Languages of South Africa

Which are the offical languages of South Africa? The South Africans have eleven official languages.

You might have heard that South Africa is the country with most official languages in the world and will wonder what the official languages in South Africa will be.

So here they are the eleven official languages of South Africa and the South African provinces where the languages are mainly spoken.

Official South African Languages

• Afrikaans: in all provinces however less common in KwaZuluNatal and the Eastern Cape

• IsiZulu: KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng

• isiXhosa: Eastern Cape and Western Cape

• isiNdebele: Mpumalanga

• siSwati: Mpumalanga

• Sepedo or Sesotho sa Leboa: Limpopo

• Tshivenda: Limpopo

• Xitsonga: Limpopo

• Sesotho: Free State

• Setswana: North West

IsiZulu is the most widely spoken African language in South Africa and as it is close enough to isiXhosa most of the South Africans can understand each other when speaking either one of these two languages.

These two South African languages isiZulu and isiXhosa as well as isiNdebele and siSwati two languages which are spoken in Mpumalanga are termed Nguni languages as they are spoken by the Nguni people to which the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele tribes belong to.

Read more about the different people of South Africa here.

As overwhelming it seems to communicated with so many different people, rest assured that you will not have to learn all these South African languages when travelling through South Africa.

In fact these eleven languages might be the official languages but that many more languages can be heard and are used in the big South African cities. You will encounter many people who also speak other languages like French, German or Portuguese. And I do not mean these languages are spoken in South Africa only by tourists or travelers, but South African residents.

There are many immigrants, foreigners and expats living in the cosmopolitan cities and so you will find many different European languages here too. And in shops or on the streets not only the parking guards for example will come from African countries and speak better French or Portuguese or any other language than any of the official South African languages.

Home languages of South Africa

Young people all can speak English or Afrikaans as these two languages of South Africa are the first languages which usually are taught at school. There is a lot of discussion to include more of the African languages as language of instruction in the South African primary and secondary schools to improve the language outcome of the children.

Zulu and Xhosa are the most widely spoken home languages in South Africa, which Afrikaans following with a much smaller percentage of speakers in regards to homelanguage use.

Read more about the languages in South Africa here.

South African Language Fun Facts

…that South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and former president Thabo Mbeki both belong to the Xhosa speaking people and come from the Eastern Cape, while Jacob Zuma belongs to the amaZulu who live mainly in KwaZulu Natal?

…that the South African click sounds which made Miriam Makeba an international star with her famous "Click song" are a distinct characteristic of the Xhosa language where there are three different click sounds. Listen to Miriam Makeba's Click Song here.

…that Sign Language is the 12th unofficial language of South Africa. More than half a million South African use the South African Sign Language SASL. More info about Association for the Deaf in KwaZulu Nataland info on Sign Language and the Carel du Toit Centre in Cape Town

… that there is also the Taxi Sign Language. The taxi industry published a little handbook for commuters with hand signs to help with giving information about specific destinations. Have a look at this most interesting and funny video about the Taxi Sign Language.

Some South African Greetings

Hello • molo (greeting one person), molweni greeting a group of people (isiXhosa), sawubona (isiZulu) • dumela (Sepedi, SeSotho and Setswana) • hallo (Afrikaans)

Good Bye • sala kakuhle (isiXhosa) • hambe kahle (isiZulu) • gabotse (Sepedi) • sala hantle (Sesotho) • sala sentle (Setswana) • totsiens (Afrikaans)

How are you? • kunjani? (isiXhosa, isiZulu) • kae? (Sepedi, Setswana) • phela jwang? (o phela jwang) • hoe gaan dit? (Afrikaans)

Yes • Ewe (isiXhosa) • Yebo (isiZulu) • Ee (Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana) • Ja (Afrikaans)

Thank you • Enkosi (isiXhosa) • Ngiyabonga (isiZulu) • Ke la leboga (Sepedi) • Dankie (Afrikaans)

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