Learn how to understand weather forecasts
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to SwahiliPod101.com This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 3 - Preparing for the Worst in Kenya, John here. |
| Medina: Hamjambo, I'm Medina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to understand the weather forecast. The conversation takes place at an office. |
| Medina: It's between Frank and Rehema. |
| John: The speakers are friends, therefore, they will speak informal Swahili. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Frank: Hali ya anga imekuwa mbaya hivi karibuni. |
| Rehema: Kutakuwa na upepo mkali na mvua kubwa kesho. |
| Frank: Je, Nairobi itaathiriwa? |
| Rehema: Ndio, katika sehemu zake nyingi. |
| Frank: Natumaini haitafurika kama hapo mbeleni. |
| Rehema: Cha kuhuzunisha ni kuwa Westlands imetabiriwa kufurika. |
| Frank: Habari ya kuogopesha. |
| Rehema: Ndivyo. Umewadia wakati tujiandae kutoka kwa mabalaa haya. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Frank: The weather has been rough lately. |
| Rehema: We have strong winds and heavy rain tomorrow. |
| Frank: Is Nairobi going to be affected? |
| Rehema: Yes, in most of its areas. |
| Frank: I hope it won't flood like it did before. |
| Rehema: Unfortunately, heavy floods are expected in Westlands. |
| Frank: Scary to hear. |
| Rehema: Right. It’s high time we prepare for these kinds of disasters. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: The conversation we just heard sounded apocalyptic! |
| Medina: The scary thing is that it’s not so far from reality. |
| John: Really!? Why is that? |
| Medina: For example, there are predictions that famine is going to hit Kenya. |
| John: And it wouldn’t be the first time for this to happen... |
| Medina: Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse because of the adverse changes in weather conditions. |
| John: I see. Has climate change actually affected the region in other ways? |
| Medina: Not in Kenya, but, for example, in West Africa, the effects of climate change are also seen in the rising sea level, which has swept away houses and trees. |
| John: It’s discouraging if you think that these effects are caused by manmade activities. |
| Medina: And it’ll get worse, unless we make a change. |
| John: So true. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Medina: anga [natural native speed] |
| John: weather |
| Medina: anga[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: anga [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: athiriwa [natural native speed] |
| John: affected |
| Medina: athiriwa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: athiriwa [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: kufurika [natural native speed] |
| John: to flood, to destroy |
| Medina: kufurika[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: kufurika [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: huzunisha [natural native speed] |
| John: to sadden |
| Medina: huzunisha[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: huzunisha [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: tabiriwa [natural native speed] |
| John: to forecast, to predict |
| Medina: tabiriwa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: tabiriwa [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: ogopesha [natural native speed] |
| John: scary |
| Medina: ogopesha[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: ogopesha [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: wakati [natural native speed] |
| John: time |
| Medina: wakati[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: wakati [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Medina: jiandae [natural native speed] |
| John: to prepare |
| Medina: jiandae[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: jiandae [natural native speed] |
| John: And lastly.. |
| Medina: balaa [natural native speed] |
| John: disaster |
| Medina: balaa[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Medina: balaa [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Medina: hali ya anga |
| John: meaning "weather condition" |
| Medina: hali means ''condition," ya is a preposition meaning "of," and anga means "weather." |
| John: This is a phrase that appears often during the weather forecast and in conversations about the weather. |
| Medina: The two words can be used independently. Hali could be used with any condition; just add the name of the condition after the preposition ya. For example, hali ya afya refers to one’s "health condition." |
| John: What about the other word? |
| Medina: Anga carries different names that relate to the sky. The name itself means “sky, atmosphere, space.” |
