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Since I've been playing boardgames, I've learned my fair share of new words. Words like "meeple" quickly become part of a gamer's standard vocabulary along with expressions like "analysis paralysis" and "gateway game". Terms like "worker placement" and "area control" take on a whole new meaning, especially when combined with newly mastered words like "grognard" and "turtling", and acronyms like FLGS, F2F, and PBEM.
But that's not what this is about. Boardgaming can also help you learn foreign languages. Including ones that you're likely never ever to use. I'm not talking about games with multilingual components, or ones that come with rules in English, French and German. No, let's talk Swahili!
Hello Swahili! According to the world's most `reliable' and student-endearing encyclopedic resource (Wikipedia), Swahili is "a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Indian Ocean coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoros Islands. Although only 15-20 million people speak it as their native language, Swahili is a national, or official language, of three nations: Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within much of East Africa, it is often used as a lingua franca." So now you know.
So how have board games helped me learn Swahili? Well, I've discovered that the titles of several games are pure Swahili. I've come across two so far, but I'm sure there must be more. And I want to know what they are - and I'm sure, so do you! Boardgames and Swahili - an essential dissertation topic coming soon to a university near you. Speaking Swahili is, of course, an essential skill that every gamer should aspire to acquire.
Jambo means `hello' in Swahili. How do I know? Because the game rulebook told me so. And how appropriate, because Jambo was one of the very first games I purchased after discovering eurogames. Hello to modern gaming indeed! And a fun two player card game it is - in some respects this proved to be my `gateway' game to other two player hits from Kosmos ... and much more. When reviews and comments about the game made frequent mention of Jambo's cards having `CCG-like abilities', I wondered what on earth this mysterious CCG acronym was all about. Guided by curiosity and impeccable BGG research, so began a new path of discovery along the road of collectible card games. That was in 2005 - fast forward a year, and along with several of my friends I had dived deep into the world of Magic: The Gathering, the grand-daddy CCG of them all. Hello eurogames, hello CCGs, thank you Jambo! This "Jambo" was proving to be a rather powerful word, and was opening up a whole new world for me!
The second Swahili word I learned from board games was Ubongo. After purchasing this game, you understand, my Swahili vocabulary suddenly doubled. Amazing! (Even if it did just mean going from one word to two!) "Ubongo" apparently means "brain" in Swahili. Perhaps the idea is that Ubongo is a brainy game? Certainly it does require using your brains, but fortunately it's not one of those ultra-double-think-brain-melt type games that incapacitate the AP types, or require a supply of oxygen close at hand when playing. Ubongo is more of a puzzle kind of game that's played real time and has a unique appeal, not least because you get to learn another Swahili word from the game title!
Want to know more? See my full review of Ubongo:  I-Bongo, U-Bongo, We-Bongo in the Congo - how board games are helping me learn Swahili
So that's how board games helped me learn Swahili, and how a Swahili word proved to be a magical "Open Sesame" that opened up a cave of gaming treasure for me. Even Ali Baba would be jealous.
Join the discussion: Please don't tell me that boardgaming is only going to teach me two Swahili words! Are there any other games whose titles are Swahili, or perhaps can otherwise help one learn Swahili? Has boardgaming helped you learn any foreign words or other languages?
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