Is Kiswahili taught in America?

In addition to St. Lawrence University, Swahili is taught in over a hundred institutions in the US alone. Among these are Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and many other well-known colleges and universities.

Why do so many people learn Swahili?

1. Swahili Learning Opens the Way To Easier Business Opportunities. Many people choose to learn a foreign language precisely out of a desire for better business opportunities – or because knowledge of that language is necessary for their business field.

How many people are learning Swahili?

While conservative estimates show that two million people speak Swahili as their first language, it is estimated between 50 and 100 million people fluently speak Swahili as a second, third and even fourth language.

What percent of Kenya speaks Swahili?

Nearly a 100\% of the Kenyan population speaks Swahili.

How many African countries speak Swahili?

It is one of two official languages (the other being English) of the East African Community (EAC) countries, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda….Swahili language.

Swahili
Ethnicity	WaSwahili
Native speakers	Estimates range from 2 million (2003) to 18 million (2012) L2 speakers: 90 million (1991–2015)

How long does it take an American to learn Swahili?

An average person who studies an hour a day consistently will probably be able to speak Swahili at an intermediary level after about three years.

Do Somali speak Swahili?

According to two histories and a country study, Swahili is spoken in the southern part of Somalia, along the coast and in cities such as Zayla’, Berbera, Mogadishu, Merka and Baraawe (Laitin & Samatar 1987, 8; Lewis 1988, 7; Nelson 1982, 117).

Is Swahili worth learning?

Basically, it’s a trade language and is still useful as such. It definitely makes it easier to build relationships and trust when you’re working with people who speak Swahili, and it’s a bit more efficient than trying to learn 22 different tribal languages in your area.

How much of Africa speaks Swahili?

Demographics. Of the 1 billion Africans (in 2009), about 17 percent speak an Arabic dialect. About 10 percent speak Swahili, the lingua franca of Southeast Africa; about 5 percent speak a Berber dialect; and about 5 percent speak Hausa, which serves as a lingua franca in much of the Sahel.

What is Swahili a mix of?

Swahili is predominantly a mix of local Bantu languages and Arabic. Decades of intensive trade along the East African coast resulted in this mix of cultures. Besides Arabic and Bantu, Swahili also has English, Persian, Portuguese, German and French influences due to trade contact.