The Swahili language or Kiswahili is a Bantu language and the mother tongue of the Swahili people. It is spoken by various communities inhabiting the African Great Lakes region and other parts of Southeast Africa; including Tanzania; Kenya; Uganda; Rwanda; Burundi; Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The closely related Comorian language; spoken in the Comoros Islands; is sometimes considered a Swahili dialect.

Swahili is currently written in a slightly changed alphabet using the Latin script. The language had previously been written in the Arabic script. Unlike adaptations of the Arabic script for other languages; relatively little accommodation was made for Swahili.