We speak the languages of the western world. In school, more and more, students learn not only their first language, but also a second, and sometimes a third. In primary school and secondary school, however, generally we only learn Romantic or Germanic languages.... and sometimes Asian languages like Mandarin, Cantonese, or Japanese. How often do you hear of a student taking Swahili as a second language? Or Zulu? Or Afrikaans? Or Amharic?
 

We had a guest come and speak about her experiences in Kenya, and about Kiswahili, one of the official languages of Kenya (the other being English). The language is phonetic and was previously only spoken... it also has no recognizable connections to any language I have ever studied.
 

When speaking to a friend of mine who is a Tanzanian national about IB courses, self taught first languages came into conversation. I didn't find anything remarkable with me taking French A1 Self-Taught, as it is a fairly widely spoken language and not incredibly out of the ordinary in Canada. He, however, being born and raised in Tanzania, took Swahili. I hadn't even thought of this. The course itself is a literature course, which goes to show the prevalence of the language. If there is enough literature to choose from (that the IBO approves of :- o !) then clearly, as much as it is not on my radar, it's spoken by many people.
 

To put it in context: roughly 90 MILLION people speak Swahili. That's roughly equal to about one fifth of the entire population of North America-- and a little less than THREE times the entire population of Canada.
 

As I revel in my ignorance, I consider possibly taking Swahili, or another African language, in university.
 
Kwaheri!
 
Sophia