Languages of Chad

{{Short description|none}}

{{Languages of

| country = Chad

|image= Faculté de droit et sciences économiques - université de N'Djaména (2019).png

|caption=Signage in French and Arabic at the University of N'Djamena

| official = Arabic, French

|vernacular=Français populaire africain, Chadian Arabic

| indigenous = Chadic languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Adamawa languages

| foreign = English

| sign = Nigerian Sign Language

|keyboard =French AZERTY

|keyboard image = 200px

}}

{{Culture of Chad}}

Chad has two official languages, Arabic and French, and over 120 indigenous languages. A vernacular version of Arabic, Chadian Arabic, is a lingua franca and the language of commerce, spoken by 40–60% of the population.{{cite web |url=https://www.graphicmaps.com/chad/languages |title=Chad's Languages - GraphicMaps.com |website=www.graphicmaps.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706161936/https://www.graphicmaps.com/chad/languages |archive-date=2020-07-06}} The two official languages have fewer speakers than Chadian Arabic.{{Citation needed|reason=Ethnologue reported that French was understood by 1.5 million citizens in 2016, whereas Chadian Arabic was only understood by 1.4 million citizens in 2015 (and rising). Not seen a recent source that shows which language is more widely spoken. Original source in edit history was from 2003.|date=April 2021}} Standard Arabic is spoken by around 615,000 speakers. French is widely spoken in the main cities such as N'Djamena and by most men in the south of the country. Most schooling is in French.{{Cite web|url=https://www.expat-quotes.com/guides/chad/education/international-schools-in-chad.htm#:~:text=The%20educational%20system%20is%20patterned,secondary%20education%20(six%20years).|title = International Schools in Chad}} The language with the most first-language speakers is probably Ngambay, with around one million speakers.{{cite web|url=http://morkegbooks.com/Services/World/Languages/SaraBagirmi|title=Sara Bagirmi Languages Project|first=John M.|last=Keegan|year=2017}}

In April 2005 Chad joined the Arab League as an observer, before submitting an application to join the Arab League as a member state on 25 March 2014, Middle East Monitor: [https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20140412-south-sudan-and-chad-apply-to-join-the-arab-league South Sudan and Chad apply to join the Arab League], 12 April 2014, retrieved 6 May 2017 which was still pending in 2025.

Chadian Sign Language is a variant of Nigerian Sign Language, a dialect of American Sign Language; Andrew Foster introduced ASL in the 1960s, and Chadian teachers for the deaf train in Nigeria.