Talk:Tanzania

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[edit] Kagera

'Ziwa Magharibi' was changed to 'Kagera' many years ago. See for example the official Tanzania government web site: http://www.tanzania.go.tz/regions/kagera/index.html

Rweba 05:57, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)Rweba

[edit] Tsunami?

The line "10 people killed in 2004 Tsunami" appears at the bottom of the History section. I do not believe that this was a significant historical event for Tanzania. Is there any reason for this fact being included, or should it be deleted? yakk 02:57, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)




It's just telling history, it never said it was signifigent.

[edit] Official language

Is their any source, where I can check that really both Swahili and English are official languages in Tanzania? I always thought it was only Swahili, unlike Kenya, where it's both. Marcoscramer 15:52, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

  • Some of them spoke egnlish also—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.98.248.173 (talk • contribs) 23:03, 19 January 2006.

I could not find anything about that on any official government website. The best I could get is information from embassies. There seems be some lack of consession.

  • "The official language is Kiswahili, which is universally spoken .. ,and is the medium of instruction in all primary schools. English is second official language, the country’s commercial language and also the main teaching language for all scientific subjects in secondary schools and higher education institutions..."
Tanzanian Consulate, Australia
Tanzanian Embassy Washington DC

  • ""Swahili is the national and official language while English is the business language."
Tanzania Embassy, Tokyo

  • ""Official language: Kiswahili & English"
Embassy Tanzania in Germany"

  • ""English is the official language of education; administration and business while Swahili is the most widely used language."
Tanzanian Embassy in France

--Ezeu 21:56, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

When i was working as a doctor in Tanzania, Swahili was the National and official language, but we used English in the hospitals as it was used as the language of education for the nurses and doctors, and also to assist the English and foreign doctors working in Tanzania. I think the embassies which have replied above have answered this particular query. Thanks to them for being involved with Wikipedia. --drmike 18:39, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
The important point is, of course, whether English is mentioned in some law to be an official language. I'm fairly sure Swahili is mentioned, as Nyerere made it official language after independence (probably with some law). But I'm not sure whether English is mentioned anywhere apart from in the educational laws (to be medium of instruction in sec. schools and universities). This alone wouldn't make it an official langauge. Marcoscramer 14:37, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Dr. drmike, those replies were not made by the embassies, but retrieved from their websites. That kiswahili is de facto official language is not in dispute. The question is: what are the constitutional official languages of Tanzania? / -Ezeu 19:35, 21 November 2005 (UTC)

The Tanzanian Constitution does not clearly state that Swahili or English is the offical language. In one of the sections about qualities of individuals fit to run for the presidency, it states that he/she must be able to speak swahili or english fluently. The government fully functions in swahili and it is expected to do so. Being that i grew up in Tanzania, every government form and official notice i came across is in swahili, (some government services are provided both in english and swahili, like business license applications etc). English is just widely spoken. For More Info : |Tanzanian Constitution Omoo 22:52, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Given this bit of information, it sounds like de jure no language is official, and de facto just Swahili. So I put it that way in the table. Marcoscramer 20:32, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

An anonymous user changed the official language part back to "Swahili, English" on 10th of March 2006 with the comment "Added official languages, as per the Embassy of Tanzania in Germany". Given the above noticed contradictions between various embassies, we can't consider them trustworthy sources of information. Omoo's comment above seems to suggest that there are no de jure official languages, and only Swahili is de facto official. No one has called into doubt his comment. So I changed this part back to what it said before. Marcoscramer 21:13, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Both English and kiswahili are national and official language but they differ as where u will use one.

Are you intending to say that both are de jure official. Then you need to mention sources. If you agree with User:Omoo:Omoo that there are no de jure official languages in Tanzania, then you supposedly mean that English is de facto official. From the experience that I have of living in Tanzania, I can only agree with Omoo's view, that nowadays only Swahili is really de facto official. The fact that the government fully functions in Swahili and is expected to do so also suggests that only Swahili is de facto official. Marcoscramer 18:19, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New point concerning the official status of English

According to the Tanzanian Swahili A-level textbook "Nadharia ya lugha Kiswahili 1" by J. A. Masebo and N. Nyangwine, English is used in higher courts in Tanzania (i.e. only the courts lowest in the legal hierarchy use Swahili). In order to decide, whether this is enough evidence for English being an official language in Tanzania, we need a precise definition of "official language".

Unfortunately, the English Wikipedia article official language just first states a definition equivalent to "de jure official language", and only later admits that there are also de facto official languages, without giving a precise definition of "official language" that allows for this.

However, the German Wikipedia article about official languages gives a definition that accounts for both de jure and de facto official languages, namely that an official language is a language used by the civil service and in the communication between the civil service and the population. According to this definition, the usage of English in higher courts cannot be considered evidence for English being an official language. However, later the German article says that there is a wider sence of "official language" according to which the language(s) used in courts, in parlament and in writing the laws are also considered official languages. According to the portuguese Wikipedia, this wider sence of "official language" is also the definition for "official language" given by UNESCO.

