We are a multi-lingual country. Besides the 11 officially recognised languages, there are scores of others, because South Africa is the crossroads of southern Africa.

South Africa's Constitution recognises and guarantees equal status to 11 official languages to cater for the country’s diverse peoples and their cultures – so preserving our much-cherished heterogeneity. The 11 languages are:

• Sesotho sa Leboa
• Sesotho
• Setswana
• SiSwati
• Tshivenda
• Xitsonga
• Afrikaans
• English
• isiNdebele
• isiXhosa
• isiZulu

However, most of us speak English, so you'll have little trouble communicating.

Although English is generally understood across the country, it ranks only fifth as a spoken language. According to the 1996 Census, isiZulu is the mother tongue of 22.9% of South Africa's estimated 40 million people, followed by isiXhosa at 17.9%, Afrikaans at 14.4%, Sesotho sa Leboa at 9.2%, and English at 8.6%.

When we do speak "proper" English, it's the British rather than the American variety of English – although this is slowly changing, with many younger people being influenced by television and cinema.

IsiZulu, isiXhosa, SiSwati and isiNdebele are collectively referred to as the Nguni languages, and have a lot of similarities in syntax and grammar. The Sotho languages - Setswana, Sesotho sa Leboa and Sesotho - also have much in common.

According to historical data, many of South Africa's indigenous tribes share a common ancestry. But as groupings and clans broke up in search of autonomy and greener pastures for their livestock, variations of the common languages evolved.

Afrikaans - initially spoken by descendants of the Dutch settlers, and similar in character to Dutch and Flemish - is no longer the exclusive language of Afrikaners. According to Statistics South Africa, the majority of South Africans who speak Afrikaans as their first language are not white.

A lingua franca called Tsotsi taal is also widely spoken, especially in urban areas, mainly by males. It is a hybrid of Afrikaans, English and black languages, and developed in urban areas to make communication easier among the different language groups. It is a dynamic language, with new words and phrases being invented on a regular basis.

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