Learning a new foreign language can be very beneficial and you can try starting with the following easiest African languages to learn. This is useful if you plan to travel to Africa or you are just interested in learning something new. A person learning an African language will be able to communicate better with the locals when they visit the respective African country.
An African language is an entire new system that has its own unique rules and meanings. When you start learning these languages, you are enhancing your brain by understanding a different language structure. As your brain is working out the meaning of the African languages, it sharpens other mental skills like problem-solving, reading and negotiating.
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If you want to enhance your capability of multitasking, learning African languages is the best option. Research shows that people who are skilled at changing from one language to a different language are better at multitasking. Thus, you will commit very negligible errors as you juggle multiple tasks simultaneously.
One of the major advantages of learning an African language is that it helps in improving your memory. You can also check out easiest second languages to learn for English speakers. The more you memorize the vocabulary and rules of new African languages, the more you strengthen your memory significantly. This means you will be able to retain information much better and this makes recalling names, shopping lists and directions easier.
An interesting benefit of learning an African language is that it will improve our first language. This is because you will be more mindful of vocabulary, conjugation, grammar, comprehension, conversing and sentence constructions. You will be able to develop a much better ear to looking out for subtle gradations of every language. In addition, by learning the African language, learning English or your native language will be more interesting. Here are the easiest African languages to learn.
5. Afrikaans
In spite of its unusual name, Afrikaans does not involve having the ability to decipher a cryptic alphabet. Actually, linguistic experts believe that this particular language is actually quite similar to English when compared with other African languages. Afrikaans traces its roots to the early South African settlers of Dutch descent. It was originally considered as a just a small Dutch dialect, but the Afrikaans language has since developed into a full independent language, which as influences from Portuguese, Malay and the indigenous Khoisan and Bantu languages of South Africa.
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4. Swahili
Africa’s diverse colonial past influenced the Swahili language with a rich vocabulary filled with Indo-European and Arabic loanwords, such as Portuguese, German, English and French. Today, Swahili is spoken across large parts of East Africa, particularly Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and also Congo. Learning Swahili is actually very easy and is a great way of warming up the more than 130 million Africans who know the languages. Additionally, once you have learned Swahili, learning other African languages like Xhosa, Zulu and Shona is much easier.
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3. Yoruba
Yoruba is mainly spoken in Western Africa, especially in Togo, Benin and Nigeria. It is the main language of Yoruba people and it is project that more than 20 million people speak the language. Not only is Yoruba regarded as a Niger – Congo kind of language, but it also has spread across the world into places in America and Europe. If you plan on exploring West Africa, then learning Yoruba is a great place to start.
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2. Wolof
This Senegalese language is spoken in various other countries like Mauritania and Gambia. It is derived from the native Wolof people and bit has transcended this ethnicity and moved into other languages and cultures, both within and outside Senegal. Even though it is a bit demanding to learn, the local people in Senegal will likely be very impressed if you speak to them in Wolof.
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1. Zulu
Even though South Africa remains a highly popular destination spot for most travelers, very few people grab the opportunity to learn Zulu, which is among the nation’s official languages. This likely because most travelers think it is hard to learn Zulu, which is not true as it is among the easiest African languages to learn. Zulu is also widely spoken in most South African homes and thus learning it is a great way of interacting with the locals. If you want to go beyond the posh neighborhoods and white communities, you should definitely learn a couple of Zulu phrases.
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We hope you enjoyed reading about the easiest African languages to learn.
