Prince Harry returns to Lesotho for charity projects

Prince Harry's charity Sentebale, ­which means "forget me not", works with local communities at grassroots level.

The prince will carry out a day of public engagements including a gala dinner for his charity, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He set up the Sentebale charity to support orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho.

Read more: Prince Harry returns to Lesotho for charity projects

Ramphele launches a party political platform

"Mamphela Ramphele, activist, author and doctor, today launched a party political platform, ending weeks of speculation. She named the party Agang in Sesotho which means “Build”.

She says the party will focus on rekindling hope to SA."

Read more: Ramphele launches a party political platform

 [Ed's note: In Lesotho Sesotho and southern Sotho in South Africa, this would be "Ahang", instead of "Agang." The verb is "ho aha" (to build), the imperative is "aha" (singular) and "ahang" (plural). Thank you Seipati, for correcting me.]

A suggestion

I suggest that in Sesotho when people resemble each other too much, I suggest we say: "Ba tšoana joalo ka libono!"

Link: A suggestion

Quick facts about Gauteng Province

"Gauteng (Sesotho for "place of gold") is South Africa's smallest province (17 000 square kilometres), but also the wealthiest and most densely populated. It includes most of the towns strung east to west along the gold reef, from Springs in the far East Rand to Randfontein in the west. It runs down to the Vaal River in the South, and just beyond South Africa's capital, Pretoria, in the north."

Ed: In Lesotho we write it "Khauteng," but with the same pronunciation.

Read more: Quick facts about Gauteng Province

Ketla phela

"The joint venture will be named 'Ketlaphela', which is a Sesotho word meaning 'I will live or survive'."

Source: Confusion over SA, Swiss drugs deal

Lengau (sing.), Mangau (pl.)

Last Sunday the central South African city of Mangaung, known as Bloemfontein in Afrikaans, came to life as current and future heads of states, distinguished guests and thousands of ordinary people converged in its conference halls and streets to celebrate the hundredth birthday of the oldest political party in the continent, the African National Congress (ANC).

The city, whose name means "a place of cheetahs" in Sesotho, reverberated with dance, feasting and speeches as presidents and other dignitaries praised the party of Nelson Mandela. Apart from the numerous milestones that mark the ANC's journey of a hundred years, the gathering also provided an opportunity to take a hard look at the party.

From: The Party Is Not Over for Africa's Grand Party But...

Group mourn their leader

'God himself is talking ..." or, "Modimo o a bua" in Sesotho'
From [Group mourn their leader]

Ed: Remember that in Lesotho it is "Molimo" but is still pronounced /mo-DI-mo/, as all 'li's in Lesotho are pronounced /di/, like:
Lelimo /le-DI-mo/ (cannibal)
Seliba /se-di-ba/ (water spring, or well)
Molilietsane /mo-DI-DI-ay-TSA-ne/ (ululation)
Litaba /di-ta-ba/ (news)
Lehalima /le-ha-di-MA/ (lightning)

Lehalima means "lightning" in Sesotho

Lehalima, which means "lighting" in Sesotho, was initially designed for prepaid electricity, but has now evolved to service other utilities and services for many homes and businesses. Clients buy their electricity services from designated selling points or through a free cellphone application, which is linked to Home Grown's data centre at SmartXchange in Durban.

Source: Lehalima means "lightning" in Sesotho

High Tea African Women in Business Event

Lamunu means "orange" in Sesotho, a theme that is carried throughout this deliciously sweet and flavourful hotel and it offers simplified comfort in a stylishly fun environment, all decked out in a retro colour-palette and bold oranges set strikingly against blacks and browns and quirky details. The 60 ensuite rooms at the hotel offer snug modernity, while Lamunu’s restaurant, La Menu serves quick, fresh and flavourful food and also offers access to the gym to its guests.

Source: AfricaBe.Com Hosts its 1st High Tea African Women in Business Event

BBC News - Remote Lesotho's biker nurses

Mothers used to have to walk three hours to get their children vaccinated in rural Lesotho.

Now nurse Thabiso Phoka reaches them by motorbike but he still has to leave his bike at the top of the mountain and walk down the very steep hill into the village.

[See the video: BBC News - Remote Lesotho's biker nurses]

Sesotho drama kept alive

RENOWNED author, actor and playwright Khotso Nkhatho, 57, who played in the well-known television series Mopheme in the 80s, is still keeping millions of South Africans tuned in to their radios with his epic Sesotho dramas.

