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General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters | | English term or phrase: green | | I would like to know if there is a one-word translation for this color adjective (kijani?) or if you have to use a longer phrase in Swahili (something like "the color of green"). Do all colors work the same way? Or are some translated with one word and some with a phrase? |
| KMP88Not a translatorKudoZ activityQuestions: 21 ( 1 open) Answers: 0
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| | Swahili translation:rangi ya majani | Explanation:
For green, orange and the like, it is better to go with colour of(rangi ya) to remove any ambiguity, as both majani or machungwa may also depict vegetation and the orange fruit respectively as well. However for colours such as white and black(nyeupe/mweupe, mweusi/nyeusi) where there is no probability of ambiguity the colour of(rangi ya) can be dropped in favour of direct description such as: Nyumba nyeupe - white house, gari nyeusi - black car, etc. |
| Selected response from:
 Mwananchi
Kenya
Local time: 15:11
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4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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45 mins confidence:  
5 hrs confidence: -a kijani
Explanation:
You can use "-a rangi ya majani" or "-a rangi ya kijani", but "-a kijani" is enough.
As you know colors and family terms are the most difficult words to translate from one language to another, specially if the cultures of the speaker are very different. So in swahili only three colors have a single term: -eupe, -eusi, -nyekundu. But "orange" in English is a color or a fruit?
Example sentence(s):- Rangi ya kijani katika bendera ya kitaifa inaonyesha .... The color green of the national flag shows....
Reference: http://www.vessella.it
Reference: http://www.swahili.it/glossword/
| NinoV
Local time: 14:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:  Italian
PRO pts in category: 8
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