Kwanyama

Kwanyama
Oshikwanyama
Native toNamibia and Angola
RegionOvamboland
Native speakers
(250,000 in Namibia (2006);
420,000 in Angola cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-1kj
ISO 639-2kua
ISO 639-3kua
Glottologkuan1247
R.21[2]
Linguasphere99-AUR-la

Kwanyama or Cuanhama is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form.

The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society.[3] Jehovah's Witnesses released the modern translation of the new testament, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama in 2019,[4] both printed and electronic online version.

  1. ^ Kwanyama at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Ombibeli, 1974, front page
  4. ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Release the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama". Jw.org. 20 August 2019.