Born in Mamahabane township, in Ventersburg, Nkhatho discovered his passion for drama at an early age.

"I used to act in school plays at primary school, and immediately fell in love with it," Nkhatho said during an interview with the Free State Times.

At present the drama executive producer for Lesedi FM in Bloemfontein, Nkhatho studied education at Tshiya Teachers College in 1974.

"I taught for a year in 1976 but I could not suppress my desire to pursue the arts," he said. Nkhatho moved to Johannesburg and joined the SABC as a newsreader and drama producer.

[Source: Sesotho drama kept alive]

Tšukulu (or tshukudu) means rhino, in Sesotho

Where cheetahs prosper - Times LIVE

"The Times Explorer team spent one night at Tshukudu - which means "rhino" in Sesotho - during our whirlwind tour through the breathtaking provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo."

In Lesotho the word is pronounced the same, but written with an "s-caron" instead, and an 'l' instead of a 'd': tšukulu. Remembering that in Lesotho, 'lu' is pronounced 'doo' and 'li' is pronounced 'dee'

Ideas with wings, or taximan pie in the sky? (and the word "hlokomela")

"One of the first projects under the TR3 20202 strategy is Operation Hlokomela, the Sesotho word for caution.

Among the initiatives under Operation Hlokomela are taxi inspections before leaving the rank and the evaluation of drivers’ physical condition.

The initiative seeks to entrench the values of the Arrive Alive campaign that encourages safe driving practices."
Source: Ideas with wings, or taximan pie in the sky?

Rethabile says: Actually, 'Hlokomela' is a verb, "to be cautious, to be careful, to watch out", or the imperative "watch out!" or "be careful!" It is not a noun. The noun is Tlhokomelo

Zoo's baby giraffe is named

Zoo's baby giraffe is named | News Update

THE baby giraffe born at Johannesburg Zoo at the beginning of the year, has been named Thato.

Meaning "will" in Sesotho [Rethabile says, as in "thy will be done"], the name was chosen through a competition in which the public could suggest names for the new born.

The winning name came from Sheila Osman and her five-year-old grandson Nabeel, who are regular visitors at the zoo. They chose it because of its special significance to the boy and his family – Nabeel's late grandfather use to call him Thato.

"They will both receive complimentary annual passes for their contribution," says Candice Segal, the zoo's acting brand and communications manager.

Thato was born on 11 January to mother Gia and father Jerry, bringing the zoo's giraffe population to five. That family is expected to grow still further.

"Joburg Zoo is expecting another addition to the giraffe herd later this year and is currently caring for many other animal babies born recently," Segal explains.

Lesotho King to lead peace march - People's Daily Online

Lesotho's King Letsie III and Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili will on Friday lead the nation in a peace march in the capital Maseru, marking the African Union's declaration of 2010 as a year of peace, stability and security.
More

The lion won't sleep tonight

"We name our children after them: Tau (lion) is a common forename, and surname, in Sesotho.

There are many people whose surname pays tribute to the mighty elephant: Tlou (Sesotho), Olifant (Afrikaans) and Ndlovu (Zulu). "
[Source]

In effect, southern Africans place names of animals on children a lot. Here are some common Sesotho names:
Nkoe, Tiger
Tau, Lion
Phiri, Hyena
Ntsu, Eagle
Nku, Sheep
Linku, Sheep (pl.)
Sebata, Feline
Tlou, Elephant

For a fuller experience of Sesotho names, check out Sesotho.web.za

'Rude' word for whites sparks feud - Times LIVE

'Rude' word for whites sparks feud - Times LIVE

The word in question is "Lekhooa" (Lesotho) or "Lekgowa" (South Africa). It is a Sesotho word that means white person, or Caucasian. It is not offensive in itself but can be, depending on the manner it is delivered in. But this is true of many words.

The word "Senoamali" (Lesotho) or "Senwamadi" (South Africa), on the other hand, is rude. It refers to Caucasians and means, literally, "blood-sucker."

To be avoided.

Morena is Sesotho for "king"

Cape Argus: Come on, let's belt out the anthem

Do you know the words of the national anthem?

