Chichewa for Dummies

In case it gets confusing when I drop some Chichewa, here's a cheat sheet for ya:

Chewa - someone belonging to the Chewa tribe, Chichewa is their language
Yao - someone belonging to the Yao tribe, Chiyao is their language (many Yao live in the south/near the lake, aka by me)
Mzungu/Azungu - white person. There's a negative connotation associate with calling someone an azungu, so when little kids do it, I usually ask them not to
Chitenje - large multi-purlose piece of fabric used to wrap around the body as a skirt, tie a baby on one's back, wear as a head scarf, carry a hot pot, etc. Plural is "zitenje"
Mawa - tomorrow
Mmawa - morning
Tiwonana - see you later. Shortened by yours truly to "tiwo"
Zikomo - thank you/excuse me
Chimodzimodzi - one and the same. As in, "California and Malawi are pretty much chimodzimodzi"
Pang'ono pang'ono - slowly, or little by little. As in, "I am learning Chichewa pang'ono pang'ono."
Bwana - boss. Used in a couple ways, both, "the bwana keeps the keys to the school," and,"I live in a pretty bwana house. There are four rooms and electricity!"
Nyumba - house
Takulandirani! - welcome!

And there you have it! All the Chichewa you'll ever need.

If you want to feel worse about your linguistic prowess, when one of my students stopped by to chat yesterday and work on his English, he told me that in addition to Chichewa and English, he also speaks Chiyao, some Chilomwe (language of another minor tribe in the area), some Chitumbuka (spoken by the Timbuka tribe in the north, where his older brother lives), a smattering of Swahili (spoken in Tanzania), and even some Portugese (spoken in Mozambique, not too far to the east). When he mentioned Portugese, he said "como esta, amigo," which means I'm going to start throwing out Spanish at my students.

But still, can you imagine being at least a little proficient in all those languages? My Muslim students also speak some Arabic, at least enough to pray.