Which language is the most popular in South Africa?
isiZulu
As of 2018, the languages most commonly spoken by individuals inside of South African households were isiZulu at 25.3 percent, isiXhosa at 14.8 percent and Afrikaans at 12.2 percent respectively.
What is the most common first language in Africa?
1. SWAHILI. The most spoken language in Africa is Swahili which is said to have between 100 and 150 million speakers. Known as a ‘Bantu’ language, Swahili apparently originated from other languages like Arabic.
What is the most common 1st language?
When tallied according to number of native speakers only, these are the most spoken languages in the world.
- Chinese — 1.3 Billion Native Speakers.
- Spanish — 471 Million Native Speakers.
- English — 370 Million Native Speakers.
- Hindi — 342 Million Native Speakers.
- Arabic — 315 Million Native Speakers.
Which language is mostly spoken in South Africa 2021?
IsiZulu
IsiZulu is South Africa’s biggest language, spoken by almost a quarter (23%) of the population. Our other official languages are isiXhosa (spoken by 16%), Afrikaans (13.5%), English (10%), Sesotho sa Leboa (9%), Setswana and Sesotho (both 8%), Xitsonga (4.5%), siSwati and Tshivenda (both 2.5%), and isiNdebele (2%).
How common is English in South Africa?
English is spoken by 8.1% of individuals at home, making it the sixth most common home language in South Africa. English is, however, the second most commonly spoken language outside the household (16.6%) after isiZulu (25.1%), and preceding.
Who speaks Afrikaans?
| Afrikaans | |
|---|---|
| Native to | South Africa, Namibia |
| Ethnicity | Afrikaners Basters Cape Coloureds Cape Malay Griqua |
| Native speakers | 7.2 million (2016) 10.3 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2002) |
| Language family | Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Weser-Rhine Germanic Low Franconian Dutch (Hollandic dialect) Afrikaans |
Where is Afrikaans spoken?
Like several other South African languages, Afrikaans is a cross-border language spanning sizeable communities of speakers in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. In South Africa and Namibia it’s spoken across all social indices, by the poor and the rich, by rural and urban people, by the under-educated and the educated.
Which countries speak Swahili?
With its origin in East Africa, Swahili speakers spread over more than 14 countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros, and as far as Oman and Yemen in the Middle East.
What is the most spoken first language in the world 2021?
Mandarin Chinese – 920 Million Native Speakers The languages that takes the number 1 place in our list and therefore, the most spoken language in the world is, by far, Mandarin Chinese.
Does everyone in South Africa speak Afrikaans?
Afrikaans is home language of 2.7-million white South Africans, or about six in every 10 (60.8%) white people. Next up is English, the first language of 1.6-million white South Africans. Three or four (35.9%) of every 10 white South Africans speak English at home.