Languages of Kenya

[vijayjohn]

Both Swahili and English are official languages in Kenya, and many people in rural areas are monolingual, but Swahili is more widely spoken in Kenya than English is. Other Bantu languages are also spoken in southern Kenya. All of them are somewhat closely related to Swahili. Most of the ones spoken in southeastern Kenya are especially closely related. The ones spoken further to the west are more closely related to Kinyarwanda in Rwanda and Kirundi in Burundi.

The non-Bantu languages spoken in western Kenya are Nilotic, and the ones spoken in the east are Cushitic and include Somali, since Somalia is east of Kenya, as well as a variety of Oromo called Orma. However, while Oromo is spoken in southern Ethiopia, Orma is spoken in southeastern Kenya, not near the border with Ethiopia at all.

[Sarabi]

Jambo! Ninahitaji watu wa kuzungumza nao kwa kiswahili.