Languages of Mozambique

Mozambique is a multilingual country. A number of Bantu languages are indigenous to Mozambique. Portuguese, inherited from the colonial period, is the official language, and Mozambique is a full member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. "Ethnologue" lists 43 languages spoken in the country

Accordinag to INE - Mozambique's National Institute for Statistics -,Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in Mozambique: 39.6% of the national population and 72.4% of people living in urban areas are fluent in the language. Other widely spoken languages include Swahili, Makhuwa, Sena, Ndau, and Shangaan (Tsonga). Other indigenous languages of Mozambique include Lomwe, Makonde, Chopi, Chuwabu, Ronga, Zulu, and Tswa.

Small communities of Arabs, Chinese, and Indians speak their own languages (Indians from Portuguese India speak any of the Portuguese Creoles of their origin) aside from Portuguese as their second language. Most educated Mozambicans speak English, which is used in schools and business as second or third language.

ociolinguistics

Multilingualism

Most Mozambicans speak more than one language.Fact|date=April 2007 About 40% of all people speak Portuguese — 33.5%, mostly Bantus, as a second language and 6.5%, including pure-blooded Portuguese and mestiços, speak it as their first language.Fact|date=April 2007

Linguistic geography

Influence among languages

Many indigenous languages of Mozambique have Portuguese-origin loan words.

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Mozambique Ethnologue Listing of Mozambican Languages]
* [http://www.tindzimi.dk/ Tindzimi ta Mozambique] (Language and Language Policy in Mozambique)
* [http://www.panafril10n.org/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/Mozambique PanAfrican L10n page on Mozambique]