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Zaramo language

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Zaramo is a Niger-Congo language spoken in eastern Tanzania, mainly in the Pwani region between Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam. It is the language of the Zaramo people (about 200,000 in the ethnic group), but today only a few elderly Zaramo still speak it. Most Zaramo now use Swahili as their first language, and the language is seriously endangered—especially in the city, where transmission is limited. In villages around Dar es Salaam, Zaramo is still passed down to children, though overall it is at risk. Zaramo is related to Luguru and shares much with Jutu, Kwere and Kami, making them fairly mutually intelligible. It uses the Latin alphabet for writing, and there are only a few translations, with the 1975 New Testament among them. There are no known dialects. Zaramo is not an official language of Tanzania. Vowels are /i, e, a, o, u/. It is also known as Zalamo, Kizaramo, Dzalamo, Zaramu, Saramo and Myagatwa.


This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 10:43 (CET).