African Languages: Beyond the Surface

African languages vary as much as the cultures of continent differ from one place to another. This variety in cultures and languages has made Africa very rich, yet this richness in languages and cultures has created a gap between businesses and the locals. 
It’s hard for global businesses to communicate with their customers in Africa because of the language and culture border. Here came the African languages localization role to make it easier to market and sell their products in the local African market.  
In This article, we will look into the beauty of rare African languages and non-rare African languages and their localization into other languages:  

- African Languages: A Linguistic Tapestry of Rare and Common Threads 

-Bantu African languages 

- What Sets Niger-Congo African Languages Apart from Other Languages? 

- Nilo-Saharan African Languages 

- Afro-Asiatic African Languages 

- Khosian Languages as A Part of African Languages 

- Nilo-Saharan African Languages 

- Conclusion 

The African languages are divided into widely spoken languages and rare languages. If you decided to go into the African market, learning about African languages localization can help your business grow, as your audience will engage more with your business and will be able to find you among the local African brands.

Here’s a look into African languages localization:

Bantu African languages are spoken by over 30% of Africa's population. The Bantu language family is a large group of languages spoken by hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. There are hundreds of distinct Bantu languages, with about one-third of all Bantu speakers and languages found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These languages descended from a common Proto-Bantu language, which originated in Central Africa thousands of years ago. 
Swahili, Lingala, Zulu, and Xhosa are among the most widely spoken Bantu languages. These languages have millions of speakers worldwide. Swahili has the largest number of speakers, with over 70 million. Let's discover more about each of the Bantu African languages: 
🔰 Swahili 
Swahili is a widely spoken language in East Africa; it's the national language in different African countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Swahili is a Bantu African language, yet its vocabulary has an Arabic language influence.  
🔰Lingala 
Lingala is a Bantu African language with about 40 million speakers. It was affected and has borrowed heavily from other languages such as French, Portuguese, English, and Spanish. This influence of European languages happened when Europeans arrived in the region. Today, Lingala is widely spoken in northeastern Congo.  
🔰 Zulu 
Zulu is South Africa's most spoken language. It has around 28 million speakers, and about 24% of South Africans speak Zulu; it features click sounds, common in Southern African languages but rare elsewhere in Africa. These clicks are borrowed from Khoisan languages. Zulu is also a tonal language with three main tones: high, low, and falling. While not explicitly marked in writing, understanding these tones is crucial for proper pronunciation. 
🔰 Xhosa (isiXhosa) 
Xhosa, an official language in South Africa and spoken in neighboring countries, is closely related to Zulu, Swati, and Ndebele. As a tonal and click language, Xhosa features distinct sounds and pronunciation patterns. 
🔰 Yoruba, Igbo, Kikuyu, Shona, Ndebele 
Yoruba, Igbo, Kikuyu, Shona, and Ndebele are vibrant languages that reflect the rich cultural tapestry of Africa. Yoruba is predominantly spoken in southwestern Nigeria and is known for its tonal nature and diverse dialects. Igbo mainly found in southeastern Nigeria, boasts a significant number of speakers and a strong literary tradition. Kikuyu is the language of Kenya's largest ethnic group. 
In Zimbabwe, Shona is widely used by millions and Ndebele, spoken in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is renowned for its striking visual art and traditional practices. It has shown the unique identities and histories of Africa's community.  

Niger-Congo is considered the largest language family in the African language family. Niger-Congo African Languages family is divided into nine major branches:
- Mande

- Kordofanian

- Atlantic

- Ijoid

- Kru

- Gur

- Adamawa-Ubangi

- Kwa
These languages are spoken in sub-Saharan Africa area, stretching from Senegal in the west to Kenya in the east, and as far south as South Africa.

- Tonal systems: Most Niger-Congo African languages have tones, typically two or three, but some have four or five. Tones serve to make lexical and grammatical distinctions.

- Noun classes: The system of noun classes is widely found in Niger-Congo African languages. Nouns are grouped into different classes, and other elements of the noun phrase are marked by affixes selected according to the class of the noun.

-Serial verbs: Serial verb constructions, where two or more verbs with the same subject, tense, and mood stand next to each other without a conjunction, are frequent in Niger-Congo languages.

Yoruba: Yoruba is spoken by approximately 45 million people in Southwestern and Central Nigeria, as well as parts of Benin and Togo.

