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,[1] education and administration.[2]
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.
See main article: African French. According to Ethnologue, there are 705,500 speakers of French in Mauritania. It serves as a de facto national working language.[3] 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.
The speakers of this group make up 20%-30% of the population.