MADAGASCAR
Language

Language

Malagasy and French are the two official languages of Madagascar. Malagasy belongs to the Malay-Polynesian language family. The main colloquial language is Hova, spoken by the Merina, the largest population group.

French is mainly spoken in cities and in business. French lessons are also taught in education, especially in secondary education. English is really only spoken in the capital and the tourist centers. The Malagasy alphabet consists of 21 letters. The C, Q, U, W and X do not appear in the alphabet. In recent years, books and newspapers have also been published in Malagasy.

Map of the dialects of the Malagasy language _{Photo: User:SUM1 CC 4.0 International no changes made}

To give an impression of Malagasy the following words:

• House - trano
• Water - rano
• Rice - vary
• Bread - mofo
• Milk - ronono
• Eggs - atody
• Village - vohitra
• City - tanana
• Hello - manao ahoana
• Thank you - misaotra.

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Sources

Bradt, H. / Madagascar
Bradt

Greenway, P. / Madagascar & Comoros
Lonely Planet

Lanting, F. / Madagascar : een wereld verdwaald in de tijd
Fragment

Rozeboom, A. / Madagaskar: mensen, politiek, economie, cultuur, milieu
Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen/Novib

Stevens, R. / Madagascar
Chelsea House Publishers

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated March 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info