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Swahili has become a second language spoken by tens of millions of people in the five African Great Lakes countries (Kenya, DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania), where it is an official or national language. It is also the first language for many people in Tanzania, especially in the coastal regions of Tanga, Pwani, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Lindi.
Central African Republic: French & Sango (both official) [2] and 50 other African languages. Chad: French and Arabic (both official) [3] + more than 100 African languages. Democratic Republic of the Congo: French (official) + Lingala, Kongo, Swahili & Tshiluba (national languages) [4] + 238 other languages.
Once just an obscure island dialect of an African Bantu tongue, Swahili has evolved into Africa’s most internationally recognized language. It is peer to the few languages of the world that ...
This category includes countries and territories where Swahili language or a Swahili dialect is used either as a vernacular or as a vehicular language. Pages in category "Swahili-speaking countries and territories"
The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100, [1] and by some counts at over 3,000. [2]
French was spoken by a bit under 6% of the population according to the 2012 census and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. [8] English was reported to be spoken by 15% of the population in 2009, though the same report found the proportion of French-speakers to be 68%. [9] Swahili is spoken by fewer than 1%. [10]
The two official languages of Kenya, Swahili and English, are widely spoken as lingua francas; however, including second-language speakers, Swahili is more widely spoken than English. [1] Swahili is a Bantu language native to East Africa and English is inherited from British colonial rule.
Zanzibari traders' intensive push into the African interior from the late eighteenth century induced the adoption of Swahili as a common language throughout much of East Africa. Thus, Swahili is the most spoken African language, used by far more than just the Swahili people themselves. [12]