Kenyan English→English

Translate Kenyan English to English the way locals mean it.

Kenyan English often uses formal-sounding verbs, local transport terms, and Swahili softeners whose intended meaning is more everyday than the words suggest.

Going the other way? English to Kenyan English

474 local dialects

AIRTranslate on iPhone choosing between English varieties

What locals actually say

I am coming now.

I am on my way now.

This present-tense construction commonly signals immediate movement towards you, not simply that the speaker is arriving at some unspecified time.

Kindly alight at the next stage.

Please get off at the next stop.

Alight means get off, while stage is the usual term for a matatu or bus stop.

Pole, I was held up.

Sorry, I was delayed.

Pole is a Swahili word used as a soft apology or expression of sympathy, rather than a reference to a physical pole.

Nitumie kwa M-Pesa.

Send it to me via M-Pesa.

M-Pesa names Kenya’s familiar mobile-money service, while kwa is a Swahili-influenced way to mean via or through.

Leo tunakula nyama choma.

We’re having nyama choma today.

Nyama choma is the common Swahili loan for roasted meat and signals Kenyan food culture and casual code-switching.

Mzee amesema tufike mapema.

Mzee says we should get there early.

Mzee is used respectfully for a father, older man, or senior relative, signalling respect rather than simply age.

Niko kwa office, nitasort hiyo.

I’m at the office, I’ll sort that out.

Kwa office uses the Swahili-influenced location construction kwa, while sort that out is a familiar Kenyan and British English work expression.

Mvua imeanza kunyesha, carry umbrella.

It has started raining, carry an umbrella.

Carry is commonly used in Kenyan English where other varieties might say take, signalling the meaning take along.

Notes like these come with every AIRTranslate translation, so you learn why locals phrase it that way as you go.

How Kenyan English differs

Kenyan English. British spelling; local flavour (sort out, alight from a matatu, mzee respectfully); casual register may borrow common Sheng/Swahili loanwords locals mix in (sawa, pole).

Sound like a local everywhere, not just here.

Every one of 474 dialects, with voice, camera, a keyboard for any app, and offline packs.

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Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way