| John: Can you give us an example using the whole phrase? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Hali ya anga inasema kutanyesha theluji kesho. |
| John: ..which means "The weather forecast says it's going to snow tomorrow." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: jiandae |
| John: meaning "to prepare." Can you break down this word? |
| Medina: The prefix ji- is a third person pronoun, while -andae is the verb meaning "to prepare." The infinitive of this verb is -andaa. |
| John: Can you use other prefixes? |
| Medina: Prefixes can be added to the beginning, and suffixes can be added to its ending by replacing the last a. For instance, tujiandae |
| John: which means "Let's prepare" |
| Medina: Using jiandae, you can refer to anything that needs preparation. It could be for an exam, meetings, or even meals. |
| John: Can you give us a sample sentence? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Jiandae kutoa ushuhuda katika kesi hii. |
| John: .. which means "Be prepared to testify in this case." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Medina: huzunisha |
| John: meaning "to sadden" |
| Medina: The noun form of this word is huzuni and means "sadness." |
| John: Also in this case, can you add different suffixes? |
| Medina: Yes, for example, huzunika would mean "to be sad," huzunishwa, "to be saddened." |
| John: Can you give us a sentence using this word? |
| Medina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Nichakuhuzunisha kuwa wazazi wake wameaga akiwa mchanga. |
| John: .. which means "It is saddening that the parents have died while she is a child." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about understanding the weather forecast. You should already know some simple ways to describe the weather. Let’s review them. Medina, can you give us some examples? |
| Medina: Sure. Leo kuna jua kali sana. |
| John: "Today the sun is very hot." |
| Medina: Usiku wa leo kuna baridi na giza. |
| John: "It is a dark and cold night." Now we can study how to describe the weather conditions in a more detailed way, referring to more complex weather conditions. Let’s introduce some new words. |
| Medina: the first one is kufurika |
| John: meaning “to flood.” Let’s hear an example |
| Medina: Kijiji kitafurika kabisa. |
| John: “The village will be completely flooded.” |
| Medina: Here is another: Kupanda kwa usawa wa bahari |
| John: this means “rising sea level” |
| Medina: Here is an example, Kupanda kwa usawa wa bahari umewafanya watu wahame kwa lazima. |
| John: “The rising sea level has led to forced displacement.” |
| Medina: Next we have ukame |
| John: meaning “drought” |
| Medina: For example you can say Ukame mkali umetabiriwa kuathiri Kenya. |
| John: “A big drought has been predicted to hit Kenya.” Ok, let’s see how to talk about the weather in the past. |
| Medina: As you may already know, li is the common article used when talking about the past. It is also used to describe the weather in the past. For instance, you could say, Mvua ilinyesha jana. |
| John: meaning “It rained yesterday.” Let’s analyze this sentence. |
| Medina: mvua is “rain.” Ilinyesha can be broken down into i- for the subject pronoun for “rain;” li the past tense indicator, and nyesha, which means “to rain.” Jana means “yesterday.” You can use a similar structure by changing the noun. |
| John: but you should be careful with the pronoun marker |
| Medina: Right. For example you can say, Theluji ilinyesha juzi. |
| John: Which means “It snowed yesterday.” |
| Medina: Here is another past sentence Kulikuwa na ukame mwaka jana. |
| John: “There was a drought last year.” The secret of using verbs in Swahili is that you can replace the elements that come before or after it. |
| Medina: For example, in this case, we have Kulikuwa, which means “there was.” So using the same structure, we can replace ukame meaning “drought” and mwaka jana “last year,” and say Kulikuwa na mkutano jana jioni. |
| John: meaning “There was a meeting yesterday evening.” Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson, by giving a language tip. How do you express “it’s high time” in Swahili? |
| Medina: You can say wakati umewadia |
| John: which literally means “the time has come.” |
| Medina: However, it has the same connotation as the English “it’s high time,” or “it’s about time.” For example, you can say Wakati umewadia tujiandae kwa mabalaa haya. |
| John: “It is high time we prepare for disaster.” |
| Medina: usually wakati umewadia appears at the beginning of a sentence. Some people also say umewadia wakati. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Medina: Tuonane! |
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