Karata has its own vocabulary, mostly Swahili, some of it borrowed and bent. If you have sat down at a table and not understood why everyone suddenly shouted, this is the list.
Karata
The game itself, and also the word for playing cards generally. From the Portuguese carta by way of Swahili. Elsewhere the same family of games is called Last Card, Crazy Eights or Mau Mau.
Kadi Moja — 'one card'
The declaration you make when you are down to your last card. Said out loud, usually louder than necessary. The equivalent of calling 'Uno'.
Kadi Mbili — 'two cards'
A declaration that you hold two cards of the same rank and intend to finish on them together. Not every table uses it, but where it is used it is a warning that the round is about to end.
Spesheli — 'special'
Any of the five cards that do something beyond matching: 2, 7, 8, Jack, Joker. The word doubles as the demand a Jack can make — asking the next player for 'spesheli' rather than a suit.
Kuweka / the plug
Playing your own 7 into a skip aimed at you, passing it to the next player instead. The one legal way to act out of turn.
The stack
The running draw total built by 2s and Jokers. Each 2 adds two, each Joker adds five, and it keeps growing until someone cannot answer and draws the lot.
The bridge
Using a Jack — playable on anything — to carry a group of otherwise unplayable cards onto the pile behind it. The main way a stuck hand gets unstuck.
Lamba — 'draw'
To take a card from the pile, whether by choice or because a stack has landed on you. In the game the draw button carries this word.
Cheza — 'play'
To put a card down. Also what everyone says to the person taking too long over their turn.
Mtoano — 'elimination'
The match format where the highest scorer is knocked out after each round, until one player remains.
Kukamata ujanja — 'catching the trick'
Calling out a player you believe is hiding a card. Right, and they lose the round; wrong, and you draw two.