While
Arabic
is the most spoken language in Africa, there's plenty more – other popular languages include Amharic, Berber, Portuguese, Oromo, Igbo, Yoruba, Zulu and Shona.
What is the #1 most spoken language in Africa?
1.
SWAHILI
. The most spoken language in Africa is Swahili which is said to have between 100 and 150 million speakers. Known as a ‘Bantu' language, Swahili apparently originated from other languages like Arabic.
What are the top 10 most spoken languages in Africa?
- Swahili: Swahili, known as Kiswahili in the native tongue, is a Bantu language spoken by some 150 million Africans in the African Great Lakes region in Central and Southern Africa. …
- Arabic: …
- French: …
- Hausa: …
- Yoruba: …
- Oromo: …
- Igbo: …
- Amharic:
Is English the most spoken language in Africa?
English is the most widely spoken language across the African continent
, followed by French, Portuguese, and even Spanish. What is this? English is not only the official language of many countries in Africa; it's also the principal language of education in many others, and a lingua franca otherwise.
What are the four main languages spoken in Africa?
The Niger-Congo languages inhabit Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken languages of Africa,
Swahili
(100 million), Yoruba (20 million), Igbo (21 million), and Fula (13 million) all belong to the Niger-Congo family.
Is Italian spoken in Africa?
How Many People In Africa Speak Italian? There are at
least
some Italian speakers, or at least people who understand the language, in Africa. They are found primarily in the former colonies of Italian Libya (now just Libya) and Italian East Africa (now part of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia).
Is Zulu a written language?
Zulu, like most indigenous Southern African languages, was
not a written language until the arrival of missionaries from Europe
, who documented the language using the Latin script. The first grammar book of the Zulu language was published in Norway in 1850 by the Norwegian missionary Hans Schreuder.
Do they speak French in Africa?
French remains the sole official language in 11 African countries
, and the second official language in 10.
Which African language is easiest to learn?
Swahili
is said to be the easiest African language for an English speaker to learn. It is heavily influenced by Arabic and Indo-European languages such as Portuguese, German, English, and French. It's one of the few sub-Saharan African languages that have no lexical tone, just as in English.
Where is Swahili spoken in Africa?
It's a national language in
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
, and an official language of the East African Community which comprises Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. Its use is spreading to southern, western and northern Africa.
What African countries speak English as a first language?
Sierra Leone and Liberia
are the only countries in Africa where English is spoken as the primary language. English is the primary language of Nigeria and Ghana, but the language is spoken as a lingua franca in both states.
Why is French spoken in Africa?
The
French language was brought to the African continent through colonialism
. During the 1950s and 60s, France and Belgium lost control of their African colonies, however, French is still spoken in at least 29 African countries. … There is so much to learn about this magnificent continent!
How much of Africa speaks French?
| Rank Country Population | 21 Seychelles 92,900 |
|---|
What is African language called?
Swahili language, also called kiSwahili, or Kiswahili, Bantu language spoken either as a mother tongue or as a fluent second language on the east coast of Africa in an area extending from Lamu Island, Kenya, in the north to the southern border of Tanzania in the south.
Is English an African language?
Regardless of whether English is labeled the colonial language, the global hegemonic language, or an African language,
English is already becoming the language of the African continent as we speak
.
Is Arabic spoken in Nigeria?
| Language Total speakers (millions) | Arabic 1 | Igala 1 | French 1 | Idoma 0.8 |
|---|
What's the most spoken language in the world?
- English (1.132 million speakers) Native speakers: 379 million. …
- Mandarin (1.117 million speakers) …
- Hindi (615 million speakers) …
- Spanish (534 million speakers) …
- French (280 million speakers) …
- Arabic (274 million speakers) …
- Bengali (265 million speakers) …
- Russian (258 million speakers)
What is the hardest language to learn?
Mandarin
As mentioned before, Mandarin is unanimously considered the toughest language to master in the world! Spoken by over a billion people in the world, the language can be extremely difficult for people whose native languages use the Latin writing system.
Did North Africa speak Latin?
With the expansion of the empire, Vulgar Latin came
to be spoken by inhabitants of the various Roman-controlled territories in North Africa
. Latin and its descendants were spoken in the Province of Africa following the Punic Wars, when the Romans conquered the territory.
Where is Russian spoken?
Where is Russian spoken? Russian is the official language in
the Russian Federation
, which has a population of more than 140 million people. Russian is also spoken in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other republics of the former USSR.
What language do Nigeria speak?
Hausa was an official language of the northern states from 1951 to 1967. It is the most widely spoken language, although
English is the official language
of Nigeria. In addition to English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, and English Creole are widely spoken. Many of the languages exist in written form.
