Kiswahili, as it is commonly called by its native speakers, is a Bantu language that belongs to the largest African language phylum: The Niger-Congo. Kiswahili is spoken by an estimated population of about 100 million people as a first and second language in seven central and eastern African countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, nd Somalia. In addition, there are Kiswahili-speaking enclaves in all Southern African countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Kiswahili is not only the most widely spoken lingua franca in its primary region, but it also serves as one of the national languages in DRC, and as the co-official language in Kenya and sole national official language in Tanzania. Besides Arabic, Kiswahili is the most widely spoken and taught African language in Africa and the world. As a medium and subject of instruction, it is used in several countries including Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, and parts of Somalia. The language has a rich written and oral literature in both poetry and prose that dates back to the 11th century, and long contact with Arabic from which it has extensive loanwords, especially religious terminology, numbers and days of the week.
Kiswahili is used in both print and electronic media with Microsoft and Google developing packages that will enable Kiswahili computer users. Culturally and historically, Kiswahili is an immensely important language, having served as the unifying language of decolonization in several countries in eastern and southern Africa. In Tanzania, it was used as a unifying language against the Germans during the Maji-Maji rebellion in 1905-7, and as the language of liberation against the British colonial rule (1960-63). With Tanzania serving as the host country for several southern countries’ liberation movements in the 1970s and 1980s, Kiswahili acquired the role of language of the liberation struggle for Mozambicans, South Africans, and Zimbabweans.
Why should you study Kiswahili?
The answers are simple. First, Kiswahili is one of the most widely spoken and studied languages in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a rich literary tradition that goes as far back as the 11th century. Second, for this reason, it gives access not only to a rich social and political culture, but also to a wide economic market in its primary region of currency: the Central east and Eastern Africa, and beyond. Third, Kiswahili is with Arabic the only two African languages adopted as official languages of the African Union, the successor to the Organization of African Unity. Finally, for individuals interested in comparative language contact and Islamic studies in Eastern Africa, Kiswahili is the perfect Bantu language that instantiates the long historical contact with Arabic and serves as the language of Islam in the region. In a word, Kiswahili is truly a major investment language in widest sense of this term: It is a gateway to many opportunities.