South Africa: Language Barriers

Communication is something that is extremely important to travelers, so it is good to know what different types of languages there are in a particular country. English and Afrikaans were the official languages of South Africa until there was a change in political disposition in 1994. (Also bear in mind that Afrikaans was regarded as the language of the old oppressive Nationalist Government pre 1994 and therefore even trying to say a few words to the locals in this language may be regarded as offensive. Best advice is to keep to English if the person is a complete stranger).

9 more languages were added to the official list in 1994.

There are 11 official languages in South Africa.

You can learn more about each language by clicking their links below.

• Afrikaans
• English
• IsiNdebele
• IsiXhosa
• IsiZulu
• Sepedi
• Sesotho
• Setswana
• SiSwati
• Tshivenda
• Xitsonga

If you are an American traveling to South Africa, don’t be overwhelmed by all of the official languages. Most South Africans, particularly in urban areas, are conversant in English.

Here you can find a light-hearted take on the differences between American English words and South African English words.

Remember, a smile translates in any language!

Have you ever been in a situation where language barriers were a problem? Tell us about it. What happened and how did it work out?