Several indigenous African languages are spoken by about half of the population, much more in rural than in urban settings.

French is taught in schools as foreign language, because Guinea-Bissau is surrounded by French-speaking countries and is a full member of the Francophonie as well as the Lusophone CPLP.

As summary of his 2021 dissertation, João Fernando Cá states: Guinea-Bissau Creole "is in a process of continuous change as the society where it is spoken changes, detaching itself from its old modality and getting closer and closer to its base language, Portuguese, which gave way to the so-called Modern Guinean [creole language] which is more present in the speech of the young and literate people.

"[4] Guinea-Bissau Creole is closely related to Cape Verdean Creole and the process of decreolization that occurs in Cape Verde in many aspects is similar the same process in Guinea-Bissau.

Native languages include Balanta, Fula, Mandjak, Mandinka, Jola, and Papel.