French is the official language in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, however 32% of the people speak

Fang A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fang ...

as a mother tongue. French is the medium of instruction. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

very few Gabonese learned French, nearly all of them working in either business or government administration. After the war, France worked for universal primary education in

, and by the 1960-61 census, 47% of the Gabonese over the age of 14 spoke some French, while 13% were literate in the language. By the 1990s, the literacy rate had risen to about 60%. It is estimated that 80%''La Francophonie dans le monde 2006-2007''
published by the

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to the Francophonie, french: La Francophonie , but also called International Organisation of in English-language context) is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a ...

Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 2007 of the country's population can speak the language competently and one-third of residents of

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been inh ...

, the capital city, had become native French speakers. More than 10,000

French people The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the nati ...

live in

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

predominates the country's foreign cultural and commercial influences. Outside the capital, French is less commonly spoken, though it is used by those who have completed a secondary or university education. The indigenous languages are all members of the

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 ...

family, estimated to have come to

about 2,000 years ago, and differentiated into about 40 languages. They are generally spoken but not written; while missionaries from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

developed transcriptions for a number of languages based on the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

starting in the 1840s, and translated the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

into several of them, French colonial policy officially promoted the study of French and discouraged African languages. The languages continue to be transmitted through family and clan, and individuals in cities and other areas where different people may learn several Bantu languages. The Gabonese government sponsored research on the Bantu languages starting in the 1970s. The three largest languages are

, Mbere, and Sira (Eshira), each with about 25–30% of the speakers. The remainder of the languages are single-digit percentages, and some have only a few thousand speakers. Education for the deaf in

uses

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

, introduced by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster. (See

Francophone African Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) developed in the United States and Canada, but has spread around the world. Local varieties have developed in many countries, but there is little research on which should be considered dialects of ASL (such as Bolivia ...

List of languages

Indo-European languages 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, Dutc ...

**''

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

'' *** French (ISO code fra) *

Niger–Congo languages Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic-Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups of ...

**'' Beti languages'' ***

(fng) **'' Kele–Tsogo languages'' *** Kendell (kbs) ***

Sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

(sag) *** Seki (syi) *** Sighu (sxe) ***

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King (franchise), The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation's List of Walt Disney Anim ...

(sbw) *** Tsogo (tsv) *** Wumbvu (wum) **''

Makaa–Njem languages The Makaa–Njem languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. They are coded Zone A.80 in Guthrie's classification The 250 or so "Nar ...

'' ***

Bekwel Bekwel (Bekwil) is a Bantu language of the Republic of the Congo. There are some 10,000 speakers there, with a quarter that number across the border in Gabon, and perhaps a similar on the opposite side in Cameroon. It is rather close to Nzime lan ...

(bkw) **''

Mbam languages The Mbam languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in Cameroon *Sanaga (A60): Tuki (Bacenga), Leti/ Mengisa, Mbwasa *West Mbam (A40): Bati (A60), Nomaande (Mandi)– Tunen (Aling'a, Banen)– Tuotomb– Yambeta, Nyokon *Yambasa (A60) ...

'' ***

Bubi BuBi (officially: MOL BuBi) is a bicycle sharing network in Budapest, Hungary. Its name is a playful contraction Budapest and Bicikli (bicycle in Hungarian), meaning "bubble" in an endearing manner. As of May 2019 the network consists of 143 dock ...

(buw) **''

Mbete languages The Mbete (Mbere) languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.60 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the languages form a valid node. They are : : Mbete, Kaning'i, Mbaama–Mpini, Nduumo ''Ethnologu ...

'' *** Kanin (kzo) **''

Nzebi languages The Nzebi languages are a series of Bantu languages spoken in the western Congo and in Gabon. They are coded Zone B.50 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the Nzebi languages form a valid node with West Teke (B.7 ...

'' ***

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

(dma) *** Tsaangi (tsa) ***

Wandji Wanzi (Wandji) is a Bantu language spoken in Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by ...

(wdd) **''

Sawabantu languages Sawabantu languages are a group of Bantu languages comprising most of zones A.20 and A.30 of Guthrie's classification, and most likely also part of zone A.10. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the A.20 and A.30 languages apart from Bubi fo ...

'' ***

Benga Benga may refer to: Ethnonym * Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea * Benga language, spoke by the Benga people * Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya Places Romania * ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...

(ben) ***

Yasa Yasa was a bhikkhu during the time of Gautama Buddha. He was the sixth bhikkhu in the Buddha's sangha and was the sixth to achieve arahanthood. Yasa lived in the 6th century BCE in what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India. Yasa wa ...

(yko) **''

Sira languages The Sira languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.40 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), together with a couple languages from H10, they form a valid node. They are: : (B.40) Punu, Bwisi, Varama, V ...

'' *** Barama (bbg) *** Bwisi (bwz) *** Sangu (snq) *** Sira (swj), aka Eshira, Shira *** Vili (vif) **''

Teke languages The Teke languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken by the Teke people in the western Congo and in Gabon. They are coded Zone B.70 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the Teke languages apart from West Teke ...

'' *** Northern Teke (teg) *** Western Teke (tez) *** Vumbu (vum) *

Ubangian languages The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango. They are ...

**''

Ngbaka languages The dozen Ngbaka languages are a family of Ubangian languages spoken in the Central African Republic and neighboring areas. It includes Pygmy languages such as Baka and Gundi. The most populous Ngbaka languages are Mbaka in the western branch, ...

'' *** Baka

References

External links

Ethnologue.com report on languages of Gabon

PanAfriL10n page on Gabon
{{Gabon topics