Question on Djbouti

[Professor]

Why is the official languagesite of djbouti Arabic and French yet 60% of the population somali. What language do the speak on a day to day basis. Also is arabic really a language they locals speak. I just was wondering why it somali isn'the the official language.

 

[Von]

I have been to Djibouti and no one speaks French besides the elderly and maybe a few governmental individuals, it's a colonial thing France left behind, everyone speaks Somali including the Afar living on the Somali side.

 

[Professor]

I have been to Djibouti and no one speaks French besides the elderly and maybe a few governmental individuals, it's a colonial thing France left behind, everyone speaks Somali including the Afar living in the Somali side.

okay I was just wondering i went through the wiki page and thought that was bizarre and I have also met somali from djbouti in his thirties and he spoke french fluently I was just slight taken back and thought it was odd. Can I ask u a question do the people of djbouti look favourable on the french.

 

[Von]

I was in Djibouti when I was much younger but this is what an Oromo individual told me last year when he lived Djibouti City. People speak Somali as a daily language, you'd be hard pushed to there only speaking French. It's not that they don't see French as a favorable language, it's just that Somali is more useful in their everyday lives, French was influencing back in its day but now it's not needed as much.

 

[Axmed Xaji]

Why is Arabic an official language in Somalia but no one speaks it and Kiswahili isn't even though a lot of coastal people speak it?