What is Swahili?
Swahili is an African language and learning it is fun, easy, and a great way to immerse yourself in a language spoken by millions of Africans. Swahili is the most widely spoken language in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. It is an African language with a large Arabic influence and includes loan words from languages such as English, German, Hindi and Portuguese. It originated on the East African coast from a diverse history of trading and cultural exchange between Arabs, Africans, and Europeans.
Many people in Tanzania and Kenya speak Swahili as a second language, and are often fluent in the language, as it is compulsory in schools, up to the universities level. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Swahili is spoken in the eastern provinces, from the major cities of Lubumbashi to Kisangani, and almost half of the population in the country speak it. In Uganda Swahili is also widely spoken and taught as a second language in schools.
The name Swahili comes from the Arabic word سَوَاحِل (sawāḥil), the plural of سَاحِل (sāḥil - boundry, coast) and means "coastal dwellers" and so Kiswahili means "coastal language".
Swahili at a glance
Name: KiSwahili
Linguistic affiliation: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Benue-Congo, Southern Bantoid, Bantu, Northeast Coast Bantu, Sabaki
Number of speakers: c. 140 million
Spoken in: Burundi, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Comoros, Madagascar, Zambia, Malawi and many other African countries
First written: AD 1711
Writing system: First Arabic script, now Latin script
Status: official language in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and the African Union; national language of DR Congo.
