Bemba (language)
| Bemba | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Zambia , Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| speaker | 4 million | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Official status | ||
| Recognized minority / regional language in |
 Zambia
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
bem |
|
| ISO 639-3 | ||
Bemba (also known as ChiBemba , Wemba and IchiBemba ) is a Bantu language and the language of the (Ba) Bemba people .
It is spoken mainly in the Republic of Zambia and also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Tanzania and Botswana . It is believed that over three million people in Zambia have Bemba as their mother tongue or have learned it as a foreign language. Bemba is a kind of lingua franca in the cities of Zambia and, according to Ethnologue , enjoys a higher social status in Zambia than other languages, with the exception of English .
Bemba must be understood as a “high-level language” under which an entire language group with its dialects is subsumed. These include the main dialects Ngoma, Lomotua, Nwesi and Lembue, but also the subordinate ones such as Aushi, Bisa , ChiMwanga, Chishinga, Kunda, Lala, Lamba , Luunda, Tabwa and others. These lists are very different as each one enumerates or leaves out other dialects.
A Bemba creole language (ChiKoppabeluti) developed in the Zambian Copperbelt in the 1940s .
Important phrases:
| German | Bemba |
|---|---|
| Hello, how are you | Muli Shani |
| I am fine | Bwino |
| Good Morning | Mwashebukeni |
| My name is... | Ishina lyandi ni ... |
| The same to you | Ea mukwai |
| thank you | Natotela |
| humanity | kubuntu |
| Yes | ee |
| No | awe |
| Goodbye | Shaleenipo |
A word example for the use of Bemba is ubuntu , which means something like “kindness for humanity” and has been chosen as the name for the Linux distribution Ubuntu .