uMabhengwaneUmtoliki, umlobi, imbongi, umcwaningi nomqoqi wezakudala, eneziqu zeMasters ngeClassics, okanye esekhuluma izilimi eziyisikhombisa.
Translator, writer, poet, researcher, cook and collector of arcana, with a Masters in Classics and (so far) seven languages under my belt.
Sanibonani! Hello! To the teachers: Many of the posts on this blog are useful for explaining different points to learners in your classes, especially for linking words and concepts in interesting visual or other sensory ways – all of which should enhance the way that what is learned makes sense in their minds Kubafundisayo: Iningi […]
Mehlo madala! It’s been a long time since there’s been a fresh discussion of izaga nesisho here, so I thought we’d talk about izinyoni. Inyoni is one of those isiZulu words that has a high variety of specific words underneath it (338 to be precise), much like utshwala, inja, ibutho and inyoka. The entry in […]
There are quite a few different areas for the understanding of language in the brain, but Broca’s area for understanding spoken word, Wernicke’s for producing spoken word, and the Angular Gyrus for converting visual language into internal monologue are the big three. In the beginning, there were two main inhabitants of my brain’s language gyri […]
Ngenkathi ngaqala ukubhala izincwadi zesiZulu, bengingazi ukuthi uhlobo engilubhalayo lubizwa kanjani ngolukaPhunga noMageba. Kade ngazi ngezinkondlo nangezindatshana nezindaba (phecelezi amanoveli), kodwa ikakhulukazi lezo zithanda ukubhalwa (ngesiZulu) ngezinto ezenziwa empilweni yasemhlabeni – hhayi ngezinto zomcabango (phecelezi ze-imagination). Okunye ebengazi ngakho yizinganekwane – ngakho indatshana yami yokuqala yaba yalolo hlobo. Izinganekwane zithanda ukubizwa ngelinye igama – izinsumansumane. […]
Ngakhetha ukungena ngesango elincane, nokuhamba ngendlela eyingcingo. Emva koKhetho, nasemva kokuba kwaphinda kwacweba iziziba, ngizithola ngihlukile. Izwe lethu libukeka sengathi nalo lihlukile – kunenhlasana yethemba, kungaqhutshekwa emva kweminyaka yenkohlakalo. Kodwa sengiqala ukuwuzwa umehluko kimina. Kusengathi ngaba yisiphungumangathi esalenga iminyaka emoyeni, kwaqhamuka esinye isilwane kunalesiya esangena kusona. Kodwa abakwaziyo bathi isiphungumangathi singathatha iminyaka ukuze okungaphakathi kwaso […]
In all the change and chaos this week brought to things in general, what with last-minute about-turns and an 11th-hour resignation, there was one little gem that I choose to pick out. It involves hippopotami, crocodiles, and isaga sesiZulu (a Zulu proverb). You see, just before 18:30 on Wednesday (usuku lwezithandani, futhi) I was on […]
Some ideas marinate for a long time before reaching the right moment to come forth. I had written the words down on an envelope, about 9 months ago. That envelope has travelled with me all over, tucked into the depths of whatever bag I was carrying or floating freely in the back of my car. […]
{What follows is a meditation on the deeper meaning of this proverb, which I wrote as an explanation for some work that a friend of mine is currently doing on the intersection between ubuntu and human rights.} This is the phrase which is so often uttered as an expression of ubuntu – I have seen […]
Most people who speak even a little bit of isiZulu know that one of the responses in the greeting, usually to “unjani?” or “ninjani?” can be “ngikhona” or “sikhona”. And you may also have an idea that it means the equivalent of “I’m fine” or “we’re fine”. But that’s not all that khona means. Not […]
Umuntu uyakhuluma, kodwa iSilo siyaphefumula. A person speaks, but the ‘Beast’ ‘breathes’. This was just one thing I figured out a little while ago, on the birthday of the current ruling monarch (iSilo) of the amaZulu, uNgangezwe-lakhe, uHlanga-lomhlabathi, uBhejan’ophum’es’qiwini. Out of respect, I shall not refer to this person by his igama. If you are […]