Will Swahili become the language of Africa?

Will Swahili become the language of Africa?

With more than 200 million speakers, Swahili, which originated in East Africa, is one of the world’s 10 most widely spoken languages and, as Priya Sippy writes, there is a renewed push for it to become the continent’s lingua franca.

Is Swahili a growing language?

Other countries where Swahili is spoken include Rwanda, Burundi, northern Mozambique, northern Zambia, Malawi and southern Somalia among other places. Swahili is a thriving and rapidly growing language.

How Swahili became the most spoken language in Africa?

They were important enough in the trade that newcomers had little choice but to speak Swahili as the language of trade and diplomacy. And the Swahili population became more entrenched as successive generations of second-language speakers of Swahili lost their ancestral languages and became bona fide Swahili.

When did Swahili convert to Islam?

ninth century
One of the most enduring of these contributions from the Arab neighbors was their religion Islam. Trade has played an important role in the spread of Islam since the beginnings of the religion. Arab traders first introduced Islam to the Swahili coast in the ninth century.

Is Swahili spoken in Zambia?

Swahili and closely related languages are spoken by relatively small numbers of people in Burundi, Comoros, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Rwanda. The language was still understood in the southern ports of the Red Sea in the 20th century. Swahili speakers may number 150 to 200 million in total.

Is Swahili spoken in Namibia?

Opinion: The pandemonium of the Swahili (Kiswahili) language in Namibia. Allow me space in your newspaper to share my views on the introduction of Kiswahili in Namibia and other African countries.

Does Zambia speak Swahili?

1. Where is Swahili spoken? Swahili has official language status in Tanzania and Kenya and is also widely spoken in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Comoros Islands. It’s also spoken by smaller numbers in Burundi, Rwanda, Northern Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.

Do they speak Swahili in Zambia?

Is Swahili spoken in Mozambique?

Mozambique is a multilingual country. A number of Bantu languages are indigenous to Mozambique….Largest language groups.

Is Bantu a Swahili?

Swahili is characteristically Bantu in its grammar, and it has a large vocabulary of word roots traceable to a common Bantu stock.

Is Swahili spoken in Ghana?

Ghana is a multilingual nation. It is believed that there are about 80 native languages spoken by the Ghanaians. However, the official language used in Ghana is English.