Languages of Zambia


Zambia has several major indigenous languages, all members of the Bantu family, as well as Khwedam, Zambian Sign Language, several immigrant languages and the pidgins Settla and Fanagalo. English is the official language and the major language of business and education.

Indigenous Zambian languages

Zambia has 45 languages, some of which have a long history in Zambia, while others, such as Silozi, arose as a result of 18th- and 19th-century migrations. All of Zambia's major languages by native-speaker population are members of the Bantu family and are closely related to one another.
Seven native languages are officially recognised as regional languages. Together, these represent the major languages of each province: Bemba, Nyanja, Lozi, Tonga and Lozi, and Kaonde, Luvale and Lunda. These seven languages are used, together with English, in early primary schooling and in some government publications. A common orthography was approved by the Ministry of Education in 1977.
The most common languages spoken by the majority of the population in Zambia are Bemba, followed by Nyanja and Tonga, while some other languages such as Luvale, Tumbuka, Lunda and the rest are spoken in their local localities of the country.

Zambian English

English, the former colonial language, serves as a common language among educated Zambians. At independence in 1964, English was declared the national language. English is the first language of only 2% of Zambians but is the most commonly used second language.
The English spoken in Zambia has some distinctive features, such as the omission of certain object pronouns that would be obligatory in Western English, the simplification of some phrasal verbs, subtle differences in the usage of auxiliary verbs such as "should", simplification of vowel sounds, and the incorporation of particles derived from Zambia's indigenous languages. Zambian English also incorporates South African words such as braai for "barbecue".

Percentage distribution of major language groups

Source: 2010 Census

List of languages

The established languages of Zambia are: