30 Comments
As I'm currently taking Latin, this is how my train of thought went with this question:
sees 'Leo'
"Ok maybe this means 'Lion' from Latin? As in 'Leo, Leonis?", "Wait, no"
"Ok maybe it's a name? Like 'Leo' in English?"
"Oh wait it means 'today' :/"
The only thing that saved me was remembering that "Simba" is the Swahili word for lion, which meant that this had to mean something else.
I'm pretty sure all the Lion King characters' names are Swahili, actually.
Edit: I looked this up:
- Simba: lion
- Mufasa: name of a Kenyan king
- Sarabi: mirage
- Nala: gift
- Rafiki: friend
- Pumbaa: slow-witted
- Timon: respect, one who respects (actually a Greek word, likely used in reference to one of Shakespeare's plays)
- Zazu: movement (originally Hebrew, but Swahili and Hebrew (and Arabic) are in frequent contact, so I'll take a wild guess here and say this might also be a Swahili word)
- Taka (Scar's real name): dirt, trash; want (which is very fitting)
The three main hyenas also have Swahili names.
Edit 2: Adding to this, here are the lyrics to the opening part to the Circle of Life, which are actually in Zulu:
- Nants ingonyama bagithi baba (Here comes a lion, Father)
- Sithi uhm ingonyama (Oh yes, it's a lion)
- Nants ingonyama bagithi baba (Here comes a lion, Father)
- Sithi uhm ingonyama (Oh yes, it's a lion)
- Ingonyama (It's a lion)
- Siyo Nqoba (We're going to conquer)
- Ingonyama Ingonyama nengw' enamabala (A lion and a leopard come to this open place) (repeats)
(Cue English lyrics)
I've learned much more about this movie than I thought I would today.
I'm hoping to help poorer countries when I'm a bit older (and Kenya is the sixth poorest country in Africa).
it's also got zulu and xhosa, both of which I would rather learn, but still great that you are!
I never seen anybody watches a animation movie that deep. Thank you for the beautiful information.
I want to know samething...No sound how i suppose to pronouce it i cant hear it spoken
Please! I want to learn the pronunciation of these words :) I can't to listen them
Why, if the translation provided is "day" or "today", and "Habari ya leo" is "How is your day?" Will this only accept "today" as the answer and not "day"?
Am I the only one that can't hear the voice over for Swahili? It's really uncomfortable, please how do I report this?
That website is NO HELP...i know how i want to pronouce it...i want it spoken so i can hear a Native tongue speak it. How reading it help me HeAr It
Going through comments I can see it's a general problem, it needs to be fixed asap. This is not cool
Listening exercises in a course without audio? Weird idea... if only we could finally have the audio we have been waiting for and which HAS BEEN RECORDED
Please fix the hints! It has both "today" and "day" but putting day is inaccurate!
1198
You can try this... ;)
https://translate.google.com/#auto/sw/today
(Listening this, I think is the same as Spanish)
Swahili has five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. If you are familiar with Spanish, Italian or Japanese, the vowels are pronounced the same. If not, they are pronounced:
A - ah (Like the "a" in "father")
E - eh (Like the "e" in "egg" )
I - ee (Like the "ee" in "see")
O - oh (Like the "o" in "dot" )
U - oo (Like the "oo" in "doom")
From Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/Swahili_phrasebook
P.S. All that stuff translating the lion King lyrics was really interesting. Thanks!
