Language And Culture

As Senegal is a former French colony, French is the official language and a smattering of the language would certainly be useful but by no means essential.

Generally speaking, in the resort areas, English is now a commonly spoken language and is becoming more prevalent all the time. Of the local tribal languages, Wolof Malinké, Mandinka, and Fula are the most widely spoken. We’ve included a few phrases of Mandinka and Wolof below:

Below are a few common phrases:

Music

Music is a massive presence in the whole of West Africa and particularly Senegal where it enjoys prominent local status but has also broken out and become popular across the world. Artists such as Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour are both hugely respected figures in their native country and recognised performers on the global stage. See our dedicated music page for more information.

Music in Senegal »

Arts

There is a thriving arts scene in Senegal and a huge amount of literature, but mostly it is produced in French or in local languages and rarely translated though it could be said that is slowly starting to change. If you are looking to read some Senegalese literature there are a few exceptions however, with Sembène Ousmane probably the most famous example. His book God’s Bits of Wood is a rightly acclaimed work that details the rise of political consciousness through the story of striking train workers on the Dakar-Bamako line. Ousmane is also a well-respected filmmaker and he adapted one of his own novels, Xala into a film. A more recent novel that is also worth hunting out is Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter.