Prepared by: Marco Henry
A Brief History of Tanzania
A Brief History of Tanzania
Tanzania
was officially formed in 1964 after the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar
Islands. (Click here to further reading about the history of Tanzania)
According
to the national census that was conducted in 2012, it’s estimated that Tanzania
has over 45 million of citizens, where higher percentages of her residents live
in rural areas, while engaging in agriculture as their main source of income.
Multi-culture and Language in Tanzania
Kiswahili
(Swahili) is the national language of Tanzania. It is used in all aspects of
the daily life (Economic, political, and social aspects). On the other hand,
English is the official language which is used in education, business and
government activities such as: the writing of various documents.
Tanzania
is richer of tribal languages, where it’s estimated the existence of over 120
tribes with their own languages. Also, higher percentages of residents who live
in rural areas do speak the tribal languages as their mother tongue, and
Swahili as the second language.
Speaking
of tribal languages, in large extent can be found in rural areas. The situation
is different in urban areas where Kiswahili has large number of speakers.
Also,
the culture belong to one tribe differs from another. Although there’s a
difference, but there are some aspects of culture that can be found in almost
all tribes. For this situation, we can regard as it is the Tanzanians’ culture
in general. For instance, in almost
tribes, people shake hand during greetings.
Language and Education in Tanzania
Swahili
is used as the medium of instruction at the level of primary education (standard
one-Seven), and colleges for teachers grade III. Meanwhile, Swahili is taught
as a subject at the level of secondary and tertiary educations. On the other
hand, English is taught as a subject at the level of primary education, but it’s
the medium of instruction at secondary and tertiary educations except for
colleges of teachers grade III.
Besides
the English language, there also other various foreign languages that are
taught at the centers or colleges in Tanzania. Such languages are: Russian,
Chines, Japanese, Spanish, Korean and so on. People learn these languages for
different purposes including commercial reasons.
Follow the link below to read the same text above translated in Swahili;
Follow the link below to read the same text above translated in Swahili;