I really shouldn’t be writing this at all since I have an exam tomorrow and everything but anyway, this is going to be short.
I’m Zulu (as far as I’m concerned) so I find myself comparing isiZulu (which is a beautiful language just by the way) with other languages a lot.
So I greeted a friend a few days back (who also happened to be Zulu) and I noticed that almost all greetings are not an expression of your actual state but just livelihood. A typical conversation for example:
Person 1: Sawubona. (Hello-direct translation is something close to “I see you”)
Person 2: Sawubona ntombi, unjani kodwa? (Hello girl, how are you?)
Person 1: Ngiyaphila ntombi singezwa kuwe? (direct translation: I’m alive girl,
let’s hear about you?)
Person 2: Ay, sivukile bandla. (Direct translation: we woke up (it has this tone of
regret or sadness to it))
A typical reply is anything from “kube nomkhuhlane kwaSiban’-ban: there’s been a flu (or sickness)at so and so house” (when someone has died), to we “akukho lutho olubi bandla: There’s nothing bad ”.
I can’t think of a phrase that is equivalent to “I’m great, thank you.” that wouldn’t sound awkward. Even that ‘thank you’ at end of most polite English greeting is so unfortunately awkward and misplaced in isiZulu.
And we use bandla a lot (adds that element of sadness/regret/sorrow/depression/humility-I don’t know), so I we find ourselves saying ‘shame’ a lot in English. Not out of pity/sympathy/embarrassment, just because there’s no equivalent to Bandla in English.
Are we so sad or depressed or pessimistic as a people that even our greeting isn’t remotely joyful? Or perhaps we’re just realistic about our circumstances…? I think it’s the latter.
Obviously we have expressions for joy and happiness and all that mushy stuff, but we don’t use any of it when we greet…
It’s still a beautiful language though…
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