There is a long-raging debate about why we need to learn languages at all in the school curriculum, and Kiswahili is often the culprit. Well, the youth are settling that argument on their terms, because Kiswahili is the leading spoken language in the demographic. It is followed closely by English and ‘own vernacular’. Next up is Sheng, which has seen a rapid decline in recent years. Nevertheless, it is turning out to be the preferred language of men, as it is spoken by a higher proportion of males than females. When we save a dying language, we preserve a culture. But having survived the 60s, 70s, and even the turbulent 90s, it is unlikely that sheng is going anywhere soon.

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