Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 bez
Bena (Tanzania) Language Ekibena
Bena (Tanzania) is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.0 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Bena (Tanzania) is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Bena (Tanzania)
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Northeast Savanna Bantu
- Southern Tanzania Highlands Bantu
- Bena-Hehe
- Bena (Tanzania)
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Bena (Tanzania) language
Bena (Tanzania) (Ekibena) is spoken by about 1.0 million people, which makes it the 460th most spoken language in the world — just behind Najdi Arabic (1.0 million) and ahead of Mahasu Pahari (1.0 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Bena-Hehe group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Bena (Tanzania) spoken?
Bena (Tanzania) is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Tanzania (1.1 million).
Bena (Tanzania) is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Bena (Tanzania) is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Rundi, Nande, Kikuyu, Congo Swahili and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 bez.
Frequently asked questions about Bena (Tanzania)
How many people speak Bena (Tanzania)?
Where is Bena (Tanzania) spoken?
What language family does Bena (Tanzania) belong to?
What is Bena (Tanzania) called in Bena (Tanzania)?
Is Bena (Tanzania) an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.