Tanzania Languages

Languages: Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages
note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages

Definition: This entry provides a rank ordering of languages starting with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total population speaking that language.

Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of September 17, 2009