Translations

I wanted to take some time to share some of the common words and phrases that we have been using.

Ki kati – hello

Oli Oltya? – How are you?

Bulungi – I am well

Siba Bulungi – Have a nice day

Sulu Bulungi – Goodnight

Webale – thank you

Webale Ino – thank you very much

Ssebo – Sir

Nnyabo – madam

Sente Meka – how much does it cost?

Ogambaki – whats up

Tewali – not much

Gyebale – well done

Jambo – hello (in passing) 

Neda Bambi – no thank you my good friend

Mutaca – from the soil (as in “I am a local/I grew up in Uganda”)

The one word I wanted to reflect on was “mutaca”.  Language is culture.  Notice that mutaca means I am from the soil.  That is the literal translation, but it actual means that I am a local; a Ugandan.  Thus meaning, that I grew up here, and that I am as pure as a plant is from the soil.  I believe that this is highly representative of the appreciation that people have for their culture and their land.  The language is representative of past and current culture, and I am happy to see that the culture carries through.  After being in Uganda, I am not sure that I believe that in America we even have a sense of culture.  We have homes, and family.  We experience love, lust, hate, terror.  But, we feel and speak of all of these emotions and cultural values in a blunt and unemotional way.  In the Ugandan language, you can truly see and feel the love and emotion within the translations of the words.  The culture is expressed on a whole new level when the language is spoken.  I am afraid to go home, realizing that the world that I live in and have known from birth is only lacking in cultural and in values compared to the one that I am becoming submerged into.