Greetings

Ok, so today I will be talking about greetings. In English we have different greetings for different times of the day. This is also the case in Sepedi and in Norwegian.

Morning greetings 

Response

English: Good morning                                          English: Morning

Sepedi: Dumela                                                    Sepedi: Agee

Norsk: God morgen                                              Norsk: God morgen

English: How are you                                             English: I am fine thank you

Sepedi: O tsogile bjang                                          Sepedi: Aowa ke tsogile

Norsk: Hvordan har du det                                    Norsk: Jeg har det fint, takk

Afternoon greetings

Response

English: Good day                                                English: Good day
Sepedi: Dumela                                                    Sepedi: Agee
Norsk: God dag                                                   Norsk: God dag


English: How are you                                             English: I am fine thank you
Sepedi: O hlwele bjang                                          Sepedi: Aowa ke hlwele
Norsk: Hvordan har du det                                    Norsk: Jeg har det fint, takk

Notice that in Sepedi the greeting changes on the second statement rather than the first like in English and Norwegian. Saying Dumela is the same as using the word hello or hallo (norsk), It can be used any time of the day. Also there are different variations on how to greet in all of these languages, these examples here are just the standard greetings.

Direct translations of the greetings

Spedi

O tsogile bjang- How did you wake up

Aowa- No. But it can also be used as a filler word. such as like, ummm, ahhh, words which you use to fill up spaces where you are not talking. Gives the conversation a flow.

O Hlwele bjang-How has your day been

Norwegian

Good dag- Good day

Hvordan har du det- How have you it

Jeg har det fint takk- I have it fine thanx