Should Swahili be an official language for Africa?
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- Опубліковано 7 лис 2019
- Africa is home to linguistic diversity. In fact, It is estimated that the number of languages spoken in the continent could be between 1.250 and 2.100. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages. Swahili, Arabic, Somali, Amharic, Hausa, Fulani and Yoruba are only some of the most spoken languages on the continent. Wouldn’t it be easy for all Africans speak one language? Eddy Micah Jr. discusses with some 77 percenters on what they think about the issue. For comments please don’t hesitate to drop us a line on the comment section below.
#DWAfrica
#Africanlanguages
#Languages - Навчання та стиль
Should Swahili be an official language for Africa? Give us your thoughts on this topic down below.
I thought it was already....Swahili is the easiest language to learn it should be global....it’s being taught in Chinese schools nowadays so I don’t see why Africa can’t embrace it as well
African should establish a new language pick word from every native tribes on the continent
Swahili has too much foreign influence
Emmanuel Sackie Swahili was the pidgin language during Arab invasion of Africa just like the current pidgin language spoken by people with Chinese. So basically Swahili is not pure authentic African language.
Originally Swahili is not a native language to Africans instead it was a pidgin language used by Africans during the Arabs trade just like the current language/communication used by most African people today with Chinese who doesn’t speak English or native languages. In South Africa it’s equivalent to fanagalo
How is it an insult to culture if we already have European languages dominating?
Support Kiswahili. #South African
Coming from a guy whose trying to learn different languages, Swahili was my first and favorite language to learn, easy to read, write, and speak (especially speak). I really hope more colleges in America can offer swahili classes and popularize the language.
I’m curious where do you live?
Yea I been learning Kiswahili for about two years now. I will say this, either you use it or you loose it.
Nice! I've learnt it for 14 years now 😂
Southern Africa is on board supporting Kiswahili as a language to be implemented.long live Kiswahili Long live
Nobody is asking you to drop your native language, the discussion is adopt one common language in addition to what you speak same way you adopt the nonsensical western language in school. This topic is not complicated. Im west African and i choose kiswahili to be introduced in all african schools. Drop all colonizers language french, etc. See how African think listen to what some of these people are saying yet they will be more than willing to impose a western language in their schools. Adopt one common African language and you are arguing
If you want to learn Swahili :
- You can get free courses on internet (duolingo, FSI Course, Swahili Dar language School, etc.)
www.livelingua.com/project/fsi/Swahili/
ua-cam.com/video/o5UyeO2cAtI/v-deo.html
- For a good grammar book take this one : www.academia.edu/41485799/SWAHILI_GRAMMAR_FOR_INTRODUCTORY_AND_INTERMEDIATE_LEVELS
-For a good dictionary : glosbe.com/en/sw/
- As a Swahili learner, I created pdf documents listing all Swahili most used words with their english translations. I used my personal flashcards and some internet ressources to make it (wiktionary, glosbe, www.elimuyetu.com.tz , etc)
400 most used Swahili verbs with english translations :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-verbs-pdf/
70 most used Swahili prepositions and conjunctions :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-prepositions-and-conjunctions-pdf/
300 Swahili M/Wa class nouns :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/04/05/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-m-wa-class-nouns-pdf/
300 Swahili M/Mi class nouns :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-m-mi-class-nouns-pdf/
200 Swahili Ji/Ma class nouns :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/04/05/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-ji-ma-class-nouns-pdf/
300 Swahili Ki/Vi class nouns :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-ki-vi-class-nouns-pdf/
300 Swahili U class nouns :
jordannodin.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/learn-swahili-list-of-common-swahili-and-english-u-swahili-noun-class-words/
I agree with your message 100%.
Some are even speak German,and are not shy,but they shy to speak African language?,, people tend to think Swahili belong to certain country what they don't know is there is no country own Swahili,in that case it is language for every one,but German is own by dutch when you speak it you are actual lifting their culture up for free why?are we African got slavely mentality?
Tanzania has more than 180 plus tribes tongue they didn't drop their mother tongue to promote Swahili but they still speak their mother tongue at the same they become champion of spreading Swahili ..Every one understand Swahili in Tanzania but is not language belong to them,they just did effort yo embrace it and love it
So it libarate them from colonial mentality,
@@mawazoselemani614 Love Tanzanians Very good 🇹🇿 Love from Ghana 🇬🇭
Watching these people argue about how language presents culture and a new language means cheating on their own culture while at the same time speaking French!!!
Exactly
Why not just use English everyone on the continent already speaks it why make it difficult?
Susan Dee ikr
@@deesee3622 colonist language. Although it would be very good for international trade.
Id think if I were in charge I'd make them learn
1)Local language (to maintain local culture
2) Swahili (to communicate with other Africans)
3)english(standard international language)
@@marcosburgos8415 I get that its a colonizer language but English is the lengua franca of the world , no point in fighting that - more important is to be prosperous. In fact, its the colonizer's karma that we get to use their language to prosper and so do many others around the world. But the countries in Africa all have their own culture and language and that will never change
Currently I am with two brothers from Africa, one Burundian and a Mozambican... We speak swahili in Tokyo and it's too satisfying. It gives you a feeling of connection to home. Let's promote swahili because it's African and widely spoken.
One says learning swahili takes away his pride. Really? You must have been smiling from ear to ear attending german and french classes but an African indigenous language is where you draw the line.
One language is the way and Swahili is the most accessible documented and most widely spoken native African language and should be the language of Africa. We could bolster Kiswahili by dropping European loan words with words from other African languages. However the objective is to move forward not go backwards so I have no problem with Swahili being the primary African language since it and Amharic are the most developed native languages that can be used to teach witch is important because many of us claim to love our native languages but can't count or even say half the colors on the color spectrum in our languages, or even read and write them for that matter this isn't about ego it's about survival. Progress equates to evolution and stagnicity equals death.
