Malawi named 6th best English speaking African country

October 1, 2015 Nyasa Times Reporter 38 Comments

A study conducted by World Linguistic Agency has named Malawi as sixth best English speaking African country, the African Leadership magazine as reported.

Teaching English
Teaching English

The study names Uganda as the best while Zambia becomes the second.

According to reports, the study revelations have risen amid video from a Miss Rwanda contestant that was shown struggling with English in a country that made a move from Francophone to Anglophone.

The study also sees Nigerians being credited for taking the spot for constructing good sentences that are grammatically flawless.

English and Chichewa are Malawi’s two official languages.

English was introduced into Malawi towards the end of the 19th century, due to the influence of British explorers, missionaries, the arrival of the African Lakes Corporation and colonial administrators present since the establishment in the 1890s of the British Central Africa Protectorate.

The seventy years of British Colonial rule that followed the Scramble for Africa, set the groundwork for English to grow into the area’s dominant and most socially prestigious language.

Among other things official government records are written in English, the parliament conducts its deliberations in English, the laws of Malawi are written in English, progression into secondary and higher education requires certification of competence in English, nearly all Malawian newspapers are published in English (though some include small Chichewa supplements),

The full list is as follows

1.Uganda

  1. Zambia
  2. South Africa
  3. Kenya
  4. Zimbabwe
  5. Malawi
  6. Ghana
  7. Botswana
  8. Sudan

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38 replies on “Malawi named 6th best English speaking African country”

  2. Nanunso a Master, why are yuo expossing yuor incomptency in speaking Queens tongue by making repeatition?? We don’t say “mother tongue language” that’s repeatition. Again, what do you mean when you say “chizungu?” do you mean language or western culture? because here in Malaw, aperson can eat in chizungu, walk in chizungu, dress in chizungu, bear children in chizungu and have sex in chizungu. Therefore, chizungu is not language.So try to correct yourself so that our country should ascend from the current position.

  4. Thinking Aloud, The order should have been as per below;

    1. Uganda
    2. Zambia
    3. Kenya
    4. Zimbabwe
    5. Malawi
    6. South Africa
    7. Ghana
    8. Botswana
    9.Sudan.

  6. THESE ARE GOOD PRAISES THAN RATED POOREST COUNTRY ON THE PLANET.
    LETS ADD MORE EFFORT TO RISE TO THE NEXT POSITIONS BY MOTIVATING OUR TEACHERS PARTICULARLY WHO TEACH IN THE LOWEST CLASSES IE STD 1-5

  7. I don’t agree south Africa to be ahead of Malawi and Zimbabwe and I prefer Zimbabwe to top the standings. Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe we speak grammatic English.
    someone one was calling me eeh! My men, I asked him to differentiate btwn man and men and he failed. So to me a man is singular to plural men. My question to those findings, what method did they follow to put South Africa on third? These South Africans they speak broken English.

  10. Mind you..English is not just the mother tongue of england but it is also a communication language in the whole language..a scientific and mathematical language as well

  12. Malawians are the best English speakers apart from Zambians. I disagree totally about Zimbabweans, south Africans and east African countries. Infact its only Malawi on the list that does not mix with local language ascent. I have travelled throughout African countries, worked with the rest of them but really malawians are much better on this quenes language.

  13. Ok pepo! Let us be proud of our cantray.the educasho is vere good. But we need to undastand how to prounounce the words

  15. Wole soyinka was against this ideology. Chinua Achebe himself refused to speak English when he was asked to deliver a speech after his novel Things Fall Apart was chosen the best in Africa. No language is superior and these white people i dont like them. Those countries that cling to this lge are poor. Why are you happy with this colonisation through language. Ideots, shit

  17. If you say english is of no use to malawi, why do you comment in that very same language then? It seems u hav never gone overseas,mukazapita u will appreciate its significance for sure.

  18. Had it been it was just after kamuzu we cud hv been on position 2 or 3, i cherish education of those times, thanks to my english teachers.

