Language

Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic and English. Over 100 languages are spoken in Tanzania, most of them from the Bantu family. After independence, the government recognised that this represented a problem for national unity, and as a result introduced the Swahili language as the only official language. The government introduced it in all primary schools to spread its use.

Given the conditions of the period, it was not possible to introduce the language in the entire educational system, partly due to the sheer scale of writing Swahili textbooks. As a result, English (which has been the colonial language since the end of the First World War) is still the language of high schools and universities. However, the great majority of the population have accepted Swahili, thus English is generally not well known. As a result of this linguistic situation, many students leave school after finishing primary education. Other spoken languages are Indian languages, especially Gujarati, and Portuguese (both spoken by Mozambican blacks and Goans). Historically German was widely spoken during that colonial period, but few remain alive who remember that period.

Although the many tribal languages are not actively suppressed, they do not enjoy the same linguistic rights as Swahili, and little by little they are disappearing. To date none of them has entirely vanished, but it is clear that unless the linguistic policy is changed, many will soon cease to exist.