Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

is a

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

country. There are many languages spoken in the country, but no one language is spoken natively by a majority or a large plurality of the population. Swahili and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, the latter of which was inherited from colonial rule (''see

Tanganyika Territory Tanganyika was a colonial territory in East Africa which was administered by the United Kingdom in various guises from 1916 to 1961. It was initially administered under a military occupation regime. From 20 July 1922, it was formalised into a L ...

''), are widely spoken as

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

s. They serve as working languages in the country, with Swahili being the official national language. There are more speakers of Swahili than of English in Tanzania.

Overview

Bundesarchiv Bild 105-DOA0075, Deutsch-Ostafrika, Einheimisches Mädchen

According to ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

'', there are a total of 126

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

s spoken in Tanzania. Two are institutional, 18 are developing, 58 are vigorous, 40 are endangered, and 8 are dying. There are also three languages that recently became extinct. Most languages spoken locally belong to two broad language families: Niger-Congo ( Bantu branch) and

Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. T ...

( Nilotic branch), spoken by the country's

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

and

Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...

populations, respectively. Additionally, the Hadza and Sandawe hunter-gatherers speak languages with

click consonant Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the '' tut-tut'' (British spelling) or '' tsk! tsk!'' ...

s, which have tentatively been classified within the

Khoisan Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in t ...

phylum (although Hadza may be a

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

). The

Cushitic The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...

and Semitic ethnic minorities speak languages belonging to the separate

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

family, with the Hindustani and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

residents speaking languages from the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

family. Tanzania's various ethnic groups typically speak their

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

s within their own communities. The two

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

and Swahili, are used in varying degrees of fluency for communication with other populations. According to the official national linguistic policy announced in 1984, Swahili is the language of the social and political sphere as well as primary and adult education, whereas English is the language of secondary education, universities, technology, and higher courts.J. A. Masebo & N. Nyangwine: ''Nadharia ya lugha Kiswahili 1.'' S. 126, The government announced in 2015 that it would discontinue the use of English as a language of education as part of an overhaul of the Tanzanian schools' system. Additionally, several Tanzanian sign languages are used.

Language families

Major languages

Major languages spoken in Tanzania include: * Niger-Congo **

*** Bemba *** Bena (592 thousand, 2009) ***

Chaga The Chaga or Chagga ( Swahili language: WaChaga) are Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and the third-largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They traditionally live on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and eastern Mount Meru in both Kilimanjaro R ...

*** Digo (166 thousand, 2009) *** Gogo (1.08 million, 2009) *** Haya (1.94 million, 2016) *** Hehe (1.21 million, 2016) *** Iramba *** Luguru (404 thousand, 2009) *** Makonde (1.47 million, 2016) *** Ngoni *** Nyakyusa *** Nyamwezi (1.47 million, 2016) *** Nyika ***

Pare Pare may refer to: People with the name * Emmett Paré (1907-1973), tennis player * Pare, former member of Kotak, an Indonesian band * Pare Lorentz (1905-1992), American film director * Richard Pare (born 1948), English photographer * Paré, a ...

*** Rangi (410 thousand, 2007) *** Safwa (322 thousand, 2009) *** Sonjo *** Sukuma (8.13 million, 2016) *** Swahili ***

Tongwe language Tongwe (''Sitongwe'') and Bende (''Sibende'') constitute a clade of Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and So ...

*** Tumbuka *** Turu ***

Vidunda language Vidunda (''Chividunda'') is a Bantu language spoken along the north bank of the Ruaha River in Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa withi ...

*** Yao (630 thousand, 2016) ***Zanaki ***Kerewe ***Nyaturu ***Nyambo ***Gweno ***Kilindi ***Nyamwezi *

*** Datooga ***

Kisankasa The Kisankasa are an ethnic and linguistic group based in Arusha Region and Mara Region in northern Tanzania. In 1987 the Kisankasa population was estimated to number 4,670. The Kisankasa are distinct from other groups often called Dorobo Dorobo ( ...

***

Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

(682 thousand, 2016) *** Ngasa ***

Ogiek The Okiek (Ogiek: ), sometimes called the Ogiek or Akiek (although the term Akiek sometimes refers to a distinct subgroup), are a Southern Nilotic ethnic group native to Tanzania and Southern Kenya (in the Mau Forest), and Western Kenya (in the M ...

***

Luo Luo may refer to: Luo peoples and languages *Luo peoples, an ethno-linguistic group of eastern and central Africa **Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania or Joluo, an ethnic group in western Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. *** Luoland, th ...

(185 thousand, 2009) *** Zinza language ***

Sambaa language Shambala or Shambaa is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Overview Shambala, also Kishambala, (ki)Sambaa, (ki)Shambaa is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzan ...

(660 thousand (2001))

Minor languages

Languages spoken by the country's ethnic minorities include: Perusing Papers at a Newsstand - Near Mwenge - Tanzania

Khoe Maharishi International University (MIU), formerly Maharishi University of Management, is a private university in Fairfield, Iowa. It was founded in 1973 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and features a "consciousness-based education" system that include ...

*** Hadza (possibly a

) *** Sandawe (possibly a

) *

*** Alagwa *** Burunge *** Gorowa *** Iraqw ** Semitic ***

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

** Indo-Iranian ***

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

*** Hindustani *** Kutchi ** Germanic ***

***

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

*** French ***

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

MERU LANGUAGE

Extinct languages

Asa language The Asa (Aasá) language, commonly rendered Aasax (also rendered as Aasá, Aasáx, Aramanik, Asak, Asax, Assa, Asá), was spoken by the Asa people of Tanzania. The language is extinct; ethnic Assa in northern Tanzania remember only a few words th ...

References

External links

Languages of Tanzania
at

site.
Map of languages of Tanzania
at Ethnologue {{Tanzania topics