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Going Solo Roald Dahl Sparknotes

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Roald Dahl learns Swahili

In the memoir, Going Solo, Roald Dahl's journey in East Africa and his service in the RAF, covers much of the development to World War II. In the book, Dahl acknowledges the Swahili language. The Swahili language is made up of Bantu and some Arabic too. The language is from the African origin. Dahl had to learn this language to get through his expedition in Africa.

To begin with, this language was shaped from, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, "[T]he contacts of Arab traders, and under their influence, it originated as a lingua Franca used by several closely related Bantu-speaking tribal groups" ("Swahili language"). Dahl had to pick up on Swahili to be able to understand and communicate with everyone around him. He got a Swahili- English dictionary, grammar book, and practice in the evenings, to be fluent in the language. Once Dahl could pronounce Swahili, solid as a rock, he could enunciate with his boy. …show more content…

Many of his adventures happen with one of his servants, named Mdisho. As stated in the Going Solo, 'We would drive far west to the edge of Lake Tanganyika in central Africa and down south to the borders of Nyasaland, and after that we would head east towards Mozambique, and the purpose of these trips was to visit our Shell costumers" (Dahl 27).This is just a fraction to what their adventure

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