Languages of Angola

Languages of Angola
Official language(s)	Portuguese
National language(s)	Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo, Tuchokwe, Ukwanyama (a dialect of Oshiwambo), Ganguela
Regional language(s)	Kung, Kwadi, , Lunda, Ndonga, YaumaJu
Main foreign language(s)	French, English

Using the data from the 1983 census of Angola, Portuguese is both the official and predominant language, as it is spoken in the homes of about two-thirds of the population and as a second language by many more throughout the country. Of the 60% Portuguese native speakers, half could speak only Portuguese, while the other half spoke a Bantu language as a second tongue. However, this source cannot be considered as reliable in this respect, as there was a political interest in boosting the number of native Portuguese speakers, and as many respondents overstated their mastery of Portuguese, for reasons of social status. In fact, the proportion of people who speak Portuguese as their sole language is considerably lower; according to current (2010) estimates, it is about one third.

According to the census referred to above, more than 50% of the Angolans speak Bantu languages as their first languages, and a tiny minority Khoisan languages, while some 15% speak them as second language. Here again the real figures are somewhat higher, although younger urban generations are moving towards the exclusive or largely dominant use of Portuguese. The most spoken Bantu languages are (by order of importance) Umbundu, Kimbundu, and Kikongo (all of these have many Portuguese-derived words). The Angolan Bakongo who have lived for a long time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo usually speak better French and Lingala than Portuguese and Kikongo. The few Cubans who have remained in Angola as a consequence of the Cuban military involvement (or the development cooperation in education and health) speak Spanish, but their descendants (almost all of them from mixed marriages) have not held on to it. Africans from Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal speak English, French, and their native African languages, aside from Portuguese. A select number of Angolans of Lebanese descent speak Arabic and/or French. The foreign language mostly learned by Angolans is English^{[citation needed]}.

Angola is quite anomalous in Africa as a country where the colonial language has become a vernacular language and even largely displaced the indigenous languages. One reason for this might be that the colonisation of Angola started as early as in the late 15th century and ended in the 1970s, while most of Africa came under European rule during the 19th century and obtained independence in the 1950s and 1960s.

See also

• Angolan Portuguese
• Simple Portuguese

External links

• Ethnologue Listing of Angolan Languages
• PanAfrican L10n page on Angola
• L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde - Angola