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| Steve tries to teach a Rwandan boy how to skip rocks, in Kinyarwandan of course. |
Kinyarwanda is a crazy language, and exceptionally difficult. A future blog post will discuss the rules of Kinyarwanda and simple words, but for now I thought I would give you a sampling of some the fun words and phrases in Kinyarwanda. Enjoy.
Kwandika umunani (kwa-ndi-ka oo-moo-nan-ee) Literally: “to write the number eight in the ground.” Translation: to be drunk.
Umukobwa afite nyuma ya inzu (oo-moo-ko-ba a-feet-e nee-oo-ma yah in-zoo) Literally: “to have the back of a house.” Translation: she has a big butt.
Umunyamashengo (oo-moo-nya-ma-she-ngo) Literally: clown
Ikibonko (ee-chee-bo-no) Literally: fat person
Ikibonko afite amtarasi (ee-chee-bo-no a-feet-e ah-ma-ta-ra-see) Literally: “the fat person has terraces.” Translation: The hills of Rwanda are all terraced in order to be able to farm on the land at steep slopes. The back of a fat person’s head will have fat rolls that look like the terraces of the land.
Ikirara (ee-chee-ra-ra) Translation: party boy
Umujama (oo-moo-jah-ma) Translation: gangster
Ikiguri (i-chee-goo-ree) Translantion: midget
Umusupastar (oo-moo-su-pah-sta) Translation: superstar
Umufubuzi (oo-moo-foo-boo-zee) Translation: gigolo Literally: “a sexual technician”
Indaya (in-die-ah) Translation: prostitute
Umupagani (oo-moo-pa-ga-ni) Literally: “pagan” Translation: One who doesn’t believe in God.
Ingarama kirambi (in-ga-ra-ma ki-ra-mbee) Translation: A man who should be married, but still lives with their parents and doesn’t have his act together
Kumviriza (coo-mva-ri-za) Translation: To listen to a man having sex to make sure that he is performing well
Gukama (goo-ka-ma) Translation: To milk a cow with one hand
Kuvuruganya (coo-voo-roo-ga-nya) Translation: To milk a cow with two hands
Nyamuryabana (nya-moo-rya-ba-na) Translation: A semi-mythical creature, normally a white person, well known for eating small Rwandan children. It also has a secondary definition as a pedophile.
Ifigi (ee-fee-gee) Translation: A rat that sneaks around your house at night eating your money that is hidden in your mattresses.
Umukeba (oo-moo-che-ba) Translation: A second wife
Igitangangurigwa (ee-gee-tan-gan-goo-ree-gwa) Translation: spider
Umukorerabushake ( oo-moo-ko-re-ra-boo-sha-chee) Translation: volunteer
Gusara (goo-sa-ra) Translation: To pray as a Muslim. To go crazy.
Gusura (goo-soo-ra) Translation: To visit. To fart.
Umukekuru (oo-moo-che-chu-roo) Translation: Old lady. This is a term of respect in Rwanda. Elderly ladies loved to be called old woman.
Gucira amazi (goo-chi-ra a-ma-zee) Literally: “To spit water.” Translation: She is so beautiful that everything that comes out of her mouth is perfect.
Imbangukiragutabara (im-ba-ngu-ki-ra-gu-ta-ba-ra) Literally: “The thing that goes quickly to take you when you are sick” Translation: Ambulance
Umuhinzi (oo-moo-hin-zee) Literally: A farmer who has a lot of fields to plow. In this case, the farmer is a man and he has a lot of fields to plow. These fields are women. Translation: Player
