Kisumu City, despite being one of the nation’s major urban centres, remains predominantly occupied by members of the Luo community, making the Luo language the most used vocabulary.

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Here are some of the Luo words you need to master for a smooth stay in the city, specialy if you are not conversant with the Luo vocabulary.

1. Koro?

There are very many words one can use to greet a Luo, some being very complex and others formed for a simple and quick greeting, Koro being the best for people who are new in town.

It simply means ‘Hi’, or ‘sasa?’ in Swahili. 

2. Erokamano

This is the easiest word to use when thanking a person in Luo.

Again, it is the easiest as there exist many others, depending on the part of Nyanza one comes from.

Luos are great and helpful people especialy to visitors and you will need to thank them for their goodness to motivate them to keep it up and help others in the future.

3. Pesa

This, just as the name suggests, translates to money. Other complex and hard names like ‘minyonge’ and ‘otonglo’ can also be used but pesa is the simplest for newcomers.

4. Osiepna

You do not want to use rude words when approaching a stranger for directions in the lakeside city so ‘osiepna’ (my friend) is the best for that purpose. It should not be confused with ‘osiepa’ which to a large extent means ‘my lover’.

5. Ma Kanye? and An Kanye?

The two words translate to ‘where is this’ and ‘where am I‘ respectively. They will be helpful immediately as you land in the beautiful city and you need to calculate your next move.

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