Learn how to access the web at an Internet cafe
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In this lesson we’ll learn the easiest way to access the Internet while you’re in Kenya. Normally, you can find internet cafés in big cities, and nearly every small town. However, it may be hard to find Internet in the countryside. Most people are now using their cell phones to get the Internet, or they have portable modems that they can use with their personal computers. Wi-fi is popular but most networks are secured. To be on the safer side, it is better to find an Internet cafe. And this lesson will help you do just that. |
| BODY |
| Imagine you’re at the reception counter and want to ask how much the connection costs for an hour. |
| kunradhi, ni ngapi kwa saa moja? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ku - n - ra - dhi, ni nga - pi kwa sa - a mo - ja? ? |
| Once more: |
| kunradhi, ni ngapi kwa saa moja? |
| kunradhi is “Excuse me.” |
| ni supports the question word ngapi. |
| (slow) ni |
| ni |
| ngapi means “how much” |
| (slow) nga - pi |
| ngapi |
| The next word, kwa, is a preposition indicating quantity. |
| (slow) kwa |
| kwa |
| Saa literally indicates time, but in this case it means “hour,” |
| (slow) saa |
| saa |
| moja means “one” |
| (slow) moja |
| moja |
| so kwa saa moja here means something like “for one hour.” |
| (slow) kwa saa moja |
| kwa saa moja |
| Let’s repeat the whole sentence again: |
| “Excuse me, how much for one hour?” |
| kunradhi, ni ngapi kwa saa moja? |
| ・ |
| The answer will probably sound something like this: |
| Saa moja ni shilingi hamsini. |
| Saa, as we learned earlier, means “time” and moja means “one.” |
| This gives us saa moja, which means “one hour.” |
| (slow) saa moja |
| saa moja |
| Next we have ni which means “is.” |
| (slow) ni |
| ni |
| Then we have the last two words, shilingi hamsini which means “fifty shillings.” shilingi means “shillings” |
| (slow) shilingi |
| shilingi |
| and hamsini is “fifty.” |
| (slow) hamsini |
| hamsini |
| Altogether, we have: |
| (slow) Sa - a mo - ja ni shi - li - ngi ha - m - si - ni. |
| Saa moja ni shilingi hamsini. |
| But it’s also quite common for cafés to charge in 30-minute blocks, so you may hear |
| Nusu saa ni shilingi ishirini na tano. |
| Nusu means “half.” |
| (slow) nusu |
| nusu |
| The word saa, as you know, indicates “time” |
| (slow) saa |
| saa |
| This is followed by ni meaning “is” and shilingi meaning “shilling” to make ni shilingi. Literally this means “is shilling” |
| (slow) ni shilingi |
| ni shilingi |
| The last three three words, ishirini na tano, mean “twenty-five”. In this case, we joined ishirini “twenty” to tano “five” using na, which means “and.” |
| (slow) ishirini na tano |
| ishirini na tano |
| Together we have; |
| Nusu saa ni shilingi ishirini na tano. |
| So this sentence means “Half an hour is twenty-five shillings.” |
| Nusu saa ni shilingi ishirini na tano. |
| If you’re still a little shaky on Swahili |
| numbers, you can review those lessons anytime. |
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