Language in Comoros

The Constitution of 2018 recognizes Shikomor as the national language and Shikomor, French and Arabic as official languages. Shikomor is a Bantu language closely related to Swahili and is spoken in island varieties including shiNgazidja on Ngazidja, shiNdzuani on Ndzuwani and shiMwali on Mwali. Speakers can generally understand one another, although pronunciation and verb forms vary by island. shiMaore belongs to Mayotte and is not part of the territory of the Union of the Comoros discussed here. Shikomor is used mainly in homes, communities, local oral communication, ceremonies and everyday participation. French becomes more prominent in formal schooling, literacy, institutional communication, administration and communication beyond the country. Arabic is strongly connected with Quranic schools, madrasas, religious education and religious practice. Franco-Arab schools combine French and Arabic in some educational settings. Preschool and pre-primary education commonly use Shikomor as the learning language, while French becomes the central teaching language from primary school. Teachers and pupils can face difficulties when French is not their strongest language, and Shikomor is often used for oral explanation or translation. Arabic may enter early through Quranic education. Formal documents and school administration are generally handled in French according to the available evidence, while local oral access often relies on Shikomor. The three languages do not have equal practical functions. The state has no evidenced nationwide duty to provide every service in all three languages, and a standardized general right to an interpreter has not been established in the available evidence. No language examination or language requirement for citizenship is documented. Access can nevertheless depend on the place, school type, literacy and French proficiency, while access to Arabic is strongly shaped by religious education. Shikomor is written in Latin and Arabic or Ajami scripts, but no single stable orthography is generally accepted nationwide. Alphabetization planning includes newer writing systems, although their national status remains unclear. Malagasy is mentioned in broader writing about the Comorian archipelago, but its distribution, public functions and rights within the Union of the Comoros are not sufficiently established to describe it as a nationally equivalent minority-language system. Public, private and community radio, television and press operate in the Comoros. The Conseil national de la presse et de l'audiovisuel, or CNPA, regulates communication, pluralism and media access and has a legal role in promoting Comorian language and culture. Fixed language quotas, general translation rights and an exact division of media use are not established in the available evidence. Families, communities, palashiyos and madrasas also provide formal, non-formal or informal language support. There is no documented nationwide language-access fee or uniform translation-cost rule, but French learning, limited materials and informal translation can create indirect costs and delays.