Cameroon is a
Francophone and
Anglophone country, and in 2023, French is spoken by 11.8 million people out of 28.7 million (41.17%).[7]
The nation strives toward
bilingualism, but in reality very few (11.6%) Cameroonians are literate in both French and English, and 28.8% are literate in neither.[8] The government has established several bilingual schools in an effort to teach both languages more evenly; however, in reality most of these schools separate the anglophone and francophone sections and therefore do not provide a true bilingual experience.[9] Cameroon is a member of both the
Commonwealth of Nations and La
Francophonie.
German, the country's official language during the German colonial period until World War I, has nowadays almost entirely yielded to its two successors. However, as a foreign language subject German still enjoys huge popularity among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010. Today, Cameroon is one of the African countries with the highest number of people with knowledge of German.[10]
Most people in the English-speaking
Northwest and
Southwest provinces speak
Cameroonian Pidgin English, also called Kamtok, as a lingua franca.[11]Fulfulde serves the same function in the north, and
Ewondo in much of the
Center,
South, and
East provinces.[12]Camfranglais (or Frananglais) is a relatively new pidgin communication form emerging in urban areas and other locations where Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians meet and interact. Popular singers have used the hybrid language and added to its popularity.[13]
There is little literature, radio, or television programming in native Cameroonian languages. Nevertheless, many Cameroonian languages have alphabets or other writing systems, many developed by the Christian missionary group
SIL International, who have translated the Bible, Christian hymns, and other materials. The
General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages was developed in the late 1970s as an orthographic system for all Cameroonian languages.
Literacy in French for individuals of age 12 and above rose from 41.3% to 57.6%[17] between 1987 and 2005 while that of English rose from 13.4% to 25.3%.[18] The global proportion of individuals literate in official languages has thus markedly increased between 1987 and 2005, rising from 53.3% to 71.2%.[19]
In 2005, the probability to be literate in French while being anglophone was 0.46 while that of being literate in English while being francophone was 0.20, resulting from the predominant status of the French language in Cameroon as a whole.
Indigenous languages
Most of the 260 languages spoken in Cameroon are indigenous languages. With a population estimated in 25 million people, UNESCO classified the country as a distinctive cultural density. The
National Institute of Statistics of Cameroon reported that four percent of the indigenous languages have disappeared since 1950. Currently, ten percent of them are neglected, and seven percent of them are considered as threatened.[20]
Ethnologue
The following list of languages in Cameroon is mostly based from Ethnologue.
^Kouega, Jean-Paul (2007). "The Language Situation in Cameroon". Current Issues in Language Planning. 8 (1): 3–94.
doi:
10.2167/cilp110.0.
S2CID143923073.
^"Analyse Thématique". Bureau Central des Recensements et des Etudes de Population (in French). Archived from
the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
^
abBinam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA.
ISBN9789956796069.
Sources
DeLancey, Mark W.; DeLancey, Mark Dike (2000). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon. African Historical Dictionaries. Vol. 81 (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.
ISBN0-8108-3775-7.
OCLC43324271.
Neba, Aaron (1999). Modern Geography of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.). Bamenda: Neba Publishers.
Cameroon is a
Francophone and
Anglophone country, and in 2023, French is spoken by 11.8 million people out of 28.7 million (41.17%).[7]
The nation strives toward
bilingualism, but in reality very few (11.6%) Cameroonians are literate in both French and English, and 28.8% are literate in neither.[8] The government has established several bilingual schools in an effort to teach both languages more evenly; however, in reality most of these schools separate the anglophone and francophone sections and therefore do not provide a true bilingual experience.[9] Cameroon is a member of both the
Commonwealth of Nations and La
Francophonie.
German, the country's official language during the German colonial period until World War I, has nowadays almost entirely yielded to its two successors. However, as a foreign language subject German still enjoys huge popularity among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010. Today, Cameroon is one of the African countries with the highest number of people with knowledge of German.[10]
Most people in the English-speaking
Northwest and
Southwest provinces speak
Cameroonian Pidgin English, also called Kamtok, as a lingua franca.[11]Fulfulde serves the same function in the north, and
Ewondo in much of the
Center,
South, and
East provinces.[12]Camfranglais (or Frananglais) is a relatively new pidgin communication form emerging in urban areas and other locations where Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians meet and interact. Popular singers have used the hybrid language and added to its popularity.[13]
There is little literature, radio, or television programming in native Cameroonian languages. Nevertheless, many Cameroonian languages have alphabets or other writing systems, many developed by the Christian missionary group
SIL International, who have translated the Bible, Christian hymns, and other materials. The
General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages was developed in the late 1970s as an orthographic system for all Cameroonian languages.
Literacy in French for individuals of age 12 and above rose from 41.3% to 57.6%[17] between 1987 and 2005 while that of English rose from 13.4% to 25.3%.[18] The global proportion of individuals literate in official languages has thus markedly increased between 1987 and 2005, rising from 53.3% to 71.2%.[19]
In 2005, the probability to be literate in French while being anglophone was 0.46 while that of being literate in English while being francophone was 0.20, resulting from the predominant status of the French language in Cameroon as a whole.
Indigenous languages
Most of the 260 languages spoken in Cameroon are indigenous languages. With a population estimated in 25 million people, UNESCO classified the country as a distinctive cultural density. The
National Institute of Statistics of Cameroon reported that four percent of the indigenous languages have disappeared since 1950. Currently, ten percent of them are neglected, and seven percent of them are considered as threatened.[20]
Ethnologue
The following list of languages in Cameroon is mostly based from Ethnologue.
^Kouega, Jean-Paul (2007). "The Language Situation in Cameroon". Current Issues in Language Planning. 8 (1): 3–94.
doi:
10.2167/cilp110.0.
S2CID143923073.
^"Analyse Thématique". Bureau Central des Recensements et des Etudes de Population (in French). Archived from
the original on 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
^
abBinam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA.
ISBN9789956796069.
Sources
DeLancey, Mark W.; DeLancey, Mark Dike (2000). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon. African Historical Dictionaries. Vol. 81 (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.
ISBN0-8108-3775-7.
OCLC43324271.
Neba, Aaron (1999). Modern Geography of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.). Bamenda: Neba Publishers.