Namibia, despite its scarce population, is home to a wide diversity of languages, from three language families: Indo-European

Indo-European

Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...

, Bantu

Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...

 and Khoisan

Khoisan languages

The Khoisan languages are the click languages of Africa which do not belong to other language families. They include languages indigenous to southern and eastern Africa, though some, such as the Khoi languages, appear to have moved to their current locations not long before the Bantu expansion...

. During Apartheid Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 held the position of official language

Official language

An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...

; however, after independence from South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, the new government made English the sole official language in the constitution of Namibia

Constitution of Namibia

The Constitution of Namibia is the constitution of theRepublic of Namibia. Adopted in February 1990, a month prior to Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa, it was written by an elected constituent assembly.-Preamble:...

. This step was taken in an effort to unify the Namibian people under what was considered "the language of the liberation struggle", with German and Afrikaans being stigmatised as having colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 overtones.

Language demographics

The most widely spoken languages are Oshiwambo dialects

Oshiwambo language

Ovambo, also known as Wambo or Ambo, or native Oshiwambo , is a dialect cluster in Angola and northern Namibia, of which the written standards are Kwanyama and Ndonga....

, by 48% of the population, the Khoekhoe language by 11%, Afrikaans by 11%, Kwangali language

Kwangali language

Kwangali, also known as RuKwangali and SiKwangali, is a Bantu language spoken by 85,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia, where it is a national language, and in Angola...

 by 10% and Herero

Herero language

The Herero language is a language of the Bantu family . It is spoken by the Herero people in Namibia and Botswana...

 by 10%. Other native languages include the Bantu languages Tswana

Tswana language

Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...

, Gciriku

Gciriku language

Gciriku or Dciriku , officially Rumanyo, is a Bantu language spoken by 305,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia, where it is a national language, in Botswana, and in Angola. It was first known in the west via the Vagciriku, who had migrated from the main Vamanyo area and spoke Rugciriku,...

, Fwe

Fwe language

Fwe, or Chifwe, is a Bantu language spoken by 10,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia. It is closely related to Kuhane, and is one of several Bantu languages of the Okavango which have click consonants.-External links:*...

, Kuhane

Kuhane language

Kuhane, or Subiya, also known as Kwahane, Chikuahane, Chikwahane, Ciikuhane, or Mbalangwe, is a Bantu language spoken by 35,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana. In Tswana it is known as Subiya . It is one of several Bantu languages of the Okavango which have click...

, Mbukushu

Mbukushu language

Mbukushu or Thimbukushu is a Bantu language spoken by 45,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia, where it is a national language; in Botswana; in Angola; and in Zambia, where it is an official regional language. It appears to be an divergent lineage of Bantu.Mbukushu is one of several...

, Yeyi

Yeyi language

Yeyi is an endangered Bantu language spoken by many of the approximately 50,000 Yeyi people along the Okavango River in Namibia and Botswana. Yeyi, influenced by Juu languages, is one of several Bantu languages along the Okavango with clicks...

; and the Khoisan Naro

Naro language

Naro is a Khoe language spoken in the Ghanzi District of Botswana and in eastern Namibia, where it is sometimes called Nharo. There are about 14,000 speakers: 10,000 in Botswana and 4,000 in Namibia . This makes it probably the most-spoken of the Tshu–Khwe languages...

, ǃXóõ, Kung-Ekoka

!Kung language

!Kung or !Xun, also called Ju, is a dialect continuum spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and Angola by the !Kung people. Together with the ǂHoan language, it forms the Kx'a language family...

, ǂKxʼauǁʼein and Kxoe. English, the official language, is spoken by less than 1% of people as their native language. Among the white population, 60% speak Afrikaans, 32% German, 7% English, and 1% Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

.

Indigenous languages are included in the school syllabus at primary level. From secondary level English is the medium of instruction. Afrikaans is the only language that comes close to a lingua franca

Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...

, and is spoken by most black townspeople together with English and their native language.