Nobody will want to forego their native languages the only reason we speak foreign languages is because of colonization and economic reasons. If not for it we wouldn't have learned any others. You just stated if you traveled to Senegal which in this sense makes sense of learning wolof compared to a Zulu living in south africa
@@d.jmamba7237 We wouldn't have to forget our native languages, the same way colonial languages don't force us to forget them instead we would speak Swahili and our native language and in school you would choose an language class as an elective course and you would learn English, Mandarin Japanese, Frenc, etcetera depending upon which one the child chooses to take. Swahili would also bolster our economy's because intercontinental trade would increase and we would still be able to understand and interact with the outside world for economic purposes as well.
dude pretty much the same way we're using English today. Pretty much were just replacing English by another language that would be foreign to others. There's no point. We can already trade today using English or pidgin there's absolutely no point in learning swahili besides our deep reactionary politics of rejecting anything colonial. We can put this time in better use developing our businesses than arguing about a continental language.
Simiyu Salome I agree with you. Kiswahili is the answer for the whole subsaharan Africa. If kiswahili was the only language (and no other bantu language) of black Africa, the whole world would start learning kiswahili. As a second language, a european language of choice would just be added.
ever wondered why developed countries hire African English tutors not swahili?
I find it hilarious how the host seems to have such a problem with Swahili yet he is in a room filled with AFRICANS speaking ENGLISH....KISWAHILI KITUKUZWE!!
Oooh dang gotti that's a roast righ there. I was horrified at how they pretty much all somehow know German AND French. Like German, it has'nt even been a major colonial language pf Africa since 1917, and many were clearly not from former German colonies. Exactly everyone in that room should know Swahili. Swahili should, as I agree with a speaker who mentioned it above, be given loan words from other major African languages, such as Hausa, Igbo, Lingala, Somali, Yoruba etc.
Cry
Excellent observation! I was thinking the exact same thing. I was born in America and could not speak any Afrikan language. I began learning Spanish in southern California, then Japanese and Hangul in the military but no Afrikan tongue and I am clearly of Afrikan decent. How embarrassing! It was like I had mad respect for any and every culture but...my own! It was such a sad revaluation. I'm now PROUDLY learning Swahili! I strongly feel that it should be our official language of the Continent and Afrikans of the diaspora should eagerly embrace.
Nakupenda sana ndugu yangu 👊🏿
@@melokulelekankumalo3402 Exactly bro I was the same. Learned Spanish but couldn't keep an African language. I am now proudly fluent in Swahili. Bro please join the community of Diasporan Swahili speakers/learners on Clubhouse called "Swahili for the Diaspora ". You will meet many more people like us who are at all different levels. Amani na upendo kakangu. Naatumai tutakutana hivi karibuni!.
@@asarisa-rakuwauavibaya7254 I definitely will. Ninafuraha kukutana na weh weh! Asante sana!
I’m from South Sudan 🇸🇸 but I am trying to learn Swahili bc it’s a beautiful language. We don’t speak it in South Sudan but they are trying to adopt it as a language, so I might as well learn it.
we have many south - Sudanese in Kenya that speak Swahili , I thought you guys speak it in South Sudan too 😭😂 wow
I’m African American and I want to learn what my people speak
KiSwahili.
Yoruba, igbo, hausa, twi, etc
It depends on the ethnic group you've traced your ancestry to.
kiswahili....obviously.....goes without saying.....
Learn Kiswahili Bruh. 1 Afrika. 1 People. Afrika Moja. Watu Moja.
Ni nzuri inapendeza sana kwa waafrica wote kuongea kiswahili
Nimekubali kamili.
Motema na ngai azali nakotombola yo!
Vizuri sana kiswahili ni poa sana
nawapenda ndugu zangu waswahili wote🇰🇪🇹🇿🇧🇮🇷🇼🇨🇩❤️❤️
I am from Gambia and I support one language for Africa, which is SWAHIL fIor the benefit of cohesion and the ability to trade with each other in an expeditious manner between African countries,, which would enhanced the ability for Africans to proceed in a expeditious manner to move and move goods and services between African countries.. Be vigilant, the struggle continues!
Yes one language please.... it’s not matter what Language as Long all Africans Can speak it... thats will bring Africans together.
Mansary Pukann Kiswahili
Actually it does matter what the people speak
Karibuni tusome Kiswahiliua-cam.com/channels/WhR7rUxVWmbtpilDO1AqCg.html
Yes English
It does matter
Since Swahili is one of the most widely spoken African languages on the continent it would make sense for Africans to learn Swahili so that Africans can communicate with each other easily. Africans in the Diaspora should also learn Swahili so they would also be able to communicate with continental Africans.
We can already communicate in English why another neocolonialisation
@@d.jmamba7237 Why would you consider Africans learning Kiswahili a form of neo colonization? English seems to fit the neo colonizing bill however.
@@lenrodnzulubaraka5829 no africans aren't the same ethnic groups it's foolish to think so. You think a tuareg from mauritania learning zulu isn't as foreign as to him as English? That's foolish. We have to recognize that the we are different first before trying to come as one. The color of our skin doesn't change that just like a Persian from Iran is different to a Slavic from eastern eurooe. Skin doesn't determine ethnic groups. A tigrinya from ethiopia and a bamileke from Cameroon aren't the same. Why would a tigrinya learn yemba and why would a bamileke forego his traditional language such as yemba for tigrinya? It's foolish. But because of colonization we have a lingua franca already called English. That's how I'm able to communicate with you RIGHT NOW. We don't have time for foolish projects as the world is fastly advancing.
@@d.jmamba7237 A part of the challenge of Africa is the ethnic and linguistic differences across the continent. An African lingua Franca would be a good way of strengthening African unity.
It is estimated there could be 1500-2000 different languages spoken across the continent of Africa. The alternative to mastering all these languages would be to have one language commonly spoken continent-wide. With so many languages of their own, why should Africans accept a European language as their common language?
The Caribbean does not have as many linguistic groups as the African continent but we still find ourselves divided into Dutch Spanish, French and English identities.
Language does act as a barrier to cooperation and really getting to know your neighbors. While I would support all black people learning Kiswahili I would also support continental Africans learning as many African languages as is possible.
The same applies to the Caribbean. Every black person should be able to converse with other black people in a common language. We should also learn how to communicate with our close neighbors in their languages as well.
