Swahili language written in the
Arabic script on the clothes of a
Tanzanian woman (early 1900s). According to
Ethnologue, there are a total of 126
languages spoken in Tanzania. Two are institutional, 18 are developing, 58 are vigorous, 40 are endangered, and 8 are dying. There are also three languages that recently became extinct. Most languages spoken locally belong to two broad language families:
Niger-Congo (
Bantu branch) and
Nilo-Saharan (
Nilotic branch), spoken by the country's
Bantu and
Nilotic populations, respectively. Additionally, the
Hadza and
Sandawe hunter-gatherers speak languages with
click consonants, which have tentatively been classified within the
Khoisan phylum (although Hadza may be a
language isolate). The
Cushitic and
Semitic ethnic minorities speak languages belonging to the separate
Afro-Asiatic family, with the
Hindustani and
British residents speaking languages from the
Indo-European family. Tanzania's various ethnic groups typically speak their
mother tongues within their own communities. The two
official languages,
Swahili and
English, are used in varying degrees of fluency for communication with other populations. According to the official national linguistic policy announced in 1984,
Swahili is the language of the social and political sphere as well as primary and adult education, whereas
English is the language of secondary education, universities, technology, and higher courts. The government announced in 2015 that it would discontinue the use of English as a language of education as part of an overhaul of the Tanzanian school system. Despite this plan, English remains the predominant language for secondary education. Additionally, several
Tanzanian sign languages are used. ==Language families==