How is English in South Africa?

South Africa has 1 1 official languages, namely English, Afrikan, Zulu, Xhosa, Spedy, Tswana, Soto, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda and Ndebele.

The number of native speakers of English is not the largest, but many people know English. According to the census, the five main languages in South Africa are Zulu (30%), Xhosa (18%), Alveley Kan (14%), Spedy (9%) and English (9%).

English and South African

South African English has its distinctive features. Due to the absorption of some words from African and local languages, South African English has a very rich vocabulary and is different from British English and American English in pronunciation and usage. English is the most important language in South Africa's politics, business and media.

Among the whites living in South Africa, only South African whites have been born and raised in Africa for generations. Their ancestors in South Africa can be traced back to more than 65,438+00 generations, but it is difficult to tell which country they are descended from. If we must define it, we can say that their ancestors came from other countries except Britain, mainly Holland, Germany and France. Although Alveley Kan originated from the Germanic language family in Europe, Alveley Kan developed entirely on the African continent.

Most South Africans whose mother tongue is Afrikaans are not white but mixed-race. Afrikan is a mixture of French and German with English and African native languages on the basis of Dutch. From the late19th century, South African whites took this language as their ideological weapon and skin color as their external distinguishing feature, and established a culture of racial discrimination in South Africa.

Four mother tongue languages in South Africa

Due to the intermingling and mixing of tribes, African native languages have become extremely complicated. Generally speaking, the nine main native languages in South Africa are composed of four major language families, namely Ng'Uni (including Ndebele, Swazi, Xhosa and Zulu), Soto (North Soto or Spadi, South Soto and Tswana), Conga and Venda.

Among the nine major languages, there are about 90 dialects, but most black South Africans can communicate with each other in several of them.

A brief introduction to the main ethnic groups and languages of blacks

Xhosa: Xhosa people, also known as Cape ancient clay figurines, mainly live in eastern cape. Traditionally, they lived by hunting, grazing and farming. The Xhosa people are divided into different tribes, each tribe is relatively independent, and each tribe has an authoritative chief. Xhosa is based on the dialects of Dayu River, Keskama River and Buffalo River basins in Keska.

Before the16th century, when the Xhosa tribe moved westward along the coast, they met the Koi people and were influenced by the Koi language, from which the clang of Xhosa language came.

Xhosa is also the mother tongue of former South African President nelson mandela. Mandela's father used to be the chief of the Xhosa tribe, and he was an adviser to the king (the great chief). Before the death of the old king, the new king was highly recommended by Mandela's father, so the new king took Mandela home after his father died, treated him as his own, and supported him to go to college.

The black people in West Cape Province, especially Cape Town, also speak Xhosa as their mother tongue.

Zulu:/kloc-Before the 6th century, Zulu was a small tribe still living in Baiumfruze Valley (now KwaZulu natal province). 18 18, Xiaka became the chief of this small tribe. After improving his weapons and tactics, he fought everywhere and established a powerful Zulu kingdom.

Zulu ancestors lived on the east coast, and most of them are still concentrated in KwaZulu-natal province. Zulu is greatly influenced by English and Alveley Kan in vocabulary, and basically forms a relatively unified language, and Zulu spoken in different places is similar. /kloc-In the 1950s of 0/9, the written Zulu language was born, and it has its own writing since then. Today, Zulu has become the most important native language in South Africa. KwaZulu natal province, eastern Orange Free Province, Mpuranga Province and gauteng province are the mother tongues of most blacks, and about120,000 people in South Africa can speak Zulu.

Ndebele:

The North Ndebele ethnic group originated from Zimbabwe (together with the Shona ethnic group constitute the two major ethnic groups in Zimbabwe), and its language is mixed with Swahili and influenced by Soto, Afrikan and English. North Ndebele people live in Bleteau in northern Liberia.

The South Ndebele nationality originated in Natal and moved to Pretoria before the Dutch immigrated to South Africa in 1650. However, its characters appeared late, and few books have been published so far. There is little difference between Ndebele and Zulu, and 95% of the words are the same.

There are many dialects in Spedy and sotos Spedy, and about 2.5 million people speak Soto, mainly in the North West Province. About 300 years ago, the kingdom of Petty was established, which was later called North Soto. Most people who speak this language are concentrated in Lebowa homeland. South Soto or Sesoto is the main dialect of Quwa Quwa in the Free Province of Orange.

By the middle of18th century, Soto's written language was established with the help of French missionaries, so it was influenced by English and Afrikaans, and its vocabulary included French words.

The differences among Spadi, Sesoto and Tswana are more due to political and historical reasons, and there is little difference from the linguistic point of view.

Sesoto is mainly distributed in the Free Province of Orange, parts of gauteng province, the border area between eastern cape and Lesotho, and Lesotho countries.

Switzerland

Swazi and Swazi in neighboring countries belong to the same ethnic group, and they have certain independence compared with other black ethnic groups in South Africa. The King of Swaziland is their spiritual leader. Swazi live near the Swaziland border.

tswanas

Tswana is not only one of the official languages of South Africa, but also the main official language of Botswana, its northern neighbor. Since17th century, Tswana people have been at war, sometimes merging and sometimes separating, sometimes being ruled and sometimes winning independence.

1840, the New Testament was translated into Tswana, which was one of the earliest books in Tswana.

There are many dialects in Tswana. Geographically, this language is the most widely distributed in southern Africa. In addition to Botswana, it is used in northern cape, Free Province and Northwest Province.

Jia Cong

Tsonga is also widely used. It is the main language in Mozambique, and English is also spoken in northeast South Africa and parts of Zimbabwe. South Africa's Tsonga language is a mixture of primitive Tsonga and Zulu.

Wenda

Wenda first lived in Zimbabwe, and crossed limpopo river to South Africa around 1730. Now he lives in Limpopo province (northern province), and Wenda dialect is slightly different.

South African Language Management Committee

1996 The South African Constitution clearly stipulates that everyone has the right to choose his own language for communication and participation in social and cultural life. 1 1 Official languages have equal status. National and provincial governments can choose according to the actual situation, but at least two official languages are needed. Despite the above provisions, most government departments use English more when communicating and publishing documents.

In order to promote the use of official languages in South Africa and prevent language discrimination, South Africa has established a Language Management Committee, whose main responsibility is to create conditions to promote all official languages, Khoisan and body language on the basis of research, and to receive relevant complaints.