Namlish

Namlish (a portmanteau of the words Namibian and English) is a form of English spoken in Namibia. English is the country's official language since Independence in 1990. Because it is the second or third language for the majority of the Namibians, local usage can vary significantly from usage elsewhere in the English-speaking world. Namibian English or Namlish shares many similarities with South African English, having been influenced both by Afrikaans and indigenous African languages.

Namlish comes from literal translations, mostly from Oshiwambo, Kavango languages languages and Afrikaans, but occasionally from Damara, Herero or other tribal languages. Namlish is generally spoken by the Oshiwambo and Kavango speaking people. In the Oshiwambo language, the "l" and "r" are exchanged. In Kavango, they are not exchanged.

Example 1: "I'm coming now" comes from the Afrikaans saying "Ek kom nou," as well as the Oshiwambo saying, "Onde ya paife."

Example 2: When people are greeting another, they occasionally say "yes sir" which is translated exactly from the Afrikaans saying, "ja meneer."

Example 3: Namlish speakers often use only the present continuous, or present progressive aspect of a verb at times when native English speakers would employ the present simple. This is due, in part, to direct translation from Oshiwambo and Kavango to English. In Oshiwambo and Kavango, the verb form remains the same in either case. Whenever someone wants to indicate possession of anything, he or she "is having" that particular object. The same goes for use of the past continuous tense in the place of the simple past.

Example 4: When people ask time they often say "how late is it?" which is translated from Afrikaans "Hoe laat is dit?" and German "Wie spät ist es?".

Example 5: Some of the Oshiwambo speaking people would say "Led" instead of "Red".

Example 6: When asking how you are doing, Namibians would say, "Whatz up" which comes from the word "weni" from Kavango.

Many Namibians repeat single-word responses twice. For example, "Hi hi", "Fine fine" and "Sharp sharp" are all common responses in casual conversation.

Upon asking How are you? Namlish speakers will greet you with Yes! or Yebo! Yebo comes from Zulu, which is an emphatic "yes" said throughout southern Africa.

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