Before coming to Tanzania, I’d never really been immersed in any country where Swahili is the dominant language. People *do* speak English here, but more often than not, you’re going to hear Tanzanians chatting with one another in Swahili over English.

That said, it *also* never occured to me that several popular movies actually *used* Swahili. The ones that came to mind immediately were Mean Girls and The Lion King. The question then, is, are they using these foreign words correctly and/or in the proper context or are they just mixing them in for some “flavor” in the movie, without a care for the actual language? Let’s see…

Mean Girls 

It only occurs once in Mean Girls, but Katy Heron definitively says, “Jambo!” to the African-American girl in her class at the start of the movie.

Immediately upon exiting the plane in Kilimanjaro International Airport, I was greeted with several enthusiastic, “Jambo!”s, a theme which has continued throughout my stay here. It’s safe to say that Mean Girls used their Swahili correctly. Sweet.

The Lion King

Now, I’m sure there are more instances than the two I’m about to review here, but these are certainly the ones that I’ve heard most frequently in my time here, and also the ones that came to mind most quickly. Convenient, eh?

I’m sure you’re ready for this one, so let’s get right to it — Hakuna Matata. What *is* the deal?

I’m elated to report that Hakuna Matata is used often and it *does* mean “no worries!” (I’m not sure about “for the rest of your days, but it’s nice to extrapolate — thanks, Disney!) I’d say this is used most frequently in two contexts: first, if you’re anxious about something but the person speaking to you wants to reassure you that it will turn out fine. The second is if you are apologizing and the apology-recipient wants to assure you that it’s no big deal. Both, I think, are great concepts for us “Westerners” to try and incorporate into our own usage.

Finally, I wanted to touch on “Asante Sana,” which you may not realize is even a real word, as it’s incorporated into some of Rafiki’s gibberish songs. That said, the usage in The Lion King isn’t very useful from an analysis perspective, since the Swahili is mixed into a nonsense song. Looking at that type of usage, it’s actually pretty offensive, which I’m not really fond of.  It’s mitigated a little bit by the fact that the English Rafiki uses is also unintelligible, but I do wish it was clearer that the Swahili was real. However, “Asante” in Swahili is “Thank You” and “Asante Sana” would then be “Thank You Very Much.”

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd there you have it! Two accurate usages of Swahili that prove you know a few words of
the language and you probably didn’t even realize, and one gibberish usage that I’m not quite so keen on. Now, get out there and enjoy your newfound confidence with your three Swahili phrases!