Not just the tune, but can you confidently belt it out beyond the first two verses, not stumbling on the Sesotho line "Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso" and fading at the "O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho", before picking up robustly on "Uit die blou van onse hemel".

Matekoane is Sesotho for "dagga"

Lesotho's people plead with South Africa to annex their troubled country | World news | The Observer

In 1980, Lesotho produced 80% of the cereals it consumed. Now it imports 70%. The only real cash crop is marijuana, grown between rows of maize and smuggled to South Africa on donkeys. Drug cultivation is such a lifeline that the children clothed and fed with its proceeds have a name: bana bamatekoane (children of marijuana).

Bana is children, and the ba being a possessive preposition, of in this case.
Bana ba Lesotho, The Children of Lesotho
Bana ba ka, My Children

Mangaung: Lengau means leopard/cheetah in Sesotho

Stadium guide: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein - Sports - Football - ibnlive

Bloemfontein is situated in the municipality of Mangaung, which means 'Place of the Cheetahs' in the seSotho language and this is where you will find the Free State Stadium, home to the country's most fanatical group of supporters.

Ed: Lengau (singular), Mangau (plural)

Making A Lesotho Tapestry

Phoka is Sesotho for dew

Postcard from Phokeng

"Phokeng, town of the Bafokeng, or "People of the Dew." The tribe dates from A.D. 1140, and for centuries they wandered the dry plains of southern Africa as nomads."
[continue...]

"On Sesotho" has moved...

...to http://basotho.wordpress.com (Sotho)

Please tweak your blog roll appropriately.

Molora (ash)

"Molora" is the Sesotho word for "ash."
[More...]

Boputsoa (blueness)

This is a Powerpoint presentation of the world as seen from the skies. Some of the images are quite stunning. The comments are in Sesotho. Whether you're a learner or not, enjoy it, and pass it on.

Nonyana (bird)

Like a bird rushing to catch the fattest worm, Lucas Nonyana surged early
and left his opponents eating dust as he pounded the 42,2 km Two Countries
Marathon route from Zimbabwe to South Africa to win the 10th race last Saturday.

As his namesake - Nonyana is a bird in Sesotho - the Liberty Life Athletics
Club athlete rushed forward to lead the other 45 runners as soon as the Musina
Local Municipality's Mayor Caroline Mahasela pulled the trigger at 7.00am to
start the annual race from Beitbridge to Musina. [Source]

Nonyana belongs to noun class number 9, just like thuhlo (giraffe) and kolobe (pig) and many other animals. The plural of nonyana is linonyana in Lesotho and dinonyana in South Africa. Same pronunciation, though: /dee-noh-nyanah/. Two giraffes are lithuhlo (dithuhlo), and two pigs are likolobe (dikolobe).
Here's a Sesotho proverb with the word "nonyana" in it: sehlaha sa nonyana se okamela boliba (bodiba), a bird's nest overlooks an abyss. Can you guess the meaning? Sesotho Web puts it down as a riddle, though.
Other mentions of "nonyana" are: eslweb.net , websters-online-dictionary.org , nonyanariverestate.co.za.

Neo, Lineo and telephoning

"Neo in Sotho means a gift and this is a token the whole of South Africa will hope to receive as Neotel, the second fixed-telephone line operator, rolls out its services. [Source]"

The first three letters of the company name, Neo, are pronounced approximately /NAY-oh/ and indeed do mean "gift." The plural is lineo in Lesotho and dineo in South Africa, same pronunciation in both countries: /dee-NAY-oh/.

I guess Telkom now has a real rival. Will it bring prices down? What I hope, is for the people of South Africa to receive a real neo. Neo or Lineo is also a forename. The first one can be for girls or boys, whereas the second is mainly for girls, like my daughter. I don't know a boy named Lineo.

How to learn Sesotho

You were wondering about what it takes to learn Sesotho, right? Well, using the wiki program through Wikihow ("The How-To Manual That Anyone Can Write or Edit"), I've managed to put it all down in black and white. So, finally, here's how to learn Sesotho.

The steps are a mixture of my experience as a language learner (especially of French), as a paedagogue and as a native speaker of Sesotho. Good luck.

