Swahili
Translation: Welcome to our classes on the language and cultures of the Swahili people. In these classes we shall teach you how to read and write in Swahili. You will also get a chance to travel to East Africa and familiarize yourself with the customs and traditions of the Swahili people. Swahili also assists you also in communicating your ideas in the language. Swahili is an important language among the many languages spoken in the world. Welcome to our Swahili classes, and we hope that you will enjoy yourself and that the language will help you advance in your future life. Thank you.
Swahili, known by native speakers as Kiswahili, is one of the major languages spoken in Africa. Swahili belongs to the Bantu family of languages. It is spoken by over 100 million people, and is the lingua franca of Eastern and Central Africa. The word Kiswahili is a general term for many varieties of the language spoken along the East African coast. Those who speak it as a first language are found along the coast of East Africa stretching from Southern Somalia to the border between Tanzania and Mozambique. There are also many native Swahili speakers on the Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar, Lamu, and the Comoro Islands.
The East African coast was settled by Arabs and Persians who have greatly influenced the Swahili language and culture, so that today many Swahili speakers throughout East Africa are Muslim. Swahili has a rich written tradition dating back hundreds of years, and was adopted by African Unity as the language representing the African continent.
Swahili 101 to 104 are offered every quarter, and Swahili 401 and 402 are offered on demand.
