Resistance in Zulu

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Photo Credit: Online image.

Isi-Zulu is a language whose umbilical cord is buried Kwa-Zulu in South Africa. This blog also offers bite-size Zulu lessons. Enjoy!

Resisting or being stubborn is goloza in Zulu. The best example of resistance is a frog. People still live in stand-alone houses in Africa. Frogs go inside the house uninvited. Trying to push them out is a nightmare. Very stubborn.

Resistance to yield or obey road rules can result in road rage. Resistance also occurs in power relations. Your elder brother asks you to do something. You don’t want to. He’s not very happy when he senses that you are resisting his instructions.

Resistance in its highest form is what happened in the U.S. on the 6th of  January, when Trump’s supporters stormed Congress to resist election results, that put Joe Biden and Democrats in power.

Go-lo-za. You say the first part like god, the second like locate and the last like Zagreb, capital city of Croatia.

ZULU

ENGLISH

Iselesele liyagoloza.

The frog is resisting.

U-yagoloza akafuni nokhiye be-ofisi.

He’s resisting. He doesn’t want to hand over office keys (defeated in an election).

U-Bill u-yathanda ukugoloza.

Bill likes resisting. He’s stubborn.

U-Lucy u-yathanda ukugoloza.

Lucy likes resisting. She’s stubborn.

Noma unga-goloza, uzohamba.

You can resist/stubborn, but you’ll leave eventually.

U-Desi u-goloza ngemali yami.

Desi doesn’t want to give me my money.

Wagoloza. U-thembeni?

Why are you resisting or being stubborn? What’s your secret?

Amasela ayagoloza. Anezi-bhamu.

Thieves are resisting. They have guns.

U-yagoloza? Angithi?

You’re being stubborn right?

This is another ‘written podcast’ by Nonqaba waka Msimang.

  

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