of them. I studied in the Swahili Department of the Dar-es-Salaam University in the academic year 1981-82. The head of department then was Daniel .J. Mkude, and I was taught by Daniel .J. Mkude, A.G.Gibbe, Zacharia M. Mochiwa, and Ndyanao Balisidya among others.
After returning to my homeland I have often thought them. It is a great pity that Madam Ndyanao Balisidya who taught me without sparing herself has passed away. Although I can no longer listen to her lectures, she will always remain in my heart.
Today the number of people in China who have studied Swahili and use it in their work exceed 300. Almost all of them have been to East Africa to study and work together with African friends.
The Beijing Broadcasting Institute set up a Swahili department in 1960 and Radio Beijing started to broadcast in Swahili to East Africa in 1961. Since then, 30 years have passed. Swahili broadcasting workers often receive letters from their listeners and this shows that the programmes are popular.
For 28 years, since 1964, a Swahili edition of China Pictorial has been published. I was assigned to this unit in 1968. The magazine comes out monthly and each issue has 44 pages. Describing China's achievements in socialist construction and socio-economic reform with beautiful pictures and through interesting articles, it has many subscribers.
In the same year, the Foreign Languages Press started to publish books in Swahili. Through the work of the press's editors and translators, one book after another has been published and they have won praise from East African readers. Children's books, popular science books and literary works have been popular.
Similarly, in 1964 the Beiing Film Studio translated the dialogue of some films from Chinese into Swahili and asked Tanzanians who were working in Beijing to dub the films in Swahili. These included An Urgent Message With a Chicken Feather, Hidden Sentry in Ram City and Reconnaissance Across the River.
When the films were shown in East Africa, they were applauded. Children especially wanted to see them again and again. The story lines strongly appealed to them.
In order to help translators better to work and understand the meanings of Swahili words, China Pictorial and the Foreign Languages Press, with the aid of Swahili Special Class of the Beijing Foreign Languages Insitute and the commission for economic relations with foreign countries, jointly published in 1971 a Swahili-Chinese dictionary. Its appearance filled a gap in dictionary publication in China.
East African culture is a part of world culture. But for historical reasons, Swahili literary works were unknown in China. Then in 1979 the Shandong People's Publishing House normally produced the first Chinese selected translation of Shaaban Robert's Fables ( Masomo Yenye Adili ).
I hope that in the near future Chinese readers will become acquainted with more Swahili literature and that in turn East African readers will be introduced to more Chinese literature.
In line with the close friendship between the Chinese and East African peoples, friendly contacts between them are increasing with each passing day. In China the number of people who research the development of Swahili and who are engaged in Swahili translation work will certainly increase. My wish is that China's Swahili studies will flourish for ever.
< CHINAFRICA> 1992/07
