I'm not sorry; I am SORRY: "Samahani" vs. "Pole" and other language limitations I've encountered while writing and speaking English and Kiswahili.

The word "Sorry" is how I first discovered the limitations of language. In Kiswahili, we say "Samahani" to apologize for pain or misfortune that is our fault, and we say "Pole" when an unfortunate event that is not a result of our doing has befallen someone. But in English, the word "Sorry" is used in both instances.

I didn't think much of it until people would respond, "Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault," whenever I would say sorry. At that point, I would have to explain that I meant "Pole," not "Samahani."

From here on, I became more conscious of concepts and words that exist or do not exist in languages other than Kiswahili. For one, I discovered how much emphasis is placed on gender distinctions in the English language. Something as arguably insignificant as pronouns, for example. While Kiswahili does have words for male (kiume) and female (kike), they are more descriptors than identifiers. In the possessive, he and she are both "yeye." His car and her car are both "gari yake." They, the person, own the car. The possession isn't qualified in terms of the owner's gender identity, just their being (alive/human). In my early English language learning journey, I defaulted to using "they." However, "they" in English is plural, so it is not always obvious when it is used to imply neutrality without being confused, rightfully so, as implying plurality.

Similarly, Kiswahili names are genderless. If I were to say that Bariki's car is blue, you would need to know Bariki to tell me whether it was his or her car I was talking about. Bariki means bless, and both girls and boys can be named Bariki. This is not to say that there is no sexism in the Kiswahili language and culture; sexism has progressively masculinized and feminized very neutral Kiswahili names, too.

Yet, speaking Kiswahili as a first language, I am conditioned to think "being" before "gender," and more often than not, I primarily think in genderless terms. A good example is how shocked I was to find out that " Mungu " is a male figure in Anglophone doctrine! God, referred to as "the father," was not just a figure of speech describing "His" nature and character. My whole life, I had thought God was too mighty and indescribable to be contained, limited, or bound by a gender identity! So, up to the point of my Anglophonization, Mungu was a genderless existence.

I am learning French now. You are probably laughing at this point if you are familiar with the language. I am sure you can imagine how frustratingly difficult it has been for me to make the "un" and "une" distinctions and remember to put the right gender with each noun. More than ever, and perhaps selfishly motivated, I am increasingly suspicious of the relevance of gendered nouns and pronouns. Could there be merit in removing gender distinctions in languages to advance gender equality/equity?

Then there's the word "Future," which I learned very late in life is "Mustakabali" in Kiswahili. Having Kiswahili as a first language and growing up in Tanzania has meant I have a lot of vocabulary to speak about the past but not nearly as much to describe the future to warrant a whole word for it. I want to say "Mustakabali" is a fairly new word. I think, but don't quote me, we, Swahili-cultured people, tend to imagine the future as an unknown, so we tend to speak of it only relatively (later, "baadaye"), not definitively (future, "mustakabali"). This, I infer from growing up saying, "When I am older" (nikiwa mkubwa) and "At a later time in life" (mbeleni) when speaking of times to come, never "In the future." Case in point: I still don't know how to say futuristic in Kiswahili. Perhaps a personal limitation? You can never be too sure!

I encounter many other nuances as I learn to translate between English and Kiswahili and learn new languages like French (and soon Japanese). Here, I have only shared the few ideas I could "adequately" articulate at this time. So, my fellow bilingual/multilingual/language-learning folks, as you move between English and Kiswahili in particular or any other languages you speak, are there any limitations of language you've encountered or observed?