Stop biting your tongue: How to speak perfect 'Shembeteng'
If you're a frequent social
media user, you're probably already aware of the new-in-town, jaw-dropping
sheng spin off: ‘shembeteng’
All of Nairobi's
sheng-speaking experts and wannabees are warming up to it, albeit slowly, as if
in a race to be first on the 'cool squad-red carpet.'
Every time you take a 'work
break' to skid your fingers over your phone, I'm sure you come across at least
one, if not more, of those ever confounding words.
The new lingo in town has
been baptized 'Shembeteng' by those who swear by it, and their numbers are
growing on a daily basis.
And now that it's sent Nairobi's
ever-changing fashion trends into overdrive, here's how to speak crisp
Shembeteng.
Though we know it sounds like
Greek, because there is no reason for anyone to substitute ‘nakulombotov’ for ‘I
love you’, the new spin-off, unlike Greek is pretty easy to grasp and use.
All you need are a couple of
phrases which you can insert into any word, and turn into into the shembeteng
patois.
The language follows five
different variations of the usual vowels in the format of: Mbata, Mbete, Mbiti,
Mboto, Mbutu.
All you need to do is add
either Mbata, Mbete, Mbiti, Mboto or Mbutu into existing words to completely
change how they sound.
The Mbata, Mbete, Mbiti, Mboto or Mbutu take cue from a preceding vowel in any word; like 'Mbiti' will follow the vowel I, 'Mbutu'
follows the vowel U and so on and so forth.
Take ‘Shembeteng’ for
instance, the vowel in the Original word ‘Sheng’ is ‘e’. So the ghetto vowel to
use is 'Mbete'.
Here are other examples, so
that you can breeze through this new sensation, easy peasy.
Love. Vowel O- Ghetto Vowel
'Mboto'; Lombotove.
Kiasi. Vowel A - Ghetto Vowel
'Mbata'; Kiambatasi.
Kuja. Vowel U. - Ghetto Vowel
'Mbutu'; Kumbutuja.
Cheza. Vowel E - Ghetto Vowel
'Mbete'; Chembeteza.
Congratulations, now that you are feeling like Archimedes, with this Eureka moment, having made such tremendous progress so soon into a new language.
Ps: Shembeteng cannot be
applied to people's names.
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