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Salama? Salama Sana? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Slightly worried everything has gone a bit fruity?! Worry no more; as what you thought was nonsensical gibberish is actually Ki-Mwani, Guludo’s local dialect and the mother tongue of the Mwani tribe and all fishing villages this side of Mocimbwa.
On hearing it for the first time you get the feeling of a huge lorry with a dodgy clutch reversing round a tight corner. A long sequence of grunts and groans accompanied by some high pitched squalking that could have come from any one of the local tropical song birds (now out in full force as we head in to the summer months). The language is very similar to Swahili, an idiom understood by the majority of native inhabitants of south-east Africa. Portuguese is the ‘lingua franca’ here in Mozambique but it is estimated that just 36% of the population speak it fluently. The principle forms of communication are the local dialects, such as Ki-Mwani. Our members of staff can all speak Portuguese as well as a host of other local languages which they use amongst each other.
Ki-Mwani is a solely vocal language; the only time it was written down was a translation of the Bible by a well-meaning missionary a good many years ago, maybe he mistook the mosque for a chapel? So due to the fact that I can’t direct you to a vocab list or something else more useful, I will leave you with one phrase.
Omni ni souera Ki-Mwani – I don't speak Ki-Mwani .
For the rest you will just have to pay us a visit!
