Tag Archives: language

Shades of “corruption”

February 12, 2011

I learned two new Kiswahili* words yesterday. Translated to English, they both mean corruption. Takrima and Rushwa. Google translate tells me they mean handouts and corruption respectively. In reality, they both have connotations of corruption, but with one crucial difference. Takrima can only be given and never asked for. Rushwa can be asked for. Takrima is like a gift you give to someone with the intention of asking them for a favour. Rushwa can go both ways – you can […]

‘I beg you…’

September 5, 2010

I walk up to a store. “I beg you for rice, beans, and eggs.” (Naomba wari, marage na mayai) Don’t freak out, I’m not that low on cash yet. In Tanzanian Swahili, whenever you ask to buy something at a store, you use the verb “naomba” which means “I beg.” As people keep telling me, Swahili in Tanzania is very polite, so polite that you actually don’t use “please” very often. I mean, I guess if you’re begging already, please […]

Tiffany in five sentences…

Tiffany prefers to spend her days globetrotting and living out of a backpack. She is deeply intrigued, frustrated, and inspired by international development work, especially in food security, education policy, and citizen agency issues. One day, she hopes to convince the world economic system to work in favour of the marginalized and the environment. One of her identities is being a graduate from the Global Resource Systems program in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. She aims to write posts that will make her cringe in ten years on this blog.