@@lenrodnzulubaraka5829 it's a foolish undertaking. We are all speaking in English right now. Instead of learning multiple languages learn rocket science or machine learning or artificial intelligence that can create jobs for the future. Stop wasting your time on foolish projects
I'm South African and I choose Kiswahili because it was easy for me to understand, and I learned it on my own. Kiswahili has a lot of words that it shares with other African languages. In my language Zulu, a Goat is Mbuzi, meat is Nyama which is the same in Kiswahili. So, from the North East Africa to the Southern region it will be easy to implement it!!!
Wont happened in west Africa
@@okonkwodavid644 I guess, but I'm sure in some parts of west Africa ir can work!!
@@bantuboxingworld607 definitely not in NIGERIA tho
That is so true
Is Yvonne Chaka Chaka from your country
I heard him sing some Swahili words
Agreed!
This is a good suggestion. África needs its own language Swahili is the obvious candidate but how about regularize Swahili in terms of vocab and grammar to make it easier to learn?
Swahili can be an official language for Africa. I am from Sudan
.
I am currently studying Kiswahil...
I am planning to relocate to Kenya.
Kiswahil is spoken in the
East African Community:
Kenya🇰🇪 Tanzania🇹🇿 Uganda🇺🇬 Rwanda🇷🇼 Burundi🇧🇮 and
South Sudan🇸🇸
Kiswahil is already one of the official languages of the African Union.
It is not , Africa have lot of language
@Shabka TM I don't care... I am still learning it.
@@okonkwodavid644 The African Union Selected Kiswahili as the Lingua Franca of the African Union
@@abdulsharif6541 it wont be official language in west Africa
Okonkwo no one is talking about west Africa we are talking about Africa and the African union headquarters in Addis Ababa.
If we all learn Kiswahili, it will become a new language due to the many influences. I don't know why we start talking about pride when we oppose learning Kiswahili. Where was this pride when we were learning Wazungu languages?
This is a good point. With so much language diversity across the continent, it is more likely than not that Swahili would mutate into something else and that there would be Swahili dialects in different regions. It would still be a very good thing for the continent to be unified through a single language.
"learning Swahili will be an insult to our pride as we come from different cultures." - Africans coming together to speak in English together
Ok
Ridiculous right?! Umoja Ni Nguvu.
I go for one language,As a symbol of unification, i appreciate the efforts and initiatives of some African countries starting to promote Kiswahili.
I do not care which language takes the vote whether it is kiswahili or any other language from Africa i am ready to learn it, since i have A i have been praying for unitification, for me this is never a matter of discussion...my local language will always be my local language but i need that one African Language. No matter which it be.
Let's come together. We are one people. Yes, to Swahili. From Burkina, ( ECOWAS)
It is my opinion as one of Swahili experts in Europe that this language is the only most developed language and would serve this purposeI the best. I am an author of Swahili text books "Swahili for Foreigners" and I taught Swahili in a German Institute for for more than 35 years.
One language for Africa is a good idea that we should support and go for it.We are one nation if Africa.
Well 16 out of the 54 African States understand Swahili, and more are adopting it so
....... Its a no brainer Swahili wins anyday.
Nope wont happened in NIGERIA
@@okonkwodavid644 It's not being forced on you Chill bro.
@@machariamaina437 u saying all country in Africa should adopt that muslim language and now u saying it not forced on me?
@@okonkwodavid644 Whi told you it was a Muslim language,..... There were Empires in Eastern Africa as well, Swahili is a bantu language dude. Read more......
The reason we should adopt Swahili: We have different ethnicities in East Africa more than 200 tribes but Swahili unifies us all. Its easier to communicate in East Africa through Swahili. It can have the same effects across Africa. It will unify all Africans. Swahili is already existent and established. It's easier to work with it. Lastly Swahili has more than 250 million speakers.
Well Russian language is the most spoken in Europe but it's not the lingua franca.
@@Olori-Ogun It's English.
@@MonDieuMaCauseMonEpee do some research instead of being ignorant ..
@@Olori-Ogun 😂😂😂A FIVE SECOND GOOGLE SEARCH WILL TELL YOU ENGLISH IS THE LINGUA FRANCA OF EUROPE!
@@MonDieuMaCauseMonEpee read my initial comment and learn .." I stated that Russian is the most spoken in Europe and you responded that its English..
I never stated anything about English not being the Linqua franca of Europe..
I vote for Swahili because some country in Africa already speak that so that will be easy I'm from DRC kinshasa
Who you're voting for? I don't want to speak swahili
I vote Zulu because I don't wanna lose my identity and speak Swahili
@Mwaniki Mwaniki What's special about Swahili that it has to be above other African languages?
I have no problem with English because it's a universal language. An Asian can understand me in English, an African can understand me in English, an Arab can understand me in English, a European can understand me in English but can any of those people understand me in Swahili? No. Thus I see no importance of learning Swahili when on top of that I have my own language. Would you agree to have Zulu as your main language? No you wouldn't.
What's next? You will try to impose your culture on the whole of Africa and try to have us jump 5 metres high? No thanks I'll pass. My cup is already full.
@@thulasmash2195 It's hard to ignore Swahili as the King of African languages buddy, 150 million speakers on the continent says it all.
I have no problem with Swahili just as long as it doesn't get shoved down our throats.
Learning another language doesn't necessarily mean that you should let go of your own mother tongue.
If most of these nation's put in as much effort to promote their own local languages we wouldn't be here speaking in English on a Pan-African platform. Amharic and Swahili speaking countries have put in the effort. It's only logical that they are put to the test in becoming a common language for interaction in Africa
The fact that Africans speak so many languages is a strength and outsiders know it! The first time I met young school girls from South Africa and one said she spoke 9languages! It is probably common to Africans but to the world may be a threat. Think about it, you can still trade and travel and pick up on languages so easily. I am from America and black and we speak the language of the colonizers studied Spanish and Mandarin but not fluent in either. Honestly, I think the fact that everyone in the video speaks so many languages is just amazing that is the left brain fully developed. How do you pick up new languages so quickly? Is it immersion by moving to countries where you have to speak the language?
Kiswahili is really a designed language to fit in Africa and other parts of the world because it comprises of words from all languages across Africa and all other world languages, fellow Africans let's wake up and embless and support this given gift from God, thanks
I speak English, my home language Sesotho and Zulu as well. I can't wait to learn Swahili😀😀😀.
it will take you about 3 to 6 months polyglots can pick up any language in short time
@@cinnamonstar808 Nah, should take him about 2 months to be able to engage in basic conversation coz Swahili is a language yabantu just like isizulu and Sesotho
I love you my African family❤️ from DRC Kinshasa
Do they speak KiSwahili in Kinshasa?
In fact, Swahili is one among many languages in Congo
@@jameskaimenyi6287 But is it spoken in Kinshasa?? It needs to be taught spoken and promoted there.
I dont care I am angolan I started learning swailli. I am bantu it may represents me too . also swailli is mor organised language to learn that I dont see in any other Angolan languages like umbumdu kimbundo etc. if you see all Europeans speaks English and make the business better for them
English, for me, is the language of international relationships. It would be stupid to get rid of it completely... it is a language you can get to know other people and other cultures (like in here for example). :-) Easy to learn. Yet, for Africa to have its own common language would be awesome!
@@AvesPasseri-Jinysvetlearning a new language doesn't mean you forget what you know. I can speak 15 languages myself. I'm thinking of learning German now.
I'm somali I speak Swahili/Kiswahili fluently as many somalis speak Swahili , and Swahili it's also spoken in South east part of Somalia , If Africa needs one language it should be kiswahili. Just drop the colonial tongue that you have adapted, creating new language it's the most difficult thing ever, language is nature.
I agree with the Nigerian guy. One language is not the key to Africa's unity. FIRST, WE HAVE TO RESPECT EACH OTHER AND REMOVE PREJUDICES WE HAVE AGAINST EACH OTHER. Mutual respect and a collective consciousness should define our unity.
Yes I agree with you with all the above
Speaking Kiswahili doesn’t mean that you forgot your own tribe’s Language it means that Africans we have prude in our selves But with common Language that we can share..
I have listened to other African languages
From different African Country’s and I found that Swahili was Best and easiest to learn just like an African person’s who learns German or the most common to language on the country’s of Africa is French and English and Swahili drops in that category is easy to learn..
So our African leaders around the continent they should come together promote Swahili in schools with the younger generation and we will benefit a lot as the people we can forget of my generation leaning Swahili but future generations shouldn’t be denied the right to learn Swahili and others we’ve
missed out because of lack of Unity and promotion of something like this I’m sure it can be done in the future
The other thing is we already respect other In Africa
Swahili is an original African Bantu language that easily carries over the existing cultures. You can keep your native tongue and learn Swahili for African Unity
Africans should keep there own language and learn swahili as well!!
Think about it in Europe each country has its own language and learn other European languages within the schools. BUT THEY WOULD NEVER EVER give up there own language.
Face it English is the universal language Don’t complicate this
@@deesee3622 Africans like you are desperate to hang on to the white influence. Drop your inferiority complex.
@@DANIEL-fp2uq why should Swahili be the language?? all of Africa is not going to learn it = just speak what the majority already know and focus on the important stuff
To be honest it's insane to say Africa should have one language. This is insane. Africa is a continent, and have unique culture, colour, body features. So why dream of one language? Even a small continent like Europe has many languages. So If Europe can understand each other through translation so why can't Africa?
It's insane! Who even thought of this?
Of course we can make popular languages on the continent as official
Like Arabic, Swahili, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Zulu, Fula, Amharic, Xhosa, Twi.
We should check languages that has much speakers and make it as official in African Union.
That's what i suggested, a continent can't have one language. At least regional dominant languages. The SADC could be Zulu, Ecowas countries could be Hausa, East African federation countries could be Kiswahili and the North would be Arabic or whatever is there. I think we could compromise that much. Even Asia and Europe don't have one language ruling all.
People like the comment above me. Idiots who think a continent full of history and thousands of languages should forego their languages for swahili. English and French are enough of a lingua franca as it is. The problem is not language we are all communicating fine right now
@@kgothatsomoiloa1784 SADC bloc already recognize Swahili as one of their official languages. I have no idea Zulu is an official language within SADC!
I agree with this "Arabic, Swahili, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Zulu, Fula, Amharic, Xhosa, Twi"
You guys are crazy, you think we sotho speaking people are happy not seeing our language included. Botswana,Lesotho and Bapedi should not agree at all
Swahili is the way to go
I support swahili the official language of Africans, it would unite us, and there's no need to drop our native languages, just learn a new one.
Nope
Yes
I'm from England my parents born and raised in Kenya mombasa speaking fluent swahili, but I honestly think swahili is the best bet, when it comes to languages, swahili is the easiest to speak and learn, I a pure brit but my first language I picked up was swahili 🤷♀️ swahili is world recognised, the UK has options to translate in swahili, which is huge because we only learn European languages
Focus on uk and mind ur business
Kabisa dada
Kiswahili ni rahisi kuna watalii wengi ambao huja Mombasa na kabla arudi kwao washajifunza maneno machache
@@okonkwodavid644why are you Nigerian very bitter? You suggested we pick Nigerian pidgin. Kiswahili is already an established language spoken in over 15 languages. It's not really about how wide it is spoken but how developed its literature is. You cannot exhaust Swahili books. The language is already formalized.
If u learned german, then how is it hard to learn swahili? We should go with the widely spoken language to make it easier
Swahili is soft on the mouth. No much intonations and consonants.
the words are too long. it will need another writing system or more slang
@@cinnamonstar808 we already have slang , we call it sheng
@@cinnamonstar808no it's not long. Siri is an example.. secret and all iPhone users know Siri. Simba is a lion! Clear syllables.
@@imani3975sheng wont work. Kiswahili is going to the $$$ language/trade deal 🌍 . 🚚🛻 [🍈🍉🥬🍅📱💻🍋] ninahitaji kujua kuwa
Why are we very praud of speaking our enemies language than our own swahili is ours let's speak it period
Swahili is now a regional language in Southern Africa
We need this Africa 👏🏾
We need what?
D.J MAMBA one African language 🤷🏾♂️
@@boysafe5818 waste of time and energy we already have one. That's the one me and you are communicating with called English. The world is moving at another speed we don't have time to waste on bullshit
D.J MAMBA hmm 🤔 sounds great
No we don't and it's highly unnecessary. We can already understand each other right now thus there's no need to impose Swahili on non Kenyans.
