In addition to the words Frederick has listed in Kiswahili, the Flag is known as Bandera in Kiswahili which is a Poirtuguese word. Portuguese vied with the Arabs for control of the Swahili or East African coast and at one time controlled the island of Kilwa, and the Portuguese also built or contolled the Fort Jesus which still exists in Mombasa.
Kiswhili absorbed a lot of Hindi words such as Kitabu/Kitab, Kalamu/Kalam, Bunduki/Bunduk, and Arabic words including the days of the week, and baharini for the seaside whcih comes from the middle-eastern "Bahar". German words also found their way into Kiswahili through words susch as "Schule" for School, and Hella for money. which is a corruption of the German word Thaler (also the origin of the dollar !) I speak Kiswahili almost every day with my wife who is more fluent than I, when we want to discuss something that we do not want others to hear. My Kiswahili skills have improved over the years as a result. But when it comes to who speaks the better Kiswahili, I defer to Mervn Lobo, who spent more years in Tanzania than I and probably learnt some Kiswahili in school.
