Languages of Botswana


The official languages of Botswana are English and Tswana. English, which was inherited from colonial rule, is the official business language of Botswana, and most written communication is in English. A majority of the population speaks Tswana, but there are over 20 much smaller languages. Botswana also has many dying languages and also many expanding languages.

Official languages

The official written language of Botswana is English. Most written communication and official business texts are written in English.
The main spoken language of Botswana is Tswana. Tswana is spoken by most of the population, often as a purely spoken language.

Other languages

Although there are two clear official languages, there are other languages that a large percentage of the population speaks. Over 90% of the population speak a Bantu language natively. The most common Bantu languages spoken are Tswana/Setswana, Kalanga, Kgalagadi, Shona, Mbukushu and Ndebele. 1.7% speak Tshwa and 0.1% speak !Xóõ, a Tuu language. A further 2.8% also speak English, the official language as their first language, and a small number speak Afrikaans.
The number of individual languages listed for Botswana is 31. All are living languages. Of these, 26 are indigenous and 5 are non-indigenous. Furthermore, 4 are institutional, 9 are developing, 8 are vigorous, 9 are in trouble, and 1 is dying.

Languages Spoken in Botswana

  1. Afrikaans
  2. Ani
  3. Birwa
  4. Chichewa
  5. English
  6. Gana
  7. Gciriku
  8. Gwi
  9. ǂAakhoe dialect|Hai||om
  10. Herero
  11. ‡Hua
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  1. Kalanga
  2. Kgalagadi
  3. Khoekhoe
  4. Khwedam
  5. Kua
  6. Kuhane
  7. Kung-Ekoka
  8. Lozi
  9. Mbukushu
  10. Nambya
  11. Naro
  12. Ndebele
  13. Setswana
  14. Shua
  15. Tshuwau
  16. Tswapong
  17. !Xóõ
  18. Yeyi
  19. Zezuru