Languages
According to the 2007 Ethiopian census, the largest first languages are: Oromiffa 24,929,567 speakers or 33.8% of the total population; Amharic 21,631,370 or 29.33% (official language); Somali 4,609,274 or 6.25%; Tigrinya 4,324,476 or 5.86%; Sidamo 2,981,471 or 4.84%; Wolaytta 1,627,784 or 2.21%; Gurage 1,481,783 or 2.01%; and Afar 1,281,278 or 1.74%. Widely-spoken foreign languages include Arabic (official), English (official; major foreign language taught in schools), and Italian (spoken by European minorities).
Read more about this topic: People Of Ethiopia
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“Wealth is so much the greatest good that Fortune has to bestow that in the Latin and English languages it has usurped her name.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)