Burkina Faso Languages

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Burkina Faso

Languages

Description

Burkina Faso is a multilingual country. An estimated 70 languages are spoken there, of which about 66 are indigenous. French is the official language. English is very rarely spoken.
French

• It was introduced when France colonized Burkina Faso in 1919
• French is the principal language of administrative, political and judicial institutions, public services, and the press
• French is the language of instruction in the nation's schools
• Fewer than 15% of the population uses French on a day-to-day basis
• Despite this low percentage, there is a high amount of support in keeping French as the language of instruction
• French is one of 13 languages used on the radio

Mossi or Móorè

• Mossi is spoken by about 52.5% of the population
• It is spoken mainly in the central region around the capital

Mande languages

• Dyula, Bobo, Samo, and Marka are spoken in the west. Dyula (Dioula or Jula) is widely used as a trading language.

Fulfulde or Fula

• It is widely spoken in the north and east of the country as a first language

Gourmanché

• It is spoken in the east

Bissa

• Bissa is spoken in the south

Word List(s)

French

• French Genealogical Word List
• Most Common French Words at 1000MostCommonWords

Mossi or Móorè

• Mooré phrasebook at Wikitravel
• Useful phrases in Mossi at Omniglot

Dyula (Dioula or Jula)

• Phrases in Dioula at WordsRUs

Fulfulde or Fula'

• Fulfulde phrasebook at Wikitravel

Alphabet and Pronunciation

French

• French Alphabet and Pronunciation at Wikipedia
• French Alphabet and Pronunciation at Omniglot

Mossi or Móorè

• Mossi Alphabet and Pronunciation at Omniglot

Dyula (Dioula or Jula)

• Dyula Alphabet and Pronunciation at Wikipedia

Fulfulde or Fula

• Fulfulde Alphabet and Pronunciation at Omniglot

Bissa

• Bissa Alphabet and Pronunciation at Wikipedia

Language Aids and Dictionaries

French

• French Handwriting
• French Letter Writing Guide
• French Languages
• French to English Dictionary at Cambridge
• French Dictionary at Lexilogos

Mossi or Móorè

• Dictionnaire Moore at Webonary
• Dictionary English - Mòoré at Glosbe
• An Introduction to the Moore Language at PeaceCorps

Dyula (Dioula or Jula)

• Dioula Grammar Webonary
• Dictionary English - Jula at Glosbe

Fulfulde or Fula

• De Wolf, Paul P. English-Fula dictionary (Fulfulde, Pulaar, Fulani) : a multidialectal approach / 2 G - P. Berlin: Reimer, 1995. Available at: WorldCat.

Gourmanché

• Gourmanché Grammar at WikiVisually

Bissa

• Dictionnaire Bissa-Barka at Webonary

Additional Resources

• Burkina Faso History, Language and Culture at WorldTravelGuide
• Languages in Burkina Faso at StudyCountry
• Burkina Phrasebook French, English, Moore, Dioula, Bambara and Fulfulde at WordsRUs