Zulu Lesson She's Avoiding Me

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Workers on strike. There is bad blood in the office between those that pounded pavements in rain, sleet and snow and workers that crossed the picket line. They avoid each other.

Missed calls.  Friends and lovers are mad at you when you don’t take their calls.  Voicemail is a caller’s nightmare.

Avoiding someone is sha-la-za in Zulu.  It was avoiding talking to somebody, before the advent of cell phones.  Friends that have a fall out avoid each other.  When things go sour, lovers who had an affair at work avoid each other until the woman resigns.  I don’t understand why it is always the woman that leaves.
Sha-la-za.  The first part is pronounced as in shy, the second part as in lark and the last part as in Zara.

ZULU
ENGLISH
Musa u-ku-ngi- sha-la-zela.
Don’t avoid me.
U-ya-ngi sha-la-ze-la.  Nge-nzeni?
You are avoiding me.  What have I done?
A-ngi-ku-sha-la-ze-li.
I’m not avoiding you.
U-nga-thi u-ya-ngi-sha-la-ze-la.
It seems as if she is avoiding me.
Sha-la-za Gloria.  Ku-lu-ngi-le.
Avoid me Gloria.  It’s O.K.
Sha-la-za Sergio.  Ku-lu-ngi-le.
Avoid me Sergio.  It’s O.K.
Sha-la-za Shahid.  Ku-lu-ngi-le.
Avoid me Shahid.  It’s O.K.
Ba-ya-sha-la ze-lana.
They are avoiding each other.
Si-ya-sha-la ze-lana.
We are avoiding each other.

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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