Health in Zulu
‘How are you?’
‘Not good. I don’t have a life anymore because of this COVID-19.’
The state of your health is the greetings’ foundation in isi-Zulu, a language spoken mainly in South Africa .
“Injani impilo?” How is your health?
“Nisaphila ekhaya?” Is everybody healthy at home?
Phi-la the verb. You say the first part like peace the second like last.
Impi-lo the noun. You say the first like implicate, and the second like lost.
We view life differently. Poor people want the basics, shelter, food, work and kids. That is why traditional societies worshiped things that gave them a healthy life. It could be a river, a mountain, corn, fish, the buffalo, cattle or The Rain Goddess.
Rich people want more than that and it revolves around continually adding to the bank balance. That is why history books tell us about men who took their lives between 1929-1932, because of the Wall Street Crash.
COVID-19 challenges assumptions about being alive and being healthy because parents often say they work for their kids. Everybody else works to ‘keep body and soul together.’ No work, no health, no life.
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS WITH PHI-LA
Ni-sa- …….Please note that ni is for plural, you, you many people.
Ba-sa ……. ba is for they, when talking about other people.
U-sa …… u, is for one person: you, mother, father, cousin Amanda, Satchel, Nomusa etc.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
‘Not good. I don’t have a life anymore because of this COVID-19.’
The state of your health is the greetings’ foundation in isi-Zulu, a language spoken mainly in South Africa .
“Injani impilo?” How is your health?
“Nisaphila ekhaya?” Is everybody healthy at home?
Phi-la the verb. You say the first part like peace the second like last.
Impi-lo the noun. You say the first like implicate, and the second like lost.
We view life differently. Poor people want the basics, shelter, food, work and kids. That is why traditional societies worshiped things that gave them a healthy life. It could be a river, a mountain, corn, fish, the buffalo, cattle or The Rain Goddess.
Rich people want more than that and it revolves around continually adding to the bank balance. That is why history books tell us about men who took their lives between 1929-1932, because of the Wall Street Crash.
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| Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang. |
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS WITH PHI-LA
Ni-sa- …….Please note that ni is for plural, you, you many people.
Ba-sa ……. ba is for they, when talking about other people.
U-sa …… u, is for one person: you, mother, father, cousin Amanda, Satchel, Nomusa etc.
| ZULU | ENGLISH |
| Mr. and Mrs. Roderick, ni-sa-phila? | How are you Mr. and Mrs Roderick? Are you healthy? |
| Yebo. Si-sa-phila. | Yes. We are healthy. We are fine. We are good. |
| Zara, ba-sa-phila ekhaya? | Zara, is everybody at home alive, healthy? |
| Yebo. Ba-sa-phila auntie. | Yes auntie, they are healthy. They are fine. They are good. |
| Thuli, u-sa-phila u-gogo? | Thuli, is your grandma fine, healthy? |
| Cha. Impilo yakhe imbi. | No. Her health is bad. |
| Ayikho impilo nga-le COVID-19. | There is no health/life with COVID-19. |
| Phila-ni bo, izodlula. | Please stay healthy it will pass. |
| Phila-ni. | A boy’s name which means be healthy. Maybe he was born during a health crisis. |
| Ba-philile. | A girl’s name which means everybody is healthy. Maybe she was born when her whole family was healthy. |
| Sizo-phila. U-zobona. | We will be healthy. You will see. |
| Ngidayisa amagwinya ngizo kwazi ukuzi philisa. | I sell African doughnuts to make a living. |
| U-Silas uyalima. Uyakwazi ukuzi philisa. | Silas is a farmer. That is how he makes a living. |
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