Language in Botswana

Botswana's language landscape combines a predominantly bilingual public sphere with regional multilingualism. English shapes administration, law, Parliament, higher education and many business activities. The national lingua franca (Setswana) is used in everyday life, government news and many community contexts. The 2022 census asked which language was spoken most often at home, rather than asking generally about people's mother tongue. Among people aged two and over, 77.5% were recorded as speaking Setswana, 4.9% Kalanga, 3.6% English, 2.5% Shekgalagari, 1.5% Zezuru or Shona, and 1.4% Sesarwa at home. Thimbukushu and Ndebele each accounted for 0.8%, Otjiherero for 0.6%, Afrikaans for 0.3%, Chisubia for 0.2% and Sheyeyi for 0.1%; 4.1% gave no answer. The share for Setswana has remained relatively stable since 2001 at around 77% to 79%, while English rose to 3.6% by 2022. Declines in several Indigenous languages should be assessed cautiously because census categories changed and some people did not provide an answer. Setswana comprises various regional varieties, including Sekgatla-Kgafela, Sekgatla-Mmanaana, Sekaa, Sekwena, Selete, Sengwaketse, Serolong, Setawana, Setlokwa, Sephaleng, Sekhurutshe, Sehurutshe, Setshweneng, Setswapong and Sebirwa. Shekgalagari and the Sesarwa category also encompass several language communities. The boundaries between language and dialect are not standardized consistently everywhere. Kalanga is particularly widespread in Central Tutume, North East and Francistown. Shekgalagari occurs mainly in West Kweneng, North Kgalagadi and Ghanzi, while Sesarwa is strongly represented in Ghanzi, Chisubia in Chobe, and Thimbukushu and Sheyeyi in western Ngamiland. Cities are more linguistically mixed, while rural areas often show more stable regional language identities. Other languages, including Nambya, Serotsi, Gciriku, Kwangali, Nama, Khwedam and Otjiherero, have smaller or locally concentrated speaker communities. There is no generally documented entitlement to advice or correspondence in every local language at government offices. In criminal proceedings, however, defendants receive a free interpreter if they do not understand the language of the proceedings. The High Courts conduct proceedings and keep records predominantly in English. Setswana and English are customary at the Land Tribunal, with translation in both directions. To stand as an active candidate for the National Assembly, a person must be able to speak and read English, unless a statutory exception applies because of blindness or a physical impairment. Parliamentary records appear in a mixed version and an English version, with the English version potentially translated from Setswana. Daily News, Radio Botswana and Radio Botswana 2 use Setswana and English. Botswana Television reaches more than 90% of the population. Since September 2025, BTV and Radio Botswana have introduced news in iKalanga, Naro, Shekgalagari and Sheyeyi. Further expansion was temporarily suspended in March 2026 because orthography, standardization and trained language professionals still needed to be addressed. In early education, the 2022 language policy provides for the respective local language to be used as the language of instruction from preschool through the second grade. Since 2023, implementation has been planned for 13 languages, but it has remained dependent on the region, trained staff and available materials. At the beginning of 2023, 119 of 170 schools and 145 trained teachers had been recorded. Linguistic diversity contributes to cultural identity, social cohesion and access to public information. Communities, traditional community leaders (Kgosi) and cultural leaders are included in language-policy consultations. Kgosi are traditional community leaders. Community services such as Nama Online Radio supplement formal services, but remain largely informal and do not have a nationwide official-language or frequency function. Depending on the area, the government, Government Communications, the responsible education ministry, the national statistics office (Statistics Botswana), Parliament, the judiciary and the broadcasting service share responsibility for recording, using and expanding language access. Nationwide equality for all spoken languages as official languages is not established.