Botswana Languages

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Botswana

Languages

Description

The official languages of Botswana are English and Tswana.

• English - Inherited from colonial rule and is used for official business and most written communication.
• Tswana - The language of the Tswana people—Setswana—is a country's national language, and is spoken by most of the population.

In Setswana, prefixes are more important than they are in many other languages, since Setswana is a Bantu language and has noun classes denoted by these prefixes. They include:

Bo, which refers to the country

Ba, which refers to the people,

Mo, which is one person, and

Se which is the language.

For example, the main ethnic group of Botswana is the Tswana people, hence the name Botswana for its country. The people as a whole are Batswana, one person is a Motswana, and the language they speak is Setswana.

Over 20 smaller languages are also spoken. Some of the country's languages are in danger of becoming extinct. Here is a list of the languages in Botswana:

Afrikaans	Haillom	Kua	Setswana
Ani	Herero	Kuhane	Shua
Birwa	Hua	Kung-Ekoka	Tshuwau
Chichewa	Ju'hoan	Lozi	Tswapong
English	Kalanga	Mbukushu	!Xóõ
Gana	Kgalagadi	Nambya	Yeyi
Gciriku	Khoekhoe	Naro	Zezuru
Gwi	Khwedam	Ndebele	isiXhosa

Word List(s)

• Useful phrases in Tswana at Omniglot
• Tswana phrasebook at Wikivoyage

Alphabet and Pronunciation

• Tswana Language Vowels at Wikipedia
• Tswana Language Consonants at Wikipedia
• Tswana Language Stress at Wikipedia
• Tswana Language Tone at Wikipedia

Language Aids and Dictionaries

• Nouns at Wikipedia
• Dictionary Tswana - English at Glosbe
• Dictionary between Setswana (Tswana) and English Translation Online at ATS
• An Introduction to the Setswana Language at Peace Corps

Additional Resources

• Bogwasi, Beauty. Conversational Setswana : an African laguage from Botswana. Maun, Botswana: Beauty Bogwasi, 2012. Available at: WorldCat.
• University of Botswana. The sound system of Setswana. Gaborone, Botswana: Lightbooks, 2001. Available at: WorldCat.
• Wookey, Alfred John. Setswana-English phrasebook = Puisanyo ya sekgowa le Setswana. Gaborone, Botswana: Pula Press, 2000. Available at: WorldCat.
• Wookey, Alfred John. Puisanyo ya sekgowa le Setswana : with a short introduction to grammar and a vocabulary. Gaberones: Botswana Book Centre, 1963. Available at: WorldCat.