Great work 👍🏾 brick by brick we build 👊🏿
I request Swahili language because It expand rapidily
As a Zimbabwean we are ok with our languages Shona and Ndebele. Shona is actually the largest mother tongue Bantu language with 14 million speakers. And its well established. We read and write in Shona. A lot of my Kenyan friends said a lot of mother tongues in Kenya are being neglected due to Swahili especially with the younger generations. Since mother tongues arent taught at school. So if you introduce Swahili to other countries it may deteriorate the local mother tongue languages.
We're not saying diminish the mother tongues, do not drop them. But the facts are many are going to die out No Matter What Happens regardless of what language becomes dominant. They should be respected and preserved YES!!,
What the Swahili solution is use Swahili as the lingua franca tool across Africa as a whole in order to get rid of french, english, portuguese, german, and now even chinese. Essentially all the colonizer languages must be abolished and done away with for Internal African communication. Swahili is Pan African trade language it relates and enhances communal languages because it belongs to the african Niger-Bantu language tree. If anything it will bring more pride and awareness to Africa languages in general. Regardless of all things WE MUST Do Away with Colonial languages.
@@MonDieuMaCauseMonEpee most African countries have English or French as their official languages. Since they are the most widely spoken languages its an advantage to keep them since we are living in a global village. However as a Zimbabwean we never dropped our mother tongues at the expense of the colonial language. Which is a mistake that most African countries made. I can guarantee you Shona and Ndebele wont die out for generations to come. Though we are good English speakers we are more efficient in our mother tongues. We didnt have a written language but we adopted the the English alphabet and weve had a written language for 60 years now. Even white Zimbabweans who are descedants of former colonisers can speak our mother tongues. Most countries in Southern africa have their mother tongues as official languages and they speak read and write them better than the colonial languages. Eg South Africa, Botswana ,Zambia etc. So its up to other African countries to save their own languages. Others can adopt Swahili if they see it fit but others as in the case of Zim have preserved the mother tongue well so Swahili wont help us. Europe still keeps their own mother tongues and they have no issues with this.
@@MonDieuMaCauseMonEpee I mean, if this -- "But the facts are many are going to die out No Matter What Happens regardless of what language becomes dominant."-- is your primary concern, why don't we just skip the bs and learn English?
@@seismicvertigo345 English is not an African language.
@@MonDieuMaCauseMonEpee And Africa does not exist in a vaccuum. It is part of a greater set of all humans on earth's continents with many languages that can eventually die out. Making an argument for Swahili with that justification is no different from making an argument for English with that justification. But somehow, the argument for English, apparently starts to make the potential issues more clearly illustrated, doesn't it?
Why does Africa need an official language and why should Africa speak one language? That would kill the diversity on the continent.
Learning a new language doesn't mean you forget what you already know. Do you forget your native language when you learn a new language?! I can speak in up to 15 languages. I'm more effective in that which is used where I stay at a given time.
Maybe West, North, South, and East Africa could each have their own respective regional language.
south is already adopting swahili because it has similaties with swahili
Then it defeats the purpose. I don’t understand how Africans find it easy to speak a colonial language but want to kick up a fuss about an African language that’s already spoken on the continent by a lot of countries. It’s common sense that would simplify everything then starting to create languages and so forth. No one said you stop speaking your native language.
@@irenemunhanga4290 because the colonial languages was IMPOSED ON US.... What does a man in west Africa care about a language found in east Africa.... It would have to be imposed on him to make him learn it and then what makes that different from what the colonialists did.... Rather let a west African man learn the most common biggest language of his region(Hausa) which makes more sense to him... Similar with other regions
Africa is not a country, but a continent with a large number of countries of a very wide variety of cultures and languages.
Which shouldn't happen. We should be unified in trade and other aspects. Language is key in uniting Africa. Africa was supposed to be silos feeding the west. Time to interact with each other more.
Yes Sir. Swahili should be the official African language. I speak 5 languages but Swahili always win. It is easy to pronounce, it has a large population and it is sufficient by itself
Large population doesn't mean anything mate...
Swahili yes but with Ethiopian writing
@@mobidickahlam Africa is not just the East...only East African languages are being mentioned lol...
This will never ever work
@@Olori-Ogun it can work in East, South and Central Africa and West African University also for all the people who work at African union in Ethiopia
@@mobidickahlam In the West we have pidgin or Hausa , sorry but you can keep that swahili in the East
Kiswahili, a lexiconal synthesis of about 10 Bantu tongues, has become a common language throughout East & Central Africa with numerous speakers in West-Central & Southern Africa. It is fast becoming a language of business, research, and scholarship. The roots of it are sourced in the language of the Mijikenda (Mee-jee-kane-dah), a Bantu people, comprised of nine (9) linguistically-linked sub-ethnicities, who are clustered along a 1000-mile East African coastal strip extending from the bottom of Somalia down to the bottom of Tanzania. Mijikenda is translated as ‘the nine communities’, with reference to the Bantu terms miji (towns/villages) and kenda (nine). There are more than 600 African languages that are categorized as Bantu, e.g., Isizulu, Kiswahili, Kikamba, Lingala, Siswati, etc.; they all use some form of ‘ntu’ to denote a person; hence, Bantu means people, given the plural prefix ‘ba’. Kiswahili is the most widely spoken indigenous African language by both population (>100 mil.) and geography (11 sub-Saharan countries). I appeared as a guest on DARC (Diaspora Afrikan Renaissance Channel), hosted by Igho Otubu, to discuss the pan-African context of Kiswahili. The referenced show is entitled 'Malema calls for adoption of Swahili as Africa's common language' and can be viewed via UA-cam; see link below.
ua-cam.com/video/0VLHlqPwu0s/v-deo.html
For further engagement, my e-mail is as follows: ufundi320@yahoo.com . Asante sana (many thanks) for allowing me this opportunity to engage the audience and subscribers of this channel (DW Africa).
I am down for Kiswahili as a Ghanaian - it is already super popular - it doesn't mean that we do not speak our own languages - we should still keep our ones but it creates a better interface when moving across the whole land
There are swahili words which look like. Kiswahili is a language from different african languages! Sielewi kwanini hwa wanageria ni kama wanataka iwe kiyoruba au???
