Chichewa Tikulandirani !
The people who speak Chi-Chewa trace their origins to a group of people
known as the Maravi (according to some Portuguese records) who migrated
from the lower basin of the Congo in Central Africa and eventually
settled in the land mass now covered by Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Malawi people are of Bantu origin with the ethnic groups
including Chewa, Nyanja, Yao, Tumbuka, Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Ngoni,
Ngonde, Asian and European. The Chichewa (Chewa) people forming
the largest part of population group and are largely in the central and
southern parts of the country.
The Chichewa word for a large expanse of water is nyanja, and the word
for tall grass (savanna) is chipeta. The people who settled along the
lakeshores and along the banks of the Shire River referred to
themselves as Nyanja, the "lake people", and their particular variety
of Chichewa came to be called Chi-Nyanja, or simply Nyanja, the
language of the lake people.
Chichewa & Nyanja are spoken by approximately 3,200,000 in
Malawi, 1,000,000 in
Zambia, 250,000 in Zimbabwe, 423,000 in
Mozambique.
Moni - Standard Greeting
Muli Bwanji - How are you ?
Ndili Bweno - I am well
Tikulandirani - Welcome !
Tsalani Bwino - Stay well !
