Swahili in Arabic script

March 24th, 2010 by donnek Leave a reply »

Over the past couple of days, in preparation for a little project on Swahili, I’ve been investigating getting Kubuntu to show Swahili in Arabic script (the way in which it was traditionally written on the coast). I seem to have got there, and I’ll do a longer post later on how to configure your system to allow this.

In the meantime, as a taster, here is a verse from an utendi (ballad), typed in from a photocopy of the original manuscript:

It means, roughly: “I have accomplished the telling of these [things], and I will put others into verse, that you may all understand them, I have enjoyed relating [them] to you.”

This is still a work-in-progress, but it seems to be on the right track for now.

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