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It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994. [5] According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili. [a] Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet. In South African English, the language is often referred to in its native form, isiZulu. [9]
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.
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 Nguni language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. [8]
There are eleven official names of South Africa, [1] one in each of its 12 official languages. The number is surpassed only by India. The number is surpassed only by India. These languages include English , Afrikaans , the Nguni languages ( Zulu , Xhosa , Ndebele , and Swazi ), the Sotho-Tswana languages ( Tswana , Sotho , and Pedi ), Venda ...
Map of South Africa showing the primary Xhosa language speech area in green. Xhosa is an agglutinative tonal language categorized under Bantu linguistic classification. While the Xhosas call their language "isiXhosa", it is usually referred to as "Xhosa" in English. Written Xhosa uses a Latin alphabet–based system.
South Africa is a culturally and ethnically diverse country with twelve official languages and a population known for its multilingualism. [1] Mixing languages in everyday conversations, social media interactions, and musical compositions is a common practice.
Southern Transvaal Ndebele is one of the eleven official languages in the Republic of South Africa. The language is a Nguni or Zunda classification (UN) spoken mostly in the Mpumalanga Province, Gauteng, Limpopo and the Northwest. The expression isikhethu can be loosely translated to mean 'the Southern Ndebele way of doing or saying'.
Fanagalo, or Fanakalo, is a vernacular or pidgin based primarily on Zulu with input from English and a small amount of Afrikaans. [3] It is used as a lingua franca, mainly in the gold, diamond, coal and copper mining industries in South Africa and to a lesser extent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.