  20. Fuck this shit, Malawi is second to Zambia
    how can a Zimbabwean who say benki for bank,
    Inshuwaranci for insurance be better than Malawi Kikikikikiki

  21. People!! Chill,this story is not saying the mastering of english language is all what malawi needs,no! But its a revelation not wealth this negativity,well,so according to “geniuses” on this forum,malawi’s economic collapse is as a result of our “wasting” of time on learning a foreign language (english) huh?,this tyoe of thinking is beyond stupid,of all the obvious causes of maldevelopment in this country and someone has the nerve to blame the mastery of good english? really? Its not about damping lical languages,no,you can be very good at local languages and speak & write giod english too,and that is an indication that someone’s brain is good,ask doctors,its the brain which controls mastery of new languages and speech,any slow leaener has issues with their brain,just like aphasic people,some are citing the chinese as a good anti-english well developed nation,but i was once refered to a chinese doctor at a certaib hispital,he strugled to communicate to me because he diesnt get english much,so how could he take a history and treat me? Imagine if the language APM knew was only “lhomwe” so that at UNGA,caried himself an interpreter,wouldnt that be stupid? So medicine,law,engineering etc would be learnt in ngoni,sena ,tumbuka,chewa?

  23. Mxxiii! To hell with your Uganda! How can people who pronounce “Nurse” as “Narssi” or “work” as “waaaki” be best English speakers? For me, my top English speaking country in Africa should be Zambia (and none of the East Africans: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzani,)

  24. I do not agree with the findings.
    Many Malawians do not know the difference between ‘l’ and ‘r’ when speaking.
    This makes it very difficult to understand what people are saying. For example,
    ‘ bread roll’ will sound like ‘bled loll’.
    Very awkward indeed.

  25. And i dont think this is based on true merit. Even if its merit based, it has nothing to do away with uncountable disgrantledities Malawi is going through.

  26. English is not important anymore. Rich countries speak their languages, look at French, Germany, Russians, Chinese, Arabs. Or ku UN apitaku aliyense akuwecheta cha kwao.

  27. This news is not worth our pride considering that we are under South Africa a country which was under another colonial rule other than Britain.

  28. akupha,
    get civilised, the english which u have been rated as 6th best speaking is not your mother tongue language, the problems with dull people is that they dont even know that english is also a mother tongue language in UK, and its sad u can hate mother tongue for tumbukas and be proud of a mother tongue of some english country( great Britain), this country will never develop if people like u hate your our mother tongue language for foreign mother tongue languages,in chichewa kapena, chizunguso is a mother language in UK, and its a big shame to be rated best for speaking someone mother langauge but failing to speak your own, stupid

  29. If it were not for the way APM speaks we were going to be the best English speaking African country.

  30. izi zingathe kukhala zabodza, all in all, what does English have to do with us? Its just another language that one can learn to speak. The problem is the mind set that associates English to success, prosperity, kuzindikila and being educated. Most coloureds haven’t gone to school but they speak english

  33. Akupha the issue has nothing to do with Tumbukas.They have said without indicating any tribes.Kodi anthu anyau munakhalika bwanji?No wonder Malawi is the most least developed country in the world because it heavily populated with nyau people with questionable IQ.Get a life the nyau by the name Akupha.

  35. We can speak perfect English but it does not change the fact that people are dying of hunger, lack of health services and poor infrastructure. Speaking English won’t help us resolve these issue.

  36. English is not important for anybody’s livelihood.It is just as any language for communication that God has endowed various people on the earth planet.Have you ever seen the French and Germans struggling with English despite being neighbours with Britain,yet they are highly developed in their respective countries with their own language.Japan is also one most advanced country in the world,yet English is not on the list.Malawians needs development not memorising some colonial master’s language.You have memorised English for 51 solid years,What have you achieved so far?Its the same poverty.I would have been very proud if you said that Malawi is most 6th developed country in the world,than mimicking the Queen’s lingua.Very much brainwashed in everything by the English.Wake up.We need to work asses 24/7 to develop Malawi from the poverty that have engulfed our beautiful nation than wasting time with English language.We don’t eat English in Malawi.

    1. Have you sat down and wondered why Rwanda moved from francophone to Anglophone. Their leadership noticed that the number of books, journals published every year in English greatly surpasses those in French or any other language. If you are knowledge conscious, you would want to learn the queens language. Are the products from the countries you have mention (Japan, German) labelled in their languages? Have you wondered why? In this era where communication is very important you definitely need to speak and understand the language that is spoken by many and in this case, English. Proud Malawian if I may ask, why is your comment in English?

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