Interesting facts about the language

The language's name is derived from the Arabic word "sahil" (plural: "sawahil"), meaning "coast," and refers to the language's original area in East Africa. Swahili belongs to the Bantu family of languages, of which there are around 500 different languages throughout Africa. Swahili is originally the native language of the Swahili tribe, the inhabitants of a roughly 1,500-kilometer-long coastal strip stretching from southern Somalia to Mozambique.

This language, which itself is called Kiswahili, is the best known and most widely spoken Bantu language and is spoken in many East African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, the Comoros, Mayotte, and Rwanda. Accordingly, it is considered the "lingua franca," or trade language, of East Africa. Swahili is the official language of Tanzania and the second official language of Kenya; in Uganda, it is the most widely spoken language alongside English, the official language.

In addition to the approximately 2 million native speakers, there are approximately 30 million people who speak Swahili as a second language. Swahili differs from other Bantu languages primarily in its extensive vocabulary borrowed from Arabic. In addition to religious terms, many terms from trade and everyday business have been adopted. There are also borrowings from Hindi and Persian, as well as Portuguese words dating back to the colonial period. Even a few German borrowings can be found, such as "shule" (school). Currently, English is heavily influenced by Swahili: for example, words like "eropleni" (aeroplane) and "kampuni" (company) have originated in Swahili.