Languages of Tanzania – Overview, Language Families and More
What is the Language of Tanzania?
Tanzania is multilingual, with 126 languages spoken in the country according to Ethnologue. However, none of the languages of Tanzania is solely spoken natively by a large plurality or majority of the country’s citizens.
What is the National Language of Tanzania?
The two most commonly spoken dialect in the country is Swahili (The official language of Tanzania) and English (inherited from the colonial rule era). While both serve as Tanzania’s working languages, Swahili is dominant.
Actually, Swahili is an official language of Kenya and Tanzania together.
Overview of the Language of Tanzania
Apart from the official languages of Tanzania, there are 126 spoken languages of Tanzania, whereby 18 are still developing, eight are in the process of dying, 40 are currently endangered, two are institutional, and 58 are commonly used. Three languages also recently became extinct.
The most commonly spoken local languages of Tanzania can be divided into two language categories: Nilo-Saharan (or the Nilotic branch) and Niger-Congo (or the branch of a Bantu language of Tanzania). The Nilotic and Bantu populations respectively speak these languages.
The Sandawe and Hadza hunter-gatherers speak languages that contain click consonants. These languages of Tanzania have temporarily been categorized within the Khoisan class (however, Hadza language may be a language isolate).
Languages of Tanzania that belong to the Indo-European class are spoken by British and Hindustani residents, and languages belonging to the Afro-Asiatic class are spoken by the minority Semitic and Cushitic ethnic groups.
Tanzania has many different ethnic groups, and each generally speaks their mother tongue amongst themselves. When different populations engage, Swahili and English are spoken in varying degrees of fluency.
The official national linguistic policy of 1984 states that English is primarily used in secondary education institutions, technology, higher courts, and universities. The policy also stated that Swahili belongs to adult and primary education institutions and the social and political sphere. Additionally, apart from Swahili being the language of instruction in Tanzania, it is also the main language of Tanzania.
The Status of English Language in Tanzania
In 2015, the Tanzanian government announced that English as an academic language would be discontinued to overhaul the Tanzanian school system.
That said, the importance of English language in Tanzania is still there to a very high extent as it is a language for business and higher education.
Additionally, several sign language variations are used in Tanzania.
Categories of Languages of Tanzania
Major Languages
The major languages of Tanzania or what can be considered as native language of Tanzania are:
Nilotic
Nilo-Saharan
- Maasai (682,000 – 2016)
- Luo (185,000 – 2009)
- Sambaa (660,000 – 2001)
- Datooga
- Kisankasa
- Ngasa
- Ogiek
- Zinza
Bantu
Niger-Congo
- Bena (592,000 – 2009)
- Digo (116,000 – 2009)
- Gogo (1,080,000 – 2009)
- Haya (1,940,000 – 2016)
- Hehe (1,210,000 – 2016)
- Luguru (404,000 – 2009)
- Makonde (1,470,000 – 2016)
- Nyamwezi (1,470,000 – 2016)
- Rangi (410,000 – 2007)
- Safwa (322,000 – 2009)
- Sukuma (8,130,000 – 2016)
- Yao (630,000 – 2016)
- Bemba
- Chagga
- Gweno
- Iramba
- Kilindi
- Kerewe
- Ngoni
- Nyakyusa
- Nyambo
- Nyamwezi
- Nyaturu
- Nyika
- Pare
- Sonjo
- Swahili
- Tongwe
- Turu
- Viduna
- Zanaki
Minor Languages of Tanzania
The less commonly spoken languages of Tanzania are:
Afro-Asiatic
Cushitic
- Gorowa
- Alagwa
- Iraqw
- Burunge
Semitic
- Arabic
Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
- Kutchi
- Gujarati
- Hindustani
Germanic
- German
- English
Romance
- Portuguese
- French
Extinct Languages of Tanzania
- Asa
Other Important Information About Languages of Tanzania
Official language of Tanzania Codycross – https://codycrossanswers.com/official-language-of-tanzania/
For more articles related to Tanzania languages click here!
