A Few Of My Favorite Words

My Bemba skills are coming along slowly, but surely. I thought I’d provide you all a short list of some of my favorite words. Fell free to learn them and use them in your everyday life to show all of your co-workers and classmates just how cosmopolitan you are.

Bufi: pronounce boo-fee. This word is used to call someone out when they’re lying. If someone is a habitual liar, call them a bufi sana.

e.g. “That was such a bufi when Brett said he’s been working.”

Chowama: pronounced chow-a-ma. This is a way to say, “It’s good.” It can be used with a thumbs-up/wink if it’s really good. A fun Peace Corps variation is to add mama at the end of it.

e.g. “These beers are on the house.”

“Chowama mama (with thumbs-up).”

Iwe: pronounce e-way. This is the way to say ‘you’ without respect. Basically you can refer to kids as iwes.

e.g. “Iwe, go get me some mangos.”

Look for more fun and useful words in future postings.