Languages of Cameroon: Difference between revisions

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Line 12: [[File:Nigeria Benin Cameroon languages.png\|thumb\|280x280px\|Map of the region's [[indigenous language]]s.]] '''[[Cameroon]]''' is home to nearly 250 languages.<ref>Kouega, Jean-Paul. 'The Language Situation in Cameroon', Current Issues in Language Planning, vol. 8/no. 1, (2007), pp. 3-94.</ref> These include 55 [[Afroasiatic languages\|Afro-Asiatic languages]], two [[Nilo-Saharan languages]], four [[Ubangian languages]], and 169 [[Niger–Congo languages]]. This latter group comprises 1 [[Senegambian languages\|Senegambian language]] ([[Fula language\|Fulfulde]]), 28 [[Adamawa languages]], and 142 [[Benue–Congo languages]] (130 of which are [[Bantu languages]]).<ref>Neba 65.</ref> [[French language\|French]] and [[English language\|English]] are official languages, a heritage of Cameroon's [[colonialism\|colonial]] past as a colony of both [[France]] and the [[United Kingdom]] from 1916 to 1960. Eight out of the ten [[regions of Cameroon]] are primarily [[francophone]], representing 83% of the country's population, and two are [[anglophone]], representing 17%. The anglophone proportion of the country is in constant regression, having decreased from 21% in 1976 to 20% in 1987 and to 17% in 2005, and is estimated at 16% in 2015 (whose 4th census should take place in 2015).<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://newsducamer.com/index.php/economie/item/4683-confidences-sur-la-pr%C3%A9paration-du-4e-recensement-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral-de-la-population-du-cameroun \|title=Archived copy \|accessdate=2016-03-16 \|deadurl=yes \|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002157/http://newsducamer.com/index.php/economie/item/4683-confidences-sur-la-pr%C3%A9paration-du-4e-recensement-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral-de-la-population-du-cameroun \|archivedate=2016-03-04 \|df= }} </ref><ref>{{cite web \|url=http://cameroon.africadata.org/fr/DataAnalysis \|title=Portail de données du Cameroun, Analyse de Données \|website=Cameroon.africadata.org \|accessdate=2017-08-26 \|deadurl=yes \|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225101243/http://cameroon.africadata.org/fr/DataAnalysis \|archivedate=2017-02-25 \|df= }}</ref> The nation strives toward [[bilingual]]ism, but in reality very few Cameroonians speak both French and English, and many speak neither{{Citation needed\|date=January 2012}}. 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.<ref>DeLancey and DeLancey 51.</ref> Cameroon is a member of both the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] and La [[Francophonie]]. [[German language\|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.<ref>[http://www.dw.com/de/wenn-deutsch-gleich-zukunft-heißt/a-5070255 "Wenn Deutsch gleich Zukunft heißt"], Dw.com, 29 Nov. 2010</ref>