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The most common language spoken as a first language by South Africans is Zulu (23%), followed by Xhosa (16%), and Afrikaans (14%). English is the fourth most common first language in the country (9.6%), but is understood in most urban areas and is the dominant language in government and the media.
Venḓa or Tshivenḓa is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people (or Vhavenḓa) in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as by some Lemba people in South Africa. The Tshivenda language is related to the Kalanga language which is spoken in Southern ...
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken widely in South Africa and Namibia, and to a lesser extent in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular [ 17 ] [ 18 ] of South Holland ( Hollandic dialect ) [ 19 ] [ 20 ] spoken by the mainly Dutch colonists of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop ...
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]
South Africa's unique social and political history has generated a rich variety of literatures, with themes spanning pre-colonial life, the days of apartheid, and the lives of people in the "new South Africa". Many of the first black South African print authors were missionary-educated, and many wrote in either English or Afrikaans.
The South African census of 1960 was the final census undertaken in the Union of South Africa. The ethno-linguistic status of some 15,994,181 South African citizens was projected by various sources through sampling language, religion, and race. At least 1.6 million South Africans were white Afrikaans speakers, or 10% of the total population.
The second language movement arose after the defeat of the Boers in the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1902. Spreading from the Cape Province, it led to the ascendancy of Afrikaans over Dutch and replaced the latter as the medium of instruction in schools, the language of the Dutch Reformed churches and ultimately the co-official language of South Africa in 1925.
The term San is now standard in South African, and used officially in the blazon of the national coat-of-arms. The "South African San Council" representing San communities in South Africa was established as part of WIMSA in 2001. [27] [28] The term Basarwa (singular Mosarwa) is used for the San collectively in Botswana.