Akan (Twi)

Akan is the most widely spoken language of Ghana, and its best-known form, Twi, is the one you will hear in the markets of Kumasi and Accra, on Ghanaian radio and in the lyrics of highlife and azonto. Around half of all Ghanaians speak it as a first language and most of the rest understand it, which makes it the closest thing the country has to a common tongue after English.

Twi is tonal and uses two letters English does not have, ɛ and ɔ, but its grammar is pleasantly regular: the verb never changes, and the pronoun and a small time marker are simply glued to the front of it. Culture is woven into the basics. Every Akan child is named for the day of the week they were born, and the reply to a greeting depends on who greeted you, so even your first words carry real meaning.