Languages of Namibia

Namibia, despite its scarce population, is home to a wide diversity of languages, from three language families: Indo-European, Bantu and Khoisan. During Apartheid Afrikaans, German and English held the position of official language; however, after independence from South Africa, the new government made English the sole official language in the constitution of Namibia. This step was taken in an effort to unify the Namibian people under what was considered "the language of the liberation struggle", with German and Afrikaans being stigmatised as having colonial overtones.

Street names in German and English in Windhoek. Today English is the dominant language.

Language demographics

The most widely spoken languages are Oshiwambo dialects, by 48% of the population, the Khoekhoe language by 11%, Afrikaans by 11%, Kwangali language by 10% and Herero by 10%. Other native languages include the Bantu languages Tswana, Gciriku, Fwe, Kuhane, Mbukushu, Yeyi; and the Khoisan Naro, ǃXóõ, Kung-Ekoka, ǂKxʼauǁʼein and Kxoe. English, the official language, is spoken by less than 1% of people as their native language. Among the white population, 60% speak Afrikaans, 32% German, 7% English, and 1% Portuguese.

Indigenous languages are included in the school syllabus at primary level. From secondary level English is the medium of instruction. Afrikaans is the only language that comes close to a lingua franca, and is spoken by most black townspeople together with English and their native language.

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  Distribution of Oshiwambo

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  Distribution of Khoekhoe (also known as Nama or Damara)

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  Distribution of Afrikaans

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  Distribution of Otjiherero

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  Distribution of Kavango languages

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  Distribution of Caprivi languages