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SA Sign Language. 0.5%. 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 ...
It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994. [6] 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. [10]
Afrikaans is an official language of the Republic of South Africa and a recognised national language of the Republic of Namibia. Post-apartheid South Africa has seen a loss of preferential treatment by the government for Afrikaans, in terms of education, social events, media (TV and radio), and general status throughout the country, given that ...
Between 1910 and 1961 Dutch was a co-official language of South Africa, together with English. In 1961 Dutch was replaced by Afrikaans as a co-official language. However, between 1925 and 1984 Dutch and Afrikaans were seen as two varieties of the same language by the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925 and later article 119 of the South ...
Zulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, where it is an official language. More than half of the South African population can understand it, with over 13.78 million first-language and over 15 million second-language speakers. [10] Many Zulu people also speak Xitsonga, Sesotho and others from among South Africa's 12 official ...
South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. Almost all South Africans speak English to some degree of proficiency, in addition to their native language, with English acting as a lingua franca in commerce, education, and government. [1] [2] South Africa has eleven official languages, but other indigenous languages are spoken by ...
Xhosa ( / ˈkɔːsə / KAW-sə, / ˈkoʊsə / KOH-sə; [ 5][ 6][ 7] Xhosa pronunciation: [kǁʰóːsa] ), 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]
Sotho ( / sɛˈsuːtuː /) [a] Sesotho, also known as Southern Sotho or Sesotho sa Borwa is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken in Lesotho, and South Africa where it is an official language . Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is an agglutinative language that uses numerous affixes and derivational and ...