Swahili language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Swahili |
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|---|---|
| Kiswahili | |
| Native to | Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Mayotte (mostly Comorian), Mozambique (mostly Mwani), Oman, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda |
| Native speakers | 26 million (2007) 120 million L2 speakers |
| Language family |
Niger–Congo
|
| Writing system | Latin, Arabic |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | African Union Tanzania Kenya Uganda Comoros (as Comorian) |
| Regulated by | Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (Tanzania) |
| Guthrie code | G.42–43; G.40.A–H (pidgins & creoles) |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUS-m |
Areas where Swahili is spoken
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The Swahili language is a language widely spoken in East Africa. In the language, its name is Kiswahili. It is a Bantu language.
Swahili is spoken in a wide area from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique and in all of Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Congo has five million first-language speakers and fifty million second-language speakers. Swahili has become a language with which people communicate within East Africa and the surrounding areas.
Swahili language to be spoken by the Swahili people, who live on the coast of East Africa and on the islands near the coast, including Zanzibar, which is now a part of Tanzania. Swahili is an official language in Tanzania and Kenya. It has been influenced by many other languages like Arabic .
Sample words
- city - mji
- country - nchi
- earth - dunia
- no - hapana
- okay - sawa
- water - maji
- yes - ndiyo
- me - mimi
Images for kids
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Swahili in Arabic script—memorial plate at the Askari Monument, Dar es Salaam (1927)
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Although originally written with the Arabic script, Swahili is now written in a Latin alphabet introduced by Christian missionaries and colonial administrators. The text shown here is the Catholic version of the Lord's Prayer.
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Swahili in Arabic script on the clothes of a girl in German East Africa (ca. early 1900s)
See also
In Spanish: Idioma suajili para niños
