Countries in Africa That Speak The English Language.

Map of English Speaking Countries in Africa --- One question just about most tourists and travelers visiting Africa have asked: "Would I find people that understand the language I speak?"

These questions are also asked when tours to remote countries are planned. But nine times out of ten, the answers to the questions return positive.

So many languages are spoken across Africa, with a few African countries having more languages than others. This means that multilingualism exists in the African language landscape. But common in these countries is the lingua franca which makes communication between these people possible.

English is the most spoken language in the world with about 1.5 billion speakers, and the Chinese language coming in second with 1.31 billion speakers. It has about 400 million native speakers, with more than a billion non-native speakers.

Being the second largest continent in the world, it's safe to agree that Africa has been the hub of diversity for the longest of times. With 54 countries, Africa has around 240 million English speakers. And Nigeria alone has about 111 million people who speak at least some of the language.

There are more than two dozen countries in Africa that speak English as their official language. The African continent, much like Asia, had been under the rule of colonialism. This brought linguistic and cultural adaptations. However when colonialism ended, these countries still continued with the languages left behind.

The English-speaking African countries were former British colonies. There are two exceptions; Eritrea and Rwanda – with the former and later colonized by Italy and Belgium respectively.

Rwanda recognises English and French as the country's official language, but English is regarded highly as it is taught in schools to coincide with other members of the East African region.

While there are 24 countries that speak English in Africa, about 26 countries speak French as their official language.

What needs to be understood is that speaking and proficiency are two different things. Not everyone who speaks English in these countries writes the language very well. Proficiency comes from, like it is often said, practice and studying the language. The list of countries that speak English in Africa include; Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, The Gambia, Seychelles, Eritrea, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Mauritius, Malawi, Liberia, Lesotho, Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Saint Helena.

Some of the African countries where English is spoken with a high level of proficiency include; Nigeria, Ghana,

Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Rwanda.

The level of proficiency varies within each country by a number of factors including; education, socioeconomic conditions and urbanisation. English serves as an effective medium of communication in these countries, and plays an important role in business, government, media and other sectors.

The debate about the country in Africa with the most English proficiency would always rage on for a long time. But a recent English Proficiency Index (EPI) published by EF Education First ranked South Africa as the country with the best English proficiency in Africa, with Kenya and Nigeria taking the second and third places respectively.

Nearly 5 millon South Africans speak English as their first language which makes up about 9.6% of the country's total population. The country has 11 official languages and people speak other languages in the region as well, including Afrikaans and isiZulu.

Nigeria remains the African country with the most English speakers (111 million). The Nigerian English is the language of politics and formal communication. On the other hand, the Nigerian Pidgin is the second most spoken language in the country.

English is the official language of Nigeria. Other languages that Nigerian people speak are Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Fula, Ibibio, Anang, etcetera. It is believed that over 525 languages are spoken in Nigeria alone.

Just trailing Asia as the second largest continent, Africa is indeed the land of dreams. With beautiful landscapes, wildlife, and amazing traditions; Africa is surely the continent to visit and in the future start businesses.

Despite occupying different regions of the continent, the Anglophone countries in Africa share something in common. And that is, they all adopted the English language and haven't let go after the end of colonial rule.