What is the oldest language in Africa?
Egyptian

Egyptian is still in use today as the Coptic Church's liturgical language. The reason why this is thought to be the oldest vernacular of Africa is that its complete written sentence, which was discovered, dates back to 2690 BC.Exploring Ancient African Writing Languages: Unveiling a Rich

  • Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Egyptian hieroglyphs – source: Wkimedia Commons.
  • Nsibidi.
  • Adinkra.
  • Ge'ez.
  • Tifinagh.
  • Meroitic.

3,000 languages

Africa is a continent rich with language diversity. There are over 3,000 languages spoken in Africa, many of which have roots to the major language families: Afro-Asianic includes Arabic ancestrally native to East and North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula.

How old is Somali language : The exact age of the Somalian language is difficult to pinpoint, but it is certainly thousands of years old. Some historians estimate that the language originated during the years between 6,000 and 10,000 BC. Today nearly 15 million people worldwide speak the tongue.

How old is African language

They rank among the oldest living languages in terms of traceable records. Experts have estimated that Proto-Afroasiatic emerged in Africa between 12,000 and 16,000 years ago. My research focused on the almost 200 Chadic languages spoken west, south and east of Lake Chad in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.

What are the 4 ancient languages : Survival of the fittest: 10 oldest languages in the world

  • Chinese (6,000 years old)
  • Sanskrit (4,000 years old)
  • Sumerian (3,200 years old)
  • Hebrew (3,000 years old)
  • Greek (3,000 years old)
  • Farsi (3,000 years old)
  • Tamil (2,300 years old)
  • Italian (2,100 years old)

The most widely spoken languages in Africa are:

  • 1st place: Swahili.
  • 2nd place: Arabic.
  • 3rd place: French.
  • 4th place: Hausa.
  • 5th place: Yoruba and Oromo.
  • Frequently asked questions and answers about African languages.


Xhosa is one of the most difficult languages to learn because of its complex structure. It is spoken by 8 million people in South Africa and by 11 million people throughout Africa. Most of its speakers live in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Northern Cape.

What is Somalia original language

Somalia has two official languages, Somali and Arabic. Somali is far more widespread than Arabic, however. Two minority Somali languages, Garre and Oromo, are also more widely spoken as native languages than Arabic.The country's official languages are Northern Standard Somali and Arabic, but Arabic is used chiefly in religious practice, and for more than 39% of the population, neither is the main language used at home.Historians and linguists generally agree that Sumerian, Akkadian and Egyptian are the oldest languages with a clear written record.

1. Tamil (5000 years old) – Oldest Living Language of the World. Source Spoken by 78 million people and official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore, Tamil is the oldest language in the world. It is the only ancient language that has survived all the way to the modern world.

How old is Pashto language : roughly 3500 to 2500 years old

Herodotus, a Greek historian who wrote his biography from 486-521 BC, mentions the word Paktika — a province in northern Afghanistan. From such compilations of artifacts and historical data the majority of researchers now believe that the Pashto language is roughly 3500 to 2500 years old.

What are the big 3 languages : When tallied according to number of native speakers only, these are the most spoken languages in the world.

  • Chinese — 1.3 Billion Native Speakers.
  • Spanish — 486 Million Native Speakers.
  • English — 380 Million Native Speakers.
  • Arabic — 362 Million Native Speakers.
  • Hindi — 345 Million Native Speakers.

What is the oldest language in Nigeria

Hausa is the oldest known written language in West Africa, dating back to before 1000 C.E.” (Countries and Their Cultures). Because English is the most commonly used language, those who are not ethnic Yourbas or Igbos rarely speak their language (Countries and Their Cultures).

The most widely spoken languages of Africa, Swahili (200 million), Yoruba (45 million), Igbo (30 million), and Fula (35 million) all belong to the Niger-Congo family. Learn more about the Niger-Congo language family on Ethnologue.Top 10 Easiest Languages for English Speakers to Learn

  • Norwegian.
  • Spanish.
  • Italian.
  • Portuguese.
  • French.
  • Romanian. 🕐 Approximate time to learn: 24 weeks (575-600 hours)
  • Swahili. 🕐 Approximate time to learn: 36 weeks (900 hours)
  • Tagalog. 🕐 Approximate time to learn: 44 weeks (1100 hours)

How old is the Somali language : The exact age of the Somalian language is difficult to pinpoint, but it is certainly thousands of years old. Some historians estimate that the language originated during the years between 6,000 and 10,000 BC. Today nearly 15 million people worldwide speak the tongue.