Hello Again.

We were reminded in a conversation the other day about how expressive African greetings can be. The topic of that particular conversation was the Zulu greeting “sawubona” which translates to “I see you”; this greeting can be taken as a statement of physical fact or the recognition of an intimate personal connection.

In Ethiopia, we learned to greet people using the Amharic phrase “tena yistilign” or a variation thereof – it was often pronounced as a single word with the “y” dropped – which literally translates to “May (He) give you health”, where the (He) refers to God. Even though it’s only two words long, there’s a lot to unpack from this little phrase. First of all, there’s a cultural recognition of Count Rugen’s immortal statement, “If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.” The closest we come in the Western world is saying “Gesundheit!” to bless someone after a sneeze. Second, there’s an implicit monotheistic perspective that assumes the presence of a (male) divine being but works across religious differences, which is handy in a country split almost evenly between orthodox Christianity and Islam. Thirdly, because God is the subject of the phrase, there’s no need to deal with tricky verb conjugations that depend on the gender and the social status of the person you’re speaking to.

The basic verbal greeting can be embellished in a couple of ways. As in the west, there is usually a handshake, but in Ethiopia the left hand often plays a role, grasping your own right wrist or forearm as you offer your right hand in greeting. A small but respectful bow is an optional but acceptable addition to a formal greeting. (Or maybe we bowed because we tended to be taller than the people we were greeting?)

When you’re greeting people you’re close to but maybe haven’t seen for a while, it’s perfectly acceptable to raise the level of difficulty with the addition of kisses – at least two, often three, and sometimes four or more – delivered on or near alternating cheeks. In this case, the handshake is used to draw you in and position you for optimal kiss delivery. The handshake is maintained throughout the kissing phase, and the kisses are punctuated with repeated questions and comments regarding each other’s health and overall appearance: “Endeminesh? Dehnanesh? Endeminesh?” “How are you? Are you well? How are you?” And of course, here’s the place where you have to pay attention to the status and gender of the person you’re talking to, and conjugate your verb accordingly.

How are you? Are you well? You look well. Are you well?