As a native Kiswahili speaker I am really biased when it comes to this topic. Kiswahili should unite us all. 🇰🇪🇰🇪
Which is easy creating and learning a new language or adapting already existing an widely spoken one??
you would think that was common sense but apparently not
Thing is, Swahili is the most widely spoken language in Africa and the widely spreading language. It's fast growing and eventually will be come the lingua franca of Africa
No
Congratulation African patriots for having ideas towards having one Africa and one language. I support swahili as more countries have adopted it, and it Can be easily improved to capture several bantu languages.
That on u not me
Good conversation 👍🇬🇭
No, I believe the whole of East Africa should be Swahili. South Africa has its own and so should West Africa.
Unification of Africa is necessary therefore, a common language is the best way(Swahili) . if not we will have to wait for a long period before unification. what we literary should discuss is the period in which we would like to attain our unification given that a new language will take time to understand unless it is easy to learn. LOVE YOU AFRICA.
Nope
@@okonkwodavid644 i know right
Swahili is a secondary language out of Africa . It has a natural way of spreading itself through trade and social interaction. Adding some official push would make it to be adopted throughout Afrca including Arab north as its easily adoptable in Arab world. It is easy to learn as it evolved out of African languages.
I LOVE the idea!! I have thought of it. I think I would recommend long study of the entire Niger-Congo language structure and try to create something new. I say Swahili + Igbo + Yoruba + Hausa + Twi.... (all languages with highest number of current speakers)
Yes, we called for it since very long time.
Just as there is a huge task to get African governments to end corruption, it's an even greater challenge to get the majority populous on the continent to make sacrifices for the greater good of the whole of Africa. With culture comes bias and often times being closed-minded to evolution. I question why so many are against the 1-Africa concept. What exists now only benefits a small percentage. Quality of life is drastically reduced for so many, yet behaviours are not changing. If it's normal that the average African can speak multiple languages as elaborated in this video then why can't this same group of people learn another language that unifies the continent? Currently, Swahili is the most spoken language on the continent. It makes sense.
Wont happened in west Africa
Should be divided regionally. North Afrika is pretty much dominated by Eurasians & Arabs so they can continue speaking Arabic. West Afrika can speak a set language from one of the larger tribes. Central Afrika can do the same. East Afrika already speaks Kiswahili, and South Afrika can speak Zulu or Xhosa.
Though I would love to say Yoruba because... bias, I would like Mandinka for West Africa, because it's likely a culture that has influenced all West Africans to some degree, Mansa Musa and what not
One language in Africa is possible. Swahili is the solution. But patient is required
Let the language pick itself.. as we go on connecting we will need to communicate.. the best, easiest to learn, and one that is as close as possible to every African culture will triumph over the rest.. let the language for Africa grow naturally, no artificial enforcement.. a good example is swahili that cuts across many, many African tribes.. most who speak swahili do so as a second language after their own mother tongues.
One Africa, one language. Full stop. Swahili is very well placed to be the only and sole language for the entire Africa. (Asanteni sana). Burkina Faso ( ECOWAS)
There is no reason for ECOWAS to adopt kiswahili when they already have their forms of communication. The other regions can learn pidgin.
Why? Isn't ECOWAS part of Africa?
@@kalofaso8548 It is a part of Afrika that has no history with the language. It has many of its own tongues and already has languages spoken throughout the region by millions.
Already established and can move forward with or without the rest just as it is doing today.
If we put this question to our people you can bet a years salary that the response would confirm what I have alluded to. It would be rejected while also asking to change the topic.
Asante sana .karibu
I don't think people who speak Bantu languages would mind that much since all Bantu languages share a common ancestor with Kiswahili which itself is a Bantu language, issue would be the West Africans. Niger-Congo languages May be related but the differences and gap between Bantu languages and West African languages is too huge that you wouldn't tell they have anything to with each other, And the North too would be a problem, but since Kiswahili is heavily mixed with Arabic. Maybe they wouldn't mind.
What is Bantu? Keep propagating the rubbish the Europeans told u
@@Titan_Alex_007 Bantu is a language family ndoda. It's no secret our languages are related by the "ntu" words. Contribute intelligently to the conversation, Not emotionally. If Europeans didn't notice this, any African could have picked it up. I can understand when someone speaks Silozi and I'm a Southern Sotho.
Rubix Sentinel west Africans are regarded as Bantu and our language has no relation
@@Titan_Alex_007 Not really dude, Most West Africans don't speak a Bantu language. You'll offend alot of people saying that. Ntu languages are spoken South of Cameron, throughout Central Africa, SouthEast Africa and Southern Africa. Origin of Bantu languages are in West Africa but currently West Africans don't speak Bantu languages. Bantu languages spread out along time ago.
Rubix Sentinel let’s gets something straight, am not in the business of offending or making ppl happy. Let’s use logic. Bantu is not a language, is used to refer to ppl with certain physical mostly facial features.
Kiswahili is a favourite language that may bind us especially when we are spearheading to One African Free Trade Area. Because historically cropped up as a language of business in East Coast Africa
Its very strange how we Africans don't get this....it is not that you only have to speak kiswahili and drop other language's.... We just have to keep our vernaculars ....but let's design a means of communicating between us....Kiswahili also still uses many words from other African languages and can still receive many words from other language's
i think we should be proud of what we have,our culture.Languages contribute a lot towards culture,so we should really preserve that.I dont think Africa's way of unification is through language since there is no language barrier already.Should instead focus on economy and promoting trade
You have no problem communicating with other Africans in a European colonizers language like English and French, yet you have a problem with an indigenous African language replacing those colonizers languages as lingua Franca?? Smh
Stop focusing on English being coponiswrs language. Who cares!? The focus should be exonomy
One language is never the way it will erase multiple cultures.
That's not true now your speaking English language is it erase your culture if not even kiswahili will not erase your culture
@@rafytv99 it will for west Africa
Maybe for the Easterners.
Can we get something with less of an emphasis on consonants?
What pride are you talking about when most Africans speak English and French which’s a foreign language .... please wake up my brothers and sisters...
It's native to a lot of people. If you're born speaking those languages then they are as native to you as swahili is
English or French is not native.
In Africa they don't learn it until school imposition by governments who depend on foreign aid.
That's why in Senegal for example 90 percent can write in Wolof Ajami and 40 percent in French.
It's not native.
Hey guys, I really enjoyed this video! Thank you very much!
I am an European, not African but I would like to tell you my vision of having one common language. For sure as you mentioned it will be really hard to pick only one from all African languages as a main official language. This will lead to many conflicts in each part of the continent, except if it's not done through violence and repressions, which of course is unthinkable and unacceptable. I, as a Bulgarian, am proud for speaking the language my fathers were speaking since the creation of my country and even long before that. Of course changed in some ways in time, but still my ancestors tongue.
Language, culture, traditions these are things that show up who we are, where we come from and all these are things that make us unique and interesting for the rest of the world! Also, creating a new language-a sum of particles of other African languages is gonna be a big mess and this way you also will not conserve the origins...As you said, you already have enough to study-just to say-many of people grown somewhere in Europe speak only their mother tongue, while I am impressed-you are so rich in languages :) But for sure it would be nicer and much better if you could understand and speak more other native African languages instead of those brought from outside the continent. But in this case, we couldn't be able to understand each-other. As nowadays English seems to has taken the role of Esperanto around the globe.
For example, I am against all these colonizations done in time and ruining much of what is has been...And sorry for reminding this, but you can easily see what happens to people not knowing, not remembering their roots..Due to the slavery many of your brothers and sisters were kidnapped and brought to different countries all over the world...today to say 10 generations later/but in fact even 3-4 are really enough/, they identify themselves as Americans, as British, as French, as Dutch...and they are used in wars against their families by blood. Same is with Asian people grown in the U.S. that were involved in wars against their own nations...What I am trying to say is that we-all the people living on Earth are brothers and sisters. We are connected in many ways-we all have the same feelings, the same fears, the same struggles, the same things bring smiles on our faces, melt our hearths and make us feel butterflies in our stomachs, but language and traditions are the ones that show the differences according to land, weather conditions, surviving habits, believes, etc.that lead to creation different cultures and traditions. This is the diversity on Earth! It is like to want all the plants on Earth to be only tomatoes; but even tomatoes will change-will grow different ways, will have different taste, because of all the factors like land, soil, high or low plantation, sun, rains, cold, snow..For example the European Union is trying to make such a thing with Europeans-to make us celebrate same holidays, forbidding some ethnic /as they say pagan/ rituals, traditions left to us from our ancestors. This is like to tell a family to name their child after some writer for example instead after his grandmother or grandfather /we have this tradition to be named after our ancestors/. If we do this, we show that we don't respect anything of what they've done through the centuries to keep themselves as a nation or a tribe and for us-to be able to be born...we can not cut our roots like this! We are not allowed to in the name of our fathers and mothers that have fought to survive in ages of darkness and wars. As you mentioned there was Esperanto created for Europeans, but it didn't succeed...we find it only in books as an idea from the past. Yea, the Bible says that in Babylon we have all spoken the same language but we started thinking we are Gods and this is how we were punished by Him-not to understand each-other. Do you find anything has changed since then? Are we not pretending we are Gods even today? Are we not thinking that our lives are granted? Do we not hurt other creatures, the Earth, even the Space? We hurt each-other every single day-with the words we say, with the things we do or not...we still haven't changed...so, the time for a common language has probably not come yet :)
This is my opinion as a person seeing things from aside...I am not involved in this, so I don't think I am taking anyone's side, just personal vision of things :)
P.S. Why instead of creating one common language, don't have a discussion about creating alphabets for all the languages in Africa that don't have one? It 's gonna be a hard job, but also this way it will be easier for foreigners to touch themselves to this huge diversity :) This way non of the languages will dominate over the rest...and I think more people will be happy of the fact ;)
Besties, Terry
I speak Esperanto fluently. Wikipedia in Esperanto has over 330,000 articles.
As We evolve so will Our mutual means of communication and develop into the base language without destroying other languages. This is just a necessary step towards achieving Our own economic, social and security integrity.....
Everyone saying Kiswahili can be taught alongside native languages can't seem to understand that widespread usage of one language is a major factor in language death. There are some languages in Africa already dying out because their speakers are switching to the local lingua franca. Either people continue speaking their native tongues freely or their languages die out. You can't have it both ways.
It would make much more sense to make Swahili the official language for Africa but that doesn't mean anyone should do away with their traditional language.....Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are some of the most united countries in Africa and this is all because of the language, Politics aside.
It's Kenya, TZ, UG, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. DRC also speak a bit of Swahili
I really afraid😖 for Africa, richness come form language, language die cultural emotion die.
You say that in english...
@@umojaafrika2447 🤷 how did you miss that message.? you should pick it up at "😖". LOL why is your melanin not working?______________ for the record you should not need a full paragraph to understand basic communication. THE IRONY OF YOUR SENTENCE is why we are here. 👆which you did not pick up as well
Umoja Afrika = 'Agent' 🕶️ u miss 2 (two) universal understanding & the logic of irony.
bye
One thing is that, if we are able to take one language in our various countries to be our official language through that we can extend it to africa as a whole because the concept will be already there. Even in our countries one tribe is feeling superior over an other how much more Africa as a continent .
Some of the debaters have problem adapting an existing African language, meanwhile, they are proudly speaking English, a foreign language. So much for unity.
Right use English they are speaking it now lol
Esparanto may have failed but the whole of Europe now speak English.
All the world speak english, the debate was in English
There are more Russian speakers in Europe than English
DW Africa . I always come back to this video. This language conversation is interesting. The languages to be chosen must be African. I read some where swahili is 70% African it lost alot of words. Sesotho is 98% and other African languages are in their 90s% lets choose from those other languages.
@thato we can not chose a tribe or ethnic language
Wont happened
@@swahili4afrika agreed
African should adopt Kiswahili as its official language.
I think having a lingua franca in Africa would be of great benefit to the continent. Not only would it increase relations among every country but it would empower the African people through a sense of identity. The challenge of course comes down when picking the language itself; some people will naturally feel that it does not represent them or their culture, but I think that is a compromise that must be made for the greater good. Ideally, a language from African origin should be picked before of anything else, in my opinion.
With complicated n unstable democracy there in Africa, Africa can never be the same. only hope to provide access roads, businesses n visa free then we can start talking on speaking one language.
English is already there for that. It's a waste of time trying to impose Swahili on the rest of Africa. It won't go any far.
Thulas Mash you’d made the point
There are at least 4 or 5 common languages in the entire African regions. Common language in east,central and some parts of South Africa is Kiswahili, while in west African region its either Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba, North is Arabic while Far South is Zulu or Afrikaner. Regions should promote a common language and this shall reduce the multiple languages in Africa to around 4 which some one can try had to learn all for communication. In East Africa we have no problem with the promotion of Kiswahili because its spreading itself already beyond the region.
Makes sense and very intelligent response thank you, but South Africans would never advocate for Afrikaans to be a common tongue for the Southern region. they'd be very against it. Too much bad blood there. It may have formed in Africa but it still largely European. Not African, even its roots are European.
Since when is yoruba or igbo a lingua franca?
Just speak English it's enough of a lingua franca were focused on stupid issues. Instead of talking about innovation and economy we 500 years behind the world when they were debating about language issues. We aren't meant to all speak one language. The african continent was never unified just like the nigerian guy stated.
@@d.jmamba7237 I agree with you my brother, but language plays a big part in human development especially if it is closely related to you.Ask yourelf why the Blackman is not scientific and innovative, its because he thinks in English or French a connotation of words that doesn't link him to the universal mind which is the source of knowledge, wisdom and understanding required for invention and innovation.That's why the furthest we can go is maintenance and servicing tech equipments.Look at China, Japan, Korea Russia,France etc,are able to launch spacecrafts, they fix our roads, and all our homes are filled with wares from them.The difference is the language they use in thinking and education is indigenous to them.Brother you may speak all the Queen's English,but if it is not the language that God used to create your soul, the n you cannot tap in to the universal mind and understand the mysteries of science inoder to invent and innovate.The whiteman knew this secret centuries ago and in order that we remain locked up in confusion he convinced our father's the our languages are inferior and bad.They believed, but it was just a way of separating us from the well spring of scientific wisdom which one is able to tap through his own self.
@@justooluoch2468 that was literally the dumbest thing someone ever said. How many black inventors there is, surgeons engineers, innovators? Why are yall so naive. What are you talking about man? You think God or the universe uses human language for communicating with the world if there's a god? So each tribe that speaks a different language has a different god? How dumb are you bro? How many Americans that were Russian or Slavic that came to the US and invented great inventions in English. Was English their language? Wtf man I get mad when I get dumb answers like this
Smart
what's da origin of kiSwahili?
Whew ! I have a lot to say after this.....first off Swahili is a MIX of Bantu languages, Arabic, and some European words. Definitely a great language to represent Africa since it is a mix of many African languages and Arabic which is spoken in North Africa.
2. Swahili is not really a tribal language since several tribes speak it and it unifies everyone at the end.
3. Not all of Africa would need to learn it since the Northerners can stick to their Arabic. This would be for Sub Suharan Africans and her descendants scattered across the globe.
4. It's the easiest African language to learn since it doesn't involve tones. And the Grammer/pronunciation isn't too difficult
5. This is why Africa will never be able to progress and have true unity because everyone is so Tribal and so divided 🤦🏿♂️ The only country doing really good in all aspects now is Botswanna and it helps they all speak the same language and have true unity.
6. Lastly, WHY YALL PREFER COLONIZER LANGUAGES OVER AFRICAN LANGUAGES! Let's DECOLONIZE AFRICA !!!!!! And in Cameroon people are really starting a war over 2 White people languages. Make an African language a language to unify Africans and let's stop speaking these colinizer languages 😤😤😤😤😤
Hi , North African Arab here, I would vote for Swahili, the grammar is pretty amazing and logical once mastered its probably an easy language to learn . For what arabs are concerned, Egypt has already a tv chanel with Swahili broadcasts .Its important people need to keep their local language alive, but what most subsahara Africa countries need is a national language chosen between the most spread dialects than turn them onto an unified version 2- than pick on an African lingua franca, that would be even greater if a majority of the national languages agreed on ,head towards the same tongue ( Swahili)« ...Africa being a continent with the most multilingual inhabitants on the planet for thousands of years ( 50% of African speak at least 3 languages fluently) it wouldn’t be a challenge , their is not so many languages that can hold that position ( African lingua franca) and if those who support the idea should advocate it by learning Swahili and spread the idea.. southern and East gonna accept it as its already the most common language, it would be accepted too up north to the horn region, won’t be difficult to get acceptance in Western Africa ,even though mande languages are the most common there but they don’t have yet a unified language , they would probably use a mande tongue as national ( contries such as mali Sénégal Guinea..) Swahili as African koiné language, and English for worldwide koiné ) these people are really open minded i don’t think they would oppose the idea in general... North Africa has already a common koiné ( Arabic) and local tongues from amazigh dialects to Coptic etc, if Swahili is recognized as a major political tool and a beautiful language who has old ties with the Arabic world ( which are solid arguments happening to be really true) Swahili would become popular..the challenge would be real though for some parts of central Africa , but along the way when they see Swahili as be recognized as The African Koiné by 80% of African countries and a lot of neighboring nations ( imagine their is Omanis & Yemenis who speak Swahili for centuries) ..that being said I’m starting to learn it..napenda sana wazo la kiswahili kuwa lugha ya kimataifa ya kiafrika
Jambo rafiki habari kani ?
South Africa has started teaching Swahili in schools, Botswana & Namibia are introducing it. African Union is campaigning to have Swahili across Africa. Older guys might be lazy to learn a new language, but when taught in School, like the way folk learn English in school, Swahili will spoken across Africa.
These guys are like, come up with a new language, they are not opposing one African language, they are opposing Swahili as the African language. I guess they are jealous of the guys who already speak it 😂. Swahili speakers don't have to learn nothing new. These guys want everyone to start from zero. Pulling each other down is one of the reasons that hinders development.
The way of ignoring existing african language and come with an ideas of starting new language think that those who aready spokes that language will benefit than others is one measure of praising disunit because this person is no different from the one who kill the child of his neighbour so that they can be on the same level.
How is it that all these people speak German alongside all their other tongues