Maybe English is your first language and you enjoy speaking, reading and writing it. Not me! I strain to write, read and even speak English though the little I possess was bought with much money. During those days, we were really given strokes of the cane when we did not pronounce or write the right thing. Yet still, we had and still have challenges.
English is fun but write challenging even to those whose English is the first language. How we use 'to pronounce' as a verb and 'pronunciation' and not 'pronouncation' as a noun beats me flat. How the plural of 'thief' is ''thieves' but the plural of ''chief' is 'chiefs' is another bone to chew. The different in their spelling is in the first letter whereby 't' interchanges with 'c'.
Another problem arises in sentence structures. Up to now they give me problems. Not to worry, I still communicate though with problems.
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Where I come from we have several words which we use in English though they have Swahili origin.
Shamba is farm or garden.
Chapati is roti, flat bread or pancake.
Safari is journey.
Jembe is a hoe.
Panga is a machette.
The other problem asises how English words and names were corrupted to be the native words.
Isukuti is a dance where the dancers vibrate their waists in unison to the sound of drums and song. The drums are also called by that name. The name came about when some whites were entertained by the dance. They nodded in agreement and said, 'it is good'. The natives thought they were calling the dance isukuti and the name stuck.
There are native names whose origin is from the English too.
Kariokor is carry your call.
Musibega is Mrs. Baker.
Umwisiburu is Mrs. Bull.
Musuruve is Miss. Reeves.
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There are also sentences when translated directly to English may mean a different thing altogether.
To swallow saliva is to forget.
To kill your legs is to walk slowly.
To have eaten beans is to be pregnant.
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