So should we use the definition that the German Wikipedia considers the main meaning of "official language", or should we use the definition that UNESCO is said to use (the second option only seems sensible if we can confirm that this really is the definition used by UNESCO). What do others think? Marcoscramer 00:29, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] English is co-official language

According to "The Tanzania National Website" English is official language: "Kiswahili and English are the Official languages, however the former is the national language. While Kiswahili is the medium of instructions at primary school level; English is medium at Higher educational levels." Aotearoa from Poland 07:25, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

according to the 1998 edition of the encyclopedia of people and places, theofficial languages are both swhili and englishDizzyizzy 13:27, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A see also section for politician biography

Plus, I would have been happy to read where this guy is coming from [[Freeman Mbowe]

Freeman Mbowe is business man comes from Kilimanjaro area.

[edit] Map

Is there any way to get a better map of Tanzania? I understand wanting to show where in Africa it is, but this map does a horrible job of showing the shape of Tanzania. Especially since at that size, the important island of Zanzibar should be at least a little visible. --Schwael 15:07, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Religion

Shouldn't religion be mentioned somewhere? Tue Jan 17 19:24:49 UTC 200 religion has been mentioned before majorly 3 Christian,muslims and traditional religins.

[edit] History

Does anybody besides me think that Isibingo's [[1]] and [edit|] should be placed in History of Tanzania instead of under History in Tanzania? Darth Panda 18:04, 22 February 2006 (UTC) Please could you include more on Tanzania's history pre-colonisation. The current summary seems rather Euro-centric. Cheers.

Why should isidingo mentioned in history of Tanzania??that is south african series not and never to be part of our history. U can add about the well known leadrs like mkwawa?mangi meli,mangi meza?Mw.J.K nyerere if u want history or how Dar Es Salaam has started

[edit] Corruption and unneccesary government spending?

Short-term economic progress also depends on curbing corruption and cutting on unnecessary public spending

Is government corruption a big problem in Tanzania? I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression that it was one of the better countries in Africa. The citation given regarding an aircraft purchase doesn't really have anything to do with it. Also, 'unnecessay public spending' seems to imply social programs or something of the sort, of which I don't see any evidence.

Yes goverment corruption is a big problem in Tanzania though thats why we have PCB

[edit] grammer mistakes in the article ?? ==

I'm not an expert on the subject but i guess there are certain gramatical mistakes which need to be fixed .. for example i notices a nimber of "has" is hte history subsection which probably has to be replaced with "had" .. experts please do a check on this .

grammar?

I suggest you try editing these yourself--after all that's the purpose of Wikipedia ;) Antonrojo 21:00, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citing sources??

What is the wikipedia community standard about citing sources? The entire section about Economy seems to be lifted verbatim from the CIA World Factbook... here: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tz.html#Econ Tparadis 22:08, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

--Enlight 08:00, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree re sources. This article appears to be rather one-sided in its historical perspective in that it more or less condemns colonialism and fails to mention any of its benefits. There are a great many excellent academic source books on Tanganyika and even on German East Africa. Christchurch 09:51, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

--Anon user 09:51, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Also missing are any reference to sources supporting the "questionable" motives of the World Bank funding, or any sources to support the described decline in life expectancy etc. If such strong statements can't be supported with citations, then I believe they should be removed.

[edit] President and Prime Minister, government and cabinet

I'd like to write on Tanzania's politics to the Finnish Wikipedia. It's hard to understand the text here. Politics of Tanzania says that the President is the head of government, Tanzania says: "The president appoints a prime minister who serves as the government's leader in the National Assembly. The president selects his cabinet from among National Assembly members." So, does "government" refer to the entire National Assembly here, and "cabinet" to the ministers? 81.197.12.28 18:23, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

The president is the Head of State and the Head of Government. The prime minister is the principal assistant to the President, leading the day-to-day functions and affairs of the Government, including the the National Assembly. The National Assembly consists Members of Parliament, and the Cabinet (selected from the National Assembly) are ministers. See the Government website (Public Administration).--Ezeu 18:38, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps this page will be helpful: List of Tanzania National Assembly members. The page shows the members of parliament, their constituencies, and their cabinet positions (if any). The information is presented in alphabetical order by last name, and then again arranged by constituency. Malangali 13:31, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Capital

Which capital is it? Dodoma and Dar es salaam are 2 different cities! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.253.203.94 (talk) 19:45, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Dar es Salaam used to be the capital and is still the biggest city and most important business hub in the country. Dodoma is the capital where the Parliament is established. It is something like Washington D.C.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.98.234.207 (talk • contribs) December 2006.

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on Eastern Africa at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Eastern Africa whose scope would include Tanzania. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:30, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ˌtænzəˈniə

I have asked for a citation with the {{cite}} tag for the pronounciation ˌtænzəˈniə but it keeps being deleated. The reason I ask is that I'm pretty sure the correct pronounciation is actually something like ˈtɑnˌzæniə (probably not quite correct as I'm not good with IPA). This pronounciation also seems more logical to me, given the evolution from Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Anyway... If its correct can we please have a citeation, else find out which is correct and change it. Thanks. 82.32.73.246 05:00, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I've added a reference. --Ezeu 06:57, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
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