What Language Do They Speak In Kenya
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The multi-cultural African country of Kenya is also a multi-lingual state, home to myriad ethnic groups who speak around 62 different languages. Though the official language of the country is English, an inevitable consequence of being the British colony at one point of time, the national language as adopted by the people of Kenya is Swahili, which has come to gain much popularity by attaining the place of lingua franca or the working language across the country. |
In general, the diverse languages that Africans speak can be categorized into three broad divisions namely the Bantu languages or the ones spoken in the central and southeastern parts, Nilotic or those prevalent in the west and Cushitic or the languages spoken by the people of the Northeast. Swahili is a branch of the Bantu languages, with relatively easy syntax, grammar and pronunciation and is usually the language which the Kikuyu and Meru people speak. The strong influence of the Arabic and Persian languages is prominent in the Swahili language which is a repercussion of frequent trading relations between these countries and East Africa. Among the aboriginal languages that the various indigenous groups speak in Kenya, some of the famous ones are Kikuyu, Luhya, Dholuo, and Sheng. The Kikuyu language is widely spoken throughout Kenya and is often used in business dealings. Being the major language that the largest ethnic tribal group of Kenya, Kikuyu speaks, this has gone to become a significant means of daily conversation among the other small tribes of the country as well. The Luhya too, as the name suggests is the language that the Luhya tribes of Western Kenya speak and comprises a number of dialects fused together for mutual understanding. Dholuo is a soft, mellifluous language which appears quite pleasing and attractive to the other Kenyan groups. The Sheng is a mixture of Swahili and English, a language that has become the fad and fashion of the youths of Kenya who converse more in Sheng than the Swahili. The urban people of Kenya mostly speak English and some of them are also aware of other foreign languages like German and Italian as they often come in contact with tourists. The coastal dwellers, originally from the Indian subcontinent speak Urdu or Hindi.
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What Language Do They Speak In Kenya
