Which African Language Should You Learn? A Guide to Choosing

More than 2,000 languages are spoken in Africa. So where do you start? The good news is that the question almost always has an obvious answer once you ask it the right way. This guide helps you choose based on three criteria: your heritage, your goals and how easy the language is to learn.

Criterion number one: your family heritage

If your family comes from Africa, the answer is simple: start with the language of your parents or grandparents. It is the one that will give you the most, at family reunions and on the phone with your elders. Here are the languages available on Jossmo, by country of origin:

• Cameroon: Ewondo, Ghomala', Medumba, Duala, Bassa, Fe'Fe', Yemba, Bakaka and Mboo
• Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania: Wolof, Soninke
• Mali, Guinea: Bambara, Soninke, Fulfulde
• Ivory Coast: Baoule
• Burkina Faso: Moore
• Togo, Ghana: Ewe
• Nigeria, Benin: Yoruba
• DR Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Angola: Lingala, Kikongo
• Central African Republic: Sango
• The Sahel (Fulani people): Fulfulde

Torn between your father's language and your mother's? Start with the one spoken by the grandparents you see most often, or the one used at family ceremonies. And nothing stops you from learning the other one next.

Choosing based on your goals

To travel and communicate widely

Some languages cover entire regions. Wolof lets you live Senegal in everyday life. Lingala opens up Kinshasa and the Congo basin. Bambara works throughout Mali and beyond, and Sango is spoken across the whole Central African Republic.

For music and culture

An afrobeats fan? Yoruba is everywhere in the music of Wizkid, Davido and Asake. Congolese rumba sings in Lingala, Senegalese mbalax in Wolof. Understanding the lyrics changes the way you listen forever.

For history and heritage

Kikongo was the language of the Kongo kingdom and the first Bantu language ever written. Soninke carries the memory of the Ghana empire. These languages are gateways into the deep history of the continent.

Choosing based on ease of learning

For an English speaker, two factors matter most: tones and grammar. Wolof is not tonal, which makes it one of the most accessible African languages. Sango has a very light grammar inherited from its history as a trade language. By contrast, the Bamileke languages such as Ghomala' demand a more trained ear: a motivating challenge, but better to know before you start.

The real secret: getting started

There is no perfect choice, and one language often leads to another. What matters is consistency: five minutes a day with native speaker audio beats long, infrequent sessions. To go further, discover the wisdom these languages carry in our article on African proverbs.