English is spoken widely and is the accepted language in the cities, hotels, restaurants etc. However, as well as numerous tribal languages, Kenya has its own lingua franca - Swahili or Kiswahili. Although the language is slowly dying away and very few still speak it competently. Swahili has its origin at the Coast. Although you can manage perfectly well without knowing any Swahili, the following words and phrases will be useful. Swahili grammars are available in all local bookshops.