Languages of Africa

While I was studying in Spain this summer, I realized yet again how important language is to understanding a culture and a people. I am sure this is true in Africa as well. For this reason, I was interested in learning about the different languages that exist in Africa.

According to Wikipedia, there are an estimated 2000 languages spoken in Africa and they are divided into four linguistic categories: Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Khoe. The map on the right shows these linguistic categories. Another website called the Living Africa has links to explainations of these four linguistic categories as well.

Individual languages exist in Africa as well. These include: Arabic, Swahili, Hausa, Amharic and Yoruba.

Africa also has sign languages and other languages that can be whistled so that people can communitcate over long distances.

Because of the great number of languages, language policy is a major issue in post-colonial Africa. The focus right now is on multilingualism. In order to validate languages, each one is considered a part of the African Union.

Lots of information is available about the specific languages of Africa. The Travel and Language Center lists the languages of Africa by country and tells you how many people speak them and other details such as location and whether or not they are official languages of a country. Other websites, Nations Online, PanAfriL10n and the InterSol, Inc. Global Advisor Newsletter, have similar lists.

We definitely have a lot to learn about the languages of Africa!

About Me

It's not very common for many college students to graduate in 4 years, so I'm pretty excited that this will be the case for me. My name is Kristin Tuinier. A senior here at WMU, I will graduate this coming spring with a major in Spanish and a minor in English for Secondary Education.

This past summer, I lived in Santander, Spain with a host family through the study abroad program that WMU offers. I took three classes with 19 other students from Western and traveled to almost twenty cities during my time there. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I am excited to continue my studies of Spanish here this fall.

Along with taking 4 classes this semester, I am also teaching one section of the English 1000 course. I was able to meet with my students today for the first time and everything went really well. I can't wait to work with them and watch them change over the course of the semester.

I hope that this course teaches me a lot about African literature (and culture) so that I can integrate it into my own curriculum someday soon. I am excited to read and discuss what we learn and share it with others.