Hausa
West Africa's most widely spoken first language.
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About Hausa
Hausa (Harshen Hausa) is the most spoken first language in West Africa and one of Africa's most important trade languages — used across markets from Kano to Kumasi and from Niamey to N'Djamena. It is a Chadic language, part of the wider Afro-Asiatic family that also includes Arabic, Hebrew and Amharic.
Hausa uses both the Latin script (Boko) and an Arabic-based script (Ajami). Linguistic Quest teaches the Boko script first because it is the form children encounter in modern schoolbooks and on the web, while celebrating Ajami as part of the language's heritage.
The Hausa-speaking world has a rich tradition of poetry, cinema (Kannywood) and music — and a long diaspora presence across Sudan, Saudi Arabia and the UK.
Greetings in Hausa are layered — health, family, sleep, work, each is asked in turn. Rushing through a greeting is considered brusque.
A handful of Hausa to take away
These appear across our puzzles — every word in the app is paired with a translation and a spoken voice.
- •Learn vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and their long forms. Vowel length changes meaning in Hausa.
Pick a theme to play
Each theme gathers 40–80 words, phrases and idioms. Every puzzle type teaches the same vocabulary in a different way — children absorb the words faster because they meet them again and again from new angles.
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