The South African Minister of Basic Education made the announcement in September 2018, Swahili was to be included in the education system. This was, and is a great and bold move to further extend South Africa's dominance as the most advanced economy in Africa, as virtually all African languages are spoken here.
Swahili is the most spoken language in Africa, with over 100 million speakers. It is a Bantu language believed to have originated from other languages, mainly Arabic, due to historical interactions between Arabs from the Middle East and East Africans. Swahili is Tanzania’s official language, as well as the medium of instruction in all schools. It is also Kenya’s official language as well as Uganda. Other Swahili speaking nations include Rwanda, Burundi, southern Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan northern Mozambique and the Comoros Islands. To greet in Swahili, one says, “Jambo”, or “Habari” when greeting an elder.
Second on our list is Swahili, known as Kiswahili in the language itself. Swahili is a Bantu language widely spoken in the African Great Lakes region, which comprises of a huge swath of Central, Southern and East African. There’s also a huge number of Swahili speakers in countries adjacent to the Great Lakes region.
With Swahili under your belt, you’ll be able to visit gorgeous countries like Tanzania and Kenya, where Swahili is an official language. Swahili will also help you get around parts of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While it’s natively spoken by 15 million people, there are more than 150 million speakers total, and it’s a common second language throughout this region! Swahili is quite appealing to many language learners due to the fact that it’s widely spoken and for its history. Kiswahili (the name of the language in Swahili) means “coastal language,” and it’s a trade language that was created to facilitate communications between a number of Southern and Eastern Africa’s wide variety of ethnic groups.
It’s also not too hard for English speakers to learn—unlike many African languages, Swahili doesn’t use tones and, unlike Arabic and Amharic, it uses the Latin alphabet. If you do know some Arabic then you have a good head start, as there are tons of Arabic loanwords in Swahili. What’s more, I guarantee you already know a handful of Swahili words. Why? The writers of Disney’s “The Lion King” had a bit of a love affair with Swahili. Hakuna Matata? That’s Swahili for “no worries!” Simba? Swahili for “lion!”
Source: Africa Facts, DW
