Kwanyama dialect

Kwanyama
Oshikwanyama
Spoken in	Namibia and Angola
Region	Ovamboland
Native speakers	420,000 in Angola in 1993, 250,000 in Namibia in 2006  (date missing)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Kavango–Southwest Southwest Bantu Ovambo Kwanyama
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kj
ISO 639-2	kua
ISO 639-3	kua
Linguasphere	05-PEA-aa

Kwanyama or Oshikwanyama is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Ndonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form.

The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society.^[1]

References

• Crane, Thera; Lindgren-Streicher, Karl; Wingo, Andy (2004). Hai ti! A Beginner's Guide to Oshikwanyama. http://wingolog.org/pub/hai-ti/hai-ti.pdf. 
• Gordon, Raymond, G., Jr., ed (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World,. Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kua. 
• Zimmerman, W.; Hasheela, P. (1998). Oshikwanyama Grammar. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan. 

1. ^ Ombibeli, 1974, front page

External links

• Basic Grammar
• Language map of Namibia
• Grammar and vocabulary (Spanish)
• PanAfrican L10n page on Kwanyama