Tuesday 24 May 2011

Umndeni Wami

Okay, I admit that this is random. But just for fun, I thought I'd post my isiZulu oral that I'm doing in class tomorrow. It's very simple ('cause I've only done one semester of the language) and basically tells of my family, my dad's 60th birthday party, my sister and I squabbling over a hair brush and the family holiday we are going on next week. We had to use certain grammatical forms (including direct commands, hence the squabble, the recent past and future tense, and non-verbal predicates).

Umndeni Wami

NginguAjnos. Ngingumfundi. Nginomndeni omuhle kakulu. Nginomama nobaba nomfowethu nodadewethu. Anginabo omkhulu. Umama ungutisha futhi ubaba uyi-Urban Designer. Umfowethu igama lakhe nguTenebrous, futhi udadewethu igama lakhe nguArwen. UTeneb uyafunda i-IT kodwa uArwen usesikoleni. Sinezinja izimbili. Amagama lazo nguJuliet noJasmine. Ziyabukeka. Abazali bayazona izinja. Zithanda ukulala embhedeni. Azithandi ukudlala phandle.

NgoMgqibelo ubaba wenze iphathi. Uneminyaka engu60. Asiyibukanga i-rugby. Abantu abaningi beze ephathini. Sidle uboeboetie nobreyani namameatballs.

Udadewethu uyahlupha kancane. Uyantshontsha ibhulashi lezinwele zami.
NgoMqibelo ekuseni uthe “Ajnos, mawungiboleka ibhulashi.”
Ngithe, “Cha, liphi ibhulashi lakho?”
UArwen uthe, “Angazi. Angikwazi ukulithola”
Ngithe, “Cha, uzolahla ibhulashi lami futhi.”

Ntambama ibhulashi lisegunjini lami lokulala. Udadewthu ulintshonshile.
Ngimemeze, “Arwen, mus' ukuntshonsha ibhulashi. Libuyise!”
Uthe, “Mus' ukungikhuza!” Ubalekile.

Kodwa ngithanda udadewethu. Ngithanda umndeni wonke. Ngesonto elizayo sizohamba eholidini. Sizohamba eDrakensburg. Asizuhamiba sodwa. O-anti nomalume bazohamba futhi. Sizohamba ngezimoto. Sizohlala impelasonto yonke.

1 comment:

Hans Georg Lundahl said...

Is it just me, or is there some overlap between Zulu and Quenya phonology (like how the syllables sound and so on)?