108 km away
The youth vernacular of urban Kenya, especially Nairobi. A code-mixed register drawing on Swahili, English, and various Kenyan languages.
Maasai
Also known as: Maa, Olmaa
A Nilotic language spoken by the Maasai people across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Closely related to Samburu and Camus within the Maa cluster.
Shareable facts
Want a Maasai app?
Vote and we'll prioritise it. Top-voted dialects move up the roadmap. One vote per email.
Frequently asked questions
What language is Maasai?
Maasai is a dialect of the Maasai language.
Where is Maasai spoken?
Maasai is primarily spoken in Kenya, Tanzania.
Which region is Maasai associated with?
Maasai is part of the East & Southern Africa region on DialectAtlas.
Is Maasai known by other names?
Yes — Maasai is also referred to as Maa, Olmaa.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →140 km away
A Bantu language and the largest indigenous language of Kenya, spoken across the central highlands around Mount Kenya. Around 8 million speakers.
163 km away
A Bantu language of south-eastern Kenya, closely related to Kikuyu. Around 4 million speakers across Machakos, Kitui, and Makueni counties.
164 km away
A Western Nilotic language of the Luo people of western Kenya around Lake Victoria. Related to Acholi and to the Dinka and Nuer of South Sudan.
320 km away
A click-language isolate spoken by the Hadza hunter-gatherers around Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania. Fewer than 1,000 speakers; no demonstrated genetic relationship to any other language.
367 km away
A Bantu language and the largest indigenous language of Tanzania by first-language speakers, used across the Lake Victoria region around Mwanza. Around 8 million speakers.