[Thinker]

Let us all be honest here -- the level of Kiswahili we spoke when we were hapless students in garish school uniforms and that we speak now cannot even by the most optimistic be described as similar. Retrogression is the word, and I believe I am not alone in it. We should inquire why should this be the case?

1) There are 3 well known national dailies (Nation, Standard, Times)and several other ones in English whereas there are one or two Kiswahili ones (Taifa Leo)
2) I know of only 2 Kiwahili radio stations (KBC Kiswahili Service, Baraka FM) and about a zillion English ones
3) Business and business documents like Invoices, Receipts, etc are in Kiswahili
4) Debates in parliament are held in (broken) English
5) Press releases from the Government and Press releaseas at large are usually done in English
6) Most teaching is done in English. I will not be suprised very soon to hear of Kiswahiki being taught in English!
7) Children are talked to entirely in English by parents, peers and teachers from tender youth. Unless of course they are coastal kids!

With all this in mind, what do you expect?
:-)
"Na kutoga leo Genya itawacha kuwa nchi na itaanza kuwa gontinent"
http://geocities.com/roomthinker

[Laurinda]

Heh! aki i thot i knew swa, jamani i hardly understood any of that until i read the meanings.
I think i need to update myself. Thanx

[asmini]

jomo swahili is a mixture of arab language(arabs who settled on the coast of kenya, and bantu landuage/s. swahili word itself came from the islands of east coast of kenya, Siwa ama Kisiwa meaning island, Siwa hili meaning this Island, and so that's how Kisiwahili came about, get it, when they came and intermarriaged with the island people who were then africans, and mixed their language and people with the Islanders and thats why most of the coastal people have arab in them, so which really is the real Swahili here when over the so many years has been changed?

[myke]

Kiswahili is our adopted "local" mode of communication - yes.

My beef is that forcing all kids in kenya to take Kiswahili as part of our curriculum puts kids from certain vernaculars at a disadvantage. In particular I am speaking for nilotic dialects. The nilotic dialect clashes with the bantu dialect. Making nilote kids take Swa for KCPE and KCSE and expecting them to perform as well as Kids from Coast is NOT FAIR.

The ministry of education should consider "adjusting" the scores to reflect this problem otherwise just like SAT is unfair to African Americans, KCSE is unfair to nilotes.

:)

[Wretched_Kenyans]

OO

Tunaishi katika karne mpya ya ubepari. Vijana wengi wana potoshwa na maoni mapya huku ugenini. Wana jitahidi sana kuwa wazungu weusi , na pia hawataki kujuhusisha na vyombo vya kisiasa huko Nyumbani.

Moyo wangu una sononeka niki tazama taabu za Muafrica huku ugenini. Kweli ni nani ama lini tuta weza kujiondosha kwenye mitego za wazungu?

[thierry]

we kwenda huko..ati kcse ni unfair to nilotes...kwani ulilazimishwa ku ifanya? si ka uliona ni unfair si unge fanya G.C.S.E or something .... hakuna mtu alikulazimisha..ati swa sio fair to nilotes..kwa hivyo ebu nikuulize... wale wasee wa coast wale waungea swa full time....si bado waliifanya english...uliskia wakicomplain ati oh..kwasababu si u bonga na swa full time ati tusi do engo??? no they never complained they faced it like men... we fikiria kabla upanue hio mdomo yako...no wonder akuna mtu hupenda wajathe in the coast..... i dont care what you think of this post ukiskia umejamu enda usimame kwa ubaro fulani ukanyagwe na gari me i feel nothing..usituletee ujinga wako hapa..shenzi wewe!!!!!x(

[Mungiki]

MOST PEOPLE IN KENYA UNDERSTAND MORE GIKUYU THAN KISWA! THE KISWA YO'LL CLAIM TO UNDERSTAND IS SHENG! THE KYUK U UNDERSTAND IS REAL AND ORIGINAL SO MAKE IT THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE! EVEN MO'****AS IN INGO UNDERSTAND KYUK!

[kamata123]

Kweli kiswahili kitukuzwe na kisifiwe.
Mzungu alipolazimishwa na mwaafrika ampe uhuru alifanya hivyo shingo upande. Ndiposa akajaribu kuathiri mwafrika na mila na utamaduni wake. Haiyamkini hata sasa maneno mengine ya kiswahili yametolewa uzunguni kama vile televisheni - runinga.

Kila mwafrika anawajibika kujikomboa kutokana na ukoloni mamboleo kwa njia zozote zile. Ama kwa kweli kiswahili kitukuzwe