How to say please in Sesotho

In Sesotho, the toilet is ntloana (or boithomelo, if you want to be uppity about it). Ntloana literally means a small house. When you gotta go, you gotta go, right? But how do you declare such an intention? How do you ask those around you to show you where the small house is? Nothing simpler. Remember the following language practices, however: [1.] In Sesotho you add -ng or -eng or -ing to a noun, if you want to turn the noun into "the place of + that original noun." Here are a few examples:

• bolo (ball), bolong (stadium);
• joala (alcohol), joaleng (bar/pub/shebeen);
• leloala (mill), leloaleng (at the miller's);
• lebota (wall), leboteng (on the wall);
• 'mele (body), 'meleng (on the body);
• ntloana (toilet), ntloaneng (at/to/in the toilet);
• khauta or gauta (gold), Khauteng or Gauteng (a South African province where there are gold mines);
• mokhoro (Basotho hut), mokhorong (at the hut).
  

The second thing to remember is that [2.] Politely does it. Ke kopa ... is the formula you want to learn, and use over and over when asking for things. Say it like this: / key-coop-uh / It is the equivalent of "May I..." or "Please..." One day we will look at how you can say, "give it the f*ck to me!" But not right away, ahem.

• Ke kopa metsi. May I have some water?
• Ke kopa lijo. May I have some food?
• Ke kopa ho ea ntloaneng. May I go to the toilet?
• Ke kopa thuso. I need help.
• Ke kopa pampiri. May I have some paper?
• Ke kopa ho tsamaea. May I go?
• Ke kopa ho shoa / schwa /. May I die?

There is also ak'u mphe..., another polite phrase when asking for things. It is rather informal when compared to ke kopa ..., and sounds something like /AH-comb-PAIR/. AH-comb-PAIR pampiri, or "can you give me some paper?" If you learn some verbs, you can take this quite far, indeed.

Ak'u mphe lijo (please give me food),
Ak'u nkise sepetlele (take me to the hospital please),
Ak'u nthuse (please help me),
Ak'u thole (please be quiet).

You can literally ak'u anything. Toilets are often plain outhouses in the smaller villages of Lesotho (hence the name of small house, of course). In America they call them outhouses. Modern toilets with running water are a city luxury. There are no taboos that I can think of regarding toilets and toilet-going. Basotho regard toilet-going as something essential that has to be carried out, full-stop. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Here are the two phrases to remember: key-coop-uh and ah-comb-pair.
Anothing thing to remember is that the /k/ and /c/ sounds in these two phrases are exactly the same. I have made them different because I wanted to use recognisable English words for the purposes of facilitating memory. But they are the same, and are a hard /k/ sound with as little aspiration (or expiration, you know, that little air that escapes when you say /c/ in English) as possible. If you say them like the English words they are, everyone will understand you, but you'll sound like a foreigner.

Nyala, o tla nyela

Many white South Africans still hold misinformed perceptions about living with black people in a black township. To counter that misconception, Fanie Kruger left his family in Pienaarspoort and moved in with black people in the Mamelodi township.

Fanie Kruger has been living in Mamelodi for the past twenty years and still enjoys every moment of his stay. 'Bra Fannie', as many people call him, says he cannot believe how quickly he managed to learn the Sotho language in the first year of living there. By the sound of his accent, it is not easy by any stretch of imagination to think he is not an original Sotho speaking person.

"I enjoy my life and staying here and everybody loves me," says Fanie. He is a mechanic by profession. "I do not like working for other people, I enjoy working for myself," he says. He works from his home in Mamelodi East where he repairs vehicles with engine and break problems. "I like working with people but the problem is that most people here like to complain, especially when I have to charge them a fee after repairing their vehicles. I then just laugh and finally we have to reach a compromise."

He says he grew up on a farm in Pienaarspoort where most of his friends were black people. "With that background, it was easy for me to adapt to the lifestyle of the people in Mamelodi," he says. About his personal life, Fanie says he has been blessed with a child with his black girlfriend. "I am not planning to rush into marriage yet," he says adding that ba boletse bare, nyala o tla nyela, which means life turns out to be a bit more difficult when you are married. [www.rekord.co.za]

Editor's note: the verb ho nyala means to marry, whereas the verb ho nyela means to defecate. It is common in Sesotho to say U tla nyela, playfully or aggressively, to convey a message similar to the English "I'm gonna beat the shit out of you." The phrase literally says, "You'll shit." The less literal but more contextual meaning would be the one suggested in the article above, "Life turns out to be a bit more difficult when you are married."