What African countries speak Afrikaans?
| Country Region Official language | South Africa Southern Africa yes | Namibia Southern Africa no |
|---|
What language is spoken in Morocco?
In Morocco there are two official languages,
Arabic and Amazigh
, which are spoken in the streets and villages of Morocco. Classical Arabic, more commonly known as Literary Arabic, is the administrative language of the country. Generally speaking, you will hear Moroccan Arabic spoken in the streets.
What African countries speak Spanish?
Equatorial Guinea
gained its independence from Spain on 12 October 1968, but maintains the Spanish as its official language alongside French and recently (as of 2010) Portuguese, being currently the only African country where Spanish is an official language.
What is the second most studied language in the world?
French
– Second most popular language of study in 77 out of 194 countries.
How do you say hello in Africa?
Zulu: Sawubona (Hello) Xhosa: Molo (Hello) Afrikaans:
Hallo
(Hello)
How similar are Swahili and Arabic?
It's a rich mix of languages
Swahili is
predominantly a mix of local Bantu languages and Arabic
. Decades of intensive trade along the East African coast resulted in this mix of cultures. Besides Arabic and Bantu, Swahili also has English, Persian, Portuguese, German and French influences due to trade contact.
Does South Africa speak Swahili?
The exact number of
Swahili speakers is unknown
, but it is often accepted as one of the most widely spoken languages in Africa and is recognized as an official language in Kenya, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and Tanzania. …
Where is Zulu spoken?
The Language, Culture and People
IsiZulu is one of the 11 official languages spoken in
South Africa
. Approximately 10 million people in South Africa speak isiZulu as a first language and many more as a second language.
What is the hardest African language to learn?
Taa, the last vital language of the Tuu language family and formerly called ʻSouthern Khoisan'
, it is believed to be the world's most difficult language. Part of the Khoisan language group and is spoken in the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, it is also known as !
Is Zulu easy to learn?
This language has a class two rating on the difficulty scale for English-speaking learners, which means if you start now, you'll be speaking Zulu in under forty-four weeks!
How many country in Africa speak English?
How many countries in Africa have English as official language? There are
25 countries
in the continent in which English is spoken as an official language.
What will be the most spoken language in 2050?
A 2014 study by the investment bank Natixis even predicted that
French
would become the world's most widely spoken language by 2050. The authors of the study referred to were demographic growth prospects in Africa. “French is also widespread in many smaller countries,” Ammon said.
Is African French different?
All the
African French varieties differ from standard French
, both in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary, but the formal African French used in education, media and legal documents is based on standard French vocabulary.
Who speaks better English between Nigeria and Ghana?
The answer to this is Ghana. Ghana has an adult literacy rate of 76.6% while Nigeria has an adult literacy rate of 59.6%. [1] Hence, relative to the population,
more Ghanaians
speak English than Nigerians.
Which country is a richest in Africa?
| Region Rank Country Peak value of GDP (PPP) as of 2021 Billions of International dollars | — Africa 7,172.782 | 1 Egypt 1,381.057 | 2 Nigeria 1,136.795 | 3 South Africa 861.929 |
|---|
What is the safest country in Africa?
- Rwanda. Rwanda is arguably the safest country in Africa, which is immediately apparent upon arrival in the relaxed and sophisticated capital Kigali. …
- Botswana. …
- Mauritius. …
- Namibia. …
- Seychelles. …
- Ethiopia. …
- Morocco. …
- Lesotho.
Does Egypt speak French?
Most educated Egyptians are fluent in English or French or both
, in addition to Arabic. There are also other minor linguistic groups. The Beja of the southern section of the Eastern Desert use an Afro-Asiatic language of the Cushitic branch known as To Bedawi (though some speak Tigre and many use Arabic).
Which African country speaks the most languages?
Nigeria
: And the African country with the most languages is… Nigeria. The official language is English, while 24 million people speak Igbo.
Why do some Africans speak Arabic?
This ethnic identity is a product of the Arab
conquest
of North Africa during the Arab–Byzantine wars and the spread of Islam to Africa. … The descendants of the original Arab settlers who continue to speak Arabic as a first language currently form the single largest population group in North Africa.
What language did the Jesus speak?
Most religious scholars and historians agree with Pope Francis that the historical Jesus principally spoke
a Galilean dialect of Aramaic
. Through trade, invasions and conquest, the Aramaic language had spread far afield by the 7th century B.C., and would become the lingua franca in much of the Middle East.
Why is Swahili so popular?
1. Swahili is spoken by over 100m people in Africa so it's pretty hard to ignore a language that's spoken by so many people. Its importance as a
lingua franca
is recognised by foreign media organisations such as the BBC, which broadcasts radio programmes in Swahili.
