The Teso, or Iteso, are an ethnic group in eastern
Uganda and western Kenya. Now they are looking for ways to preserve their language Ateso.
According to the 2002 Uganda population and housing census, over 1.57 million people in Uganda spoke Ateso. Also an estimated 279,000 people in
Kenya speak it. In spite of this number of total speakers, the UN cultural body Unesco put
Ateso on the list of the languages which are in danger of disappearing.
Ateso has taken a number of loanwords, primarily from English, Swahili, and other Bantu languages.
