Makosa ya Kisemantiki Katika Maandishi ya Wanafunzi Wageni Wanaojifunza Lugha ya Kiswahili

Abstract

There have been a large number of students learning Swahili language in the world, this situationa caused by the development of science and technology including the rapid growth of the Swahili language in the world. During learning, various errors may arise. This article aims to explain semantic errors in the writings of foreign students learning Swahili language as well as the sources of those erroes. In this article documentary review and interview are the techniques used in data collection whereas the total of 24 students from The State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) and The Kiswahili na Utamaduni (KIU) centre were collected, and the total of 4 teachers were interviewed from those two centres, the author went direct to the field so as to collect those data. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive approach and the observation revealed that there are a lot of semantic errors that happen in the writings of the foreign students learning Swahili language that are from different sources. Such errors include misuse of verb conjugation, the use of inappropriate vocabulary in the context, word-for-word separation, sound dropping, literal translation, word dropping, word linking and phonetic modification. And the sources being the effects of the first language, the difficulty of the second language rules and the lack of exposure among the students.

Therefore, based on those findings the author has suggested appropriate methods that wili help both the teachers and the stundents to identify the errors and their sources and work on them.