Bahamian language
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a country belonging to the Caribbean Islands, in America, whose capital and most populous city is Nassau. It has a population of 400,000 inhabitants (177º) and an extension of 13,878 km 2 (155º). Its human development index is very high (54th) and its official currency is the Bahamian dollar. But what language do they speak in the Bahamas?
What language do they speak in the Bahamas?
The Bahamas has one official language, English.
In addition, there is another language of great importance in the Bahamas islands, Bahamian Creole, which is considered the de facto national language of the country.
In addition to the two predominant languages of the islands, there are also immigrant languages in the Bahamas, such as Mandarin Chinese (5,820 speakers) and Haitian Creole (1,460). The latter is often known in the Bahamas as simply Creole, and the number of speakers is considerably higher if immigrants alone are not taken into account.
In education, the most learned foreign languages are Spanish and French in public schools. German, Italian, Haitian Creole, and Arabic are offered in certain private schools.
The English language
English (English ) is spoken by practically the entire population of the country. For official use and in education the official British standard is used. However, the variety used informally in the Bahamas is known as Bahamian English, having a non-rhotic accent. It differs in aspects of pronunciation such as poor differentiation of v and w. They also change the th to a d (that becomes dat) or th to a t (thanks becomes tanks).
The Bahamian Creole language
Bahamian Creole is spoken by approximately 80% of the inhabitants of the Bahama Islands, especially in urban areas. It is a creole language based on English. It has its origin in the interaction of local native languages and dialects with British English. It has an aspect of cultural importance to the Bahamian population as it shows its distinctiveness and uniqueness in the vocabulary and dialect of the language. It has certain similarities with the creole languages of the adjoining islands.
Share which languages are spoken in the Bahamas.