Languages of Swaziland - Minority and Immigrant Languages

Minority and Immigrant Languages

A minority of Swazi, estimated to number 76,000 as of 1993, speak Zulu, one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. Tsonga, a Tswa–Ronga language and also an official language of South Africa, is spoken by 19,000 Swazis (as of 1993). Afrikaans, another official language of South Africa and descended from Dutch, is spoken by 13,000 people in Swaziland.

Chewa (or Nyanja), the national language of Malawi, and Sotho (Sesotho or Southern Sotho), spoken mainly in Lesotho and Free State, South Africa, are immigrant languages with 5,700 and 4,700 speakers, respectively, in Swaziland. Shimaore is also an immigrant language, and is spoken by 600 inhabitants of the country.

Prior to Swaziland's independence in 1968, French was taught in the colony's three White-only high schools.

Read more about this topic:  Languages Of Swaziland

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