Kinyaranda
Kinyaranda and French are the
official languages of Rwanda. Swahili is commonly used in commerce.
Kinyarwanda is part of the Bantu sub-group of the central branch of the
Niger-Congo language family. It is closely related to Kirundi, the language of
Burundi. Kinyarwanda-Kirundi speakers comprise the third largest group of all
the Bantu languages. All Rwandans speak Kinyarwanda, but there is some variation
in pronunciation. The forms spoken by the Tutsi and Hutu are very similar.
There are a total of approximately
9,000,000 speakers, with over 8,000,000 in Rwanda. Other are in Uganda,
Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania.
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![Uganda - Click for Information]](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/ug-flag.gif){kind=small}