Igbo: Igbo is spoken by around 44 million native speakers, primarily in southeastern Nigeria.

Kikuyu: Kikuyu is the language of the largest ethnic group in Kenya, with around 6 million speakers.

Shona: Shona is nearly spoken by 14 million people in Zimbabwe, with several dialects including Zezuru and Manyika.

Ndebele: It is spoken by almost 2 million people in Zimbabwe and South Africa, with two main dialects: Northern Ndebele and Southern Ndebele.

The Afro-Asiatic African languages family is a vast and diverse group of languages spoken across North and East Africa, as well as the Arabian Peninsula. The Afro-Asiatic family is one of the largest language families in Africa and the fourth largest globally.

The Afro-Asiatic languages come from many branches that added a lot of characteristics to it.

- Semitic branch: Semitic languages are traditionally divided into two main branches: East Semitic and West Semitic. Arabic is by far the most widely spoken Semitic language, with around 500 million native speakers across its various dialects

- Egyptian / Coptic branch: It's literally the closest thing to the ancient Egyptian our native language. Its usage declined after the Muslim conquest of Egypt, when Arabic started being spoken and more widespread.

- Berber branch: Also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight. It covers an immense geographical area: North Africa, Sahara-Sahel; it can be considered the indigenous language of North Africa.

- Omotic branch: Primarily spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, this branch includes languages that have been less studied but are significant within the region.

- Chadic branch: Predominantly found in Nigeria and surrounding countries, this branch includes languages like Hausa, which is widely spoken and serves as a lingua franca in parts of West Africa.

- Cushitic branch: Spoken mainly in the Horn of Africa, this branch includes languages such as Somali and Oromo, both of which have millions of speakers.

Approximately 500 million people are native speakers of an Afro-Asiatic language. At the top of the table is Arabic, boasting an impressive 300 million speakers.

Khoisan languages are a broad category of click languages. It is classified into at least three separate language families: the northern Khoisan, southern Khoisan and central Khoisan languages.
 
In South Africa live the most historically known Khoisan groups mainly in Namibia, Botswana and Angola.  
The currently accepted genealogical classification of the Khoisan languages consists of three families:  
Khoe-Kwadi: This family includes languages such as Khoekhoe (also known as Nama), which is the most widely spoken Khoisan language, primarily in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. Khoekhoe-Kwadi languages have faced significant challenges due to historical factors, including colonization and forced displacement. 

- Kx’a: Spoken by the Kung people, primarily in Namibia and Botswana. It’s known for its complex click consonants and rich grammatical structure. Despite Kx’a linguistic significance, it is considered an endangered language, as the number of speakers has declined over time due to colonization and forced displacement.  

- Tuu: It’s predominantly spoken in South Africa and Botswana by the Ora people. Tuu is considered a part of the Central Khoisan language family, highly endangered language, and efforts are being made to preserve and revitalize the language.

- Hadza: it’s an isolated language spoken in Tanzania by hunter-gatherers inhabiting the Lake Eyasi region of Tanzania. Hadza community is considered a small language community, with a number of speakers fewer than 1,000 speakers remaining.  

- Sandawe: An isolated language that is spoken by the Sandawe people, the inhibitors of the central highlands of Tanzania. Sandawe is classified as part of the Central Khoisan language family.  

Nilo-Saharan African languages are widely spoken primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, on the Nile River and in surrounding regions. The Nilo-Saharan African languages are diverse and have a wide range of strong linguistic features and grammatical structures.  

Nilo-Saharan African languages are the language of many ethnic groups, including the Nubians, Dinka, Nuer, and Murle.  
These are the Nilo-Saharan African languages branches:  

Songhai: Songhai is a group of languages with more than four million speakers, distributed in Niger and Mali along the Niger River, but including outlying pockets scattered as far afield as Algeria, Ghana, and Sudan.  

Eastern Sudanic: This group of languages consists of several languages spoken primarily in regions from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania. The most famous are the Nilotic language and Nubian language spoken in Sudan and Egypt. 

Western Sudanic: Western Sudanic languages are spoken by inhibitors of the regions of Chad, Sudan, and parts of Nigeria and Cameroon. Bagirmi is spoken in Chad, while Baka is found in the Central African Republic and Cameroon. Bongo is prevalent in South Sudan and nearby areas.