"Most Mambay speakers are proficient in at least one other language. The most common languages of multilingualism are (in order of decreasing frequency) Fulfulde (the language of the Fulbe), French and Mundang. Proficiency in Hausa and Arabic, two other languages of multilingualism, is limited to a small minority of men... In the Mambay language area, as throughout most of Northern Cameroon, the dominance of Fulfulde is an inescapable part of the sociolinguistic equilibrium ... it has steadily increased among the Mambay, with the possible exception of the last decade, since the ethnic community has begun to show interest in the preservation of their language... Even in interethnic encounters involving groups other than Fulbe, Fulfulde is almost always used as a language of wider communication. Proficiency in French is, unsurprisingly, correlated to level of education in the Frenchlanguage school systems of Cameroon and Chad. ... Interestingly, proficiency in additional languages is also correlated to religious adherence. The Mambay view Fulfulde as an Islamic language, and while Arabic is used for prayer, imams in the area use Fulfulde for religious teaching; use of Mambay (or any language other than Arabic or Fulfulde) is discouraged for Muslims in religious contexts. Because of this, Mambay who are Muslim tend to be more proficient in Fulfulde than those who are Christian... In contrast, Mambay who consider themselves Christian (particularly those who are Protestant) generally have a higher level of proficiency in Mundang than those who are Muslim. This is particularly true of Mambay Christians living on the Chad side of the border because until recently, Mundang was the primary language used there in Christian celebrations. Finally, geographic proximity to other language areas is related to multilingualism: proficiency in Mundang is more common in Chad, where the Mambay and Mundang language areas are adjacent to one another... Languages other than Mambay are used primarily in situations where members of other ethnic groups are present, and in domains where written languages are used. Among Mambay speakers, the only place where another language is used in an oral domain is in conversation in and around the mosque."