The song’s intro goes…Ī lion and a leopard come to this open placeįrom this point, the song segues into English lyrics which you probably know by heart. The opening lines start out in Zulu before switching over to English. While the song has some distinctive lyrics, unless you speak the lingo, the meaning is virtually lost. The dramatic first scene of the film reaches emotional heights with the accompaniment of Elton John’s ‘The Circle of Life’. While the phrase is commonly heard in Zanzibar and Kenya, it is uncommon amongst native speakers of Swahili in Tanzania, who prefer the phrase “hamna shida” in the north and “hamna tabu” in the south. It is formed by the words Hakuna (‘there is not here’) and Matata (plural form of ‘problem’). Roughly translated, ‘Hakuna Matata’ means “no worries”. The most iconic phrase coined by the film is without a doubt ‘ Hakuna matata’, this expression is taken from the African language Swahili.

Let’s start with the ones you kind of already know. Related: 44 Best Movies to Watch on DisneyPlus for learning languagesĪfter reading this post you’ll have a newfound appreciation for the film after knowing the meanings behind the characters’ names and meaning behind those catchy lyrics.We all know the movie so well, yet at the same time, so much is lost in translation.

Apart from learning what ‘Hakuna matata’ means, do you know which language it’s from? or what ‘Simba’ means? What about the translation for the opening lines of ‘The Circle of Life’?ĭisney’s 1994 classic, ‘ The Lion King’ included so many African cultural and linguistic references, but sadly most of them were lost on the average film-goer.Īfter visiting South Africa, I became more interested in African languages, including Afrikaans and the Khoisan clicking language. This led me to want to explore the meanings behind many of the terms used in the Africa based movie, The Lion King.

Inspirationfor the name lion in hindi