Languages of Mauritania

The languages of Mauritania include the official language, Arabic, three national languages, Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof, and French, a former official language which is still the language of working, education and administration.

The languages of Mauritania mainly consist of various Afroasiatic languages, including: Zenaga-Berber, Tamasheq-Berber, Hassaaniya Arabic and Standard written Arabic. Some ethnic minorities speak Niger-Congo languages.

Afro-Asiatic languages

 * Arabic
 * Modern Standard Arabic is the official language of the government of Mauritania.
 * Hassaniyya Arabic (70%-80% of the population) is the colloquial spoken variety of Arabic. Its name is derived from the tribe of the Bänū Ḥassān. The language serves as a lingua franca in the country. It is also the language of the Imraguen who also use elements of Soninke.
 * Berber
 * Zenaga is a Berber language that was more widely spoken in the past, but is still used in the south of the country, close to the River Senegal. The speakers of the Zenaga language are eponymously known as Zenaga Berbers. Islamisation and Arabisation of the population have reduced the number of Berber speakers.
 * Tamasheq is a Berber language spoken by Tuaregs in the extreme south-east of the country, who have moved into Mauritania from Mali.

French
According to Ethnologue, there are 705,500 speakers of French in Mauritania. It serves as a de facto national working language. Mauritania is a member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (La Francophonie).4

Sometimes French is used for certain speeches by parliamentarians in the Senate and the National Assembly, and they are broadcast on radio and television in this language. In certain areas of administration, it has undeniably established itself as the working language. For example, all structures of the Ministry of Finance (Customs, Taxes, Budget, Treasury, Domains, etc.) work in this language; at the Ministry of Health, it’s the same thing. The only exception that could be cited is the Ministry of Justice where Arabic undeniably predominates; the Ministry of the Interior and that of National Education are almost equal in terms of the use of the two languages which depends mainly on the training of the user.

However, here too, there are exceptions: for example, at the Ministry of the Interior, encrypted messages and at the Ministry of National Education, Baccalaureate transcripts are exclusively in French.

Niger-Congo languages
The speakers of this group make up 20%-30% of the population.
 * Wolof
 * Soninke is spoken by some 180.000 speakers.
 * Pulaar (15%-20%) is spoken in Mauritania by the Fula and the Toucouleur.
 * Bambara
 * Serer