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Ditema tsa Dinoko (Sesotho for "Ditema syllabary"), also known as ditema tsa Sesotho, is a constructed writing system (specifically, a featural syllabary) for the siNtu or Southern Bantu languages (such as Sesotho, Setswana, IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, SiSwati, SiPhuthi, Xitsonga, EMakhuwa, ChiNgoni, SiLozi, ChiShona and Tshivenḓa).
While best known in South Africa, "Senzeni Na?" has gained some popularity overseas. The song was sung at the funeral scene in the anti‐apartheid film The Power of One [9] as well as during the opening credits of the film In My Country, and a recording of the song as sung at the funeral of Steve Biko can be heard at the end of the album version of "Biko" by Peter Gabriel. [10]
Xhosa (/ ˈ k ɔː s ə / KAW-sə or / ˈ k oʊ s ə / ⓘ KOH-sə, [5] [6] [7] Xhosa: [ᵏǁʰôːsa] ⓘ), formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its local name isiXhosa, is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. [8]
At least thirty-five languages are spoken in South Africa, twelve of which are official languages of South Africa: Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, South African Sign Language, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, and English, which is the primary language used in parliamentary and state discourse, though all official languages are equal in legal status.
In 1996, a shortened, combined version of the two compositions was released as the new national anthem of South Africa under the constitution of South Africa and was adopted the following year. This version uses several of the official languages of South Africa. The first two lines of the first stanza are sung in Xhosa and the last two in Zulu.
More information on the song can be found in Makeba's book The World of African Song (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971), including the following translation: "The doctor of the road is the beetle / He climbed past this way / They say it is the beetle / Oh! It is the beetle."
For example: Ek moet die video pause (Eng pro.) omdat ons nou op pause (Afr pro.) gaan. (I have to pause the video because we're going on recess now.) praat 'n gat innie kop – lit. "speaking a hole in someone's head". To strongly convince someone to agree with you. praatsiek – lit. "talk sick." Verbal diarrhea. A person who talks non-stop.
Tsotsitaal, the original variety, is based on Afrikaans, in which were originally added SeTswana terms, and later terms from IsiXhosa, IsiZulu and other South African languages. Tsotsitaal spread first as a criminal cant , as it had the power of ensuring secrecy when speaking: initially only criminals could understand it.