Which language to learn?

Hi - its unlikely you will be able to learn any of the tribal languages so Swahili (Kiswahili as it is known in Tanzania) is probably your best bet although you will find that in many of the educated communities English (rather heavily accented) is widely spoken. Not sure if this will help !! Good luck and I hope you enjoy your time in Uganda.

I applaud your wish to learn the language but English is, as above, very widely spoken throughout Uganda being the offical language (all children are taught in English)

Therefore if you are wishing to travel round the region and want a language then I would suggest Swahili as being the most widely spoken and understood

I agree with above, English is spoken all over Uganda, probably the place where english is spoken least is in the Buganda region. I have a limited knowledge of swahili but found it usefull in more rural places like up north and West nile province and especially in the east of UG. Luganda would be more usefull in the capital.

You can buy cheap phrase books for swahili and Luganda at many places in Kampala I bought a luganda phrase book from a women hawking them on the pavement outside the main post office. I find swahili easier than Luganda.Have you seen this website it may help.

http://www.buganda.com/phrssmlt.htm

yes all you need is English in Uganda.

I haven't met anyone who didn't understand English in Kampala. And even if you wanted to learn another language, I don't think you'll find much use for Swahili in Kampala. But as bigal said, if you'd like to travel the region then Swahili is king. I once crossed the Zambian-Malawian border at Chipata in a taxi and my fellow passengers were a Ug businessman, an mzee from Eastern DRC and a Malawian lady (I'm guessing from the north) and all of us were speaking to one another in Swahili. I thought it was pretty cool.

Some of you guys are missing the point of the OP - he WANTS to learn a local language. I'm sure he/she knows English is widely spoken and understood and isn't asking because he's worried about surviving. I

t's great that you're interested, and in my experience it's always fun and very much appreciated by locals when you can speak a local language or dialect. It's great in Uganda because you can speak English if you have to, so there's no pressure to communicate, but using some Swahili is great fun and the locals will be extremely happy and appreciative.

I'd pick swahili, particularly if you want to arrive already knowing something. There are loads of tribal and local languages all over Uganda, and it's very difficult to get proper training in those ones unless you're on the ground there, or if you can find someone in your community where you live now (which is possible, but tricky). There's way more info on Swahili to be found at home so you can arrive already with some knowledge.

I've used the "Teach Yourself" series before for Hindi and Farsi, and they're quite decent. I think they have a Swahili course too. Get some of that under your belt then put an add on Craigslist for a Swahili tutor. You can probably find someone from East Africa (I don't know where you live now, mind you) and get him/her to teach you expressions that are local so you'll actually be saying things the way people in the area do (that's important).

When I was in Uganda I had about 25 phrases and questions in Swahili: "How are you?", "Where do you live?" "What's your name?" that I used on the kids, and I could also ask for places to find food and drinks, hotels, etc. I never ever found myself in a place or situation where no one spoke English, so speaking Swahili was mainly for fun. But it was well worth it, and people got a huge kick out of it and were always happy to teach me new words and phrases (another good one to learn is, "What's this called in Swahili?" as you point to this and that). It's rare that travelers bother to learn Swahili or any other local language, so you'll make a good impression on people and be a good ambassador.

Have fun! You're on the right track in my opinion.

Although Swahili is similar to the Uganadan local language the only people that speak Swahili in Uganda or are taught it are the guys in the military. As everyone said English is readily avail

thanks to all of you for your answers!

maybe i expressed myself a bit wrong: i know that english is the spoken language in uganda (and i´m able to speak it quite well), i just wanna learn swahili for fun and to be able to communicate and get along with locals in a better way than the "normal tourist" does. so arjwilson got me totally right!
I am probably going to learn (ki-)swahili, but will live in kampala... will the locals be able to understand me? or just, when i travel through the country and visit other regions?

Best greetings,
Adrian

To be honest I do not know how many people will speak Swahili in any one area however do not worry as i am certain you will find some that do