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I understand that many African nations have French as an official language and that there will be plenty of people who can speak French, but I'm curious as to what cities if any actually have French as the predominant language for a majority of population. I ask because I read that Kinshasa is the largest francophone city, but have also read that it's actually a minority of people there who speak French in their day-to-day and the most common language is Lingala.
I understand that many African nations have French as an official language and that there will be plenty of people who can speak French, but I'm curious as to what cities if any actually have French as the predominant language for a majority of population. I ask because I read that Kinshasa is the largest francophone city, but have also read that it's actually a minority of people there who speak French in their day-to-day and the most common language is Lingala.
Dont think you will find a city in Africa like that, and the same applies to the countries with English as the official language as well. My guess is that you wlll find enough French speakers in the capital cities or largest commercial centers. Examples:
Dont think you will find a city in Africa like that, and the same applies to the countries with English as the official language as well. My guess is that you wlll find enough French speakers in the capital cities or largest commercial centers. Examples:
Don't know specifically about French. But English is the main language used in Port Harcourt and the Niger Delta, and some people even speak it as a first language, while being monolingual. This is because of historic contact with the English and the immense diversity of the region, meant many cities have no linguistic majority and thus English became the dominant language. I've found Lagos is English first, Yoruba 2nd. Ibadan is 50-50. Abuja is English first, as well being the capital.
The most issue, i've had with language was Ibadan, and that's because 80-90%+ of the population is Yoruba so while English is spoken it's not as necessary in day-to-day life.
I doubt if there are any, and can't remember ever overhearing very much French in the streets. Kinshasa has a big music industry and songs are all Lingala. Maybe N'djamena, Chad, has a lot of French.
Actuallly, Ndjamena is in fact a city not dominated by an African language. But it is Arabic, rather than French, that has emerged as the dominant language.
As for English, I think Monrovia and Freetown are mainly English speaking, and possibly Banjul as well.
Dont think you will find a city in Africa like that, and the same applies to the countries with English as the official language as well. My guess is that you wlll find enough French speakers in the capital cities or largest commercial centers. Examples:
I live in Kinshasa which has about 12-14 million inhabitants. Since the official language of the Democratic Republic of Congo is French, Kinshasa is the largest French-speaking city in the world. :-)
In real life it depends on one's educational level as well as circumstances which language is actually spoken. In all dealings with government French is used. The same holds true for the "business sphere". Educated families usually speak a mix of French and their ethnic language (many more of those than just Lingala!). The vast population uses their ethnic language (in the Kinshasa region this is often Lingala) but usually has a decent to fluent understanding of French.
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