Speaking Zulu in South Africa

Hi everyone,

It is widely agreed that speaking Zulu is essential for a successful integration in South Africa. Do you agree? Share your experience!

Do you speak Zulu? If so, where did you learn this language? Where can one attend a language course in South Africa?

If not, how do you cope with daily activities? Is it easy to communicate in a different language with South Africans?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Priscilla

Hi how are     you  i do speak zulu but you can say 25 percent  but what should u know is english the rest u will know with time

Hi Priscilla

Yes i do speak Isizulu. I found it easy to learn because i was teaching in Umlazi a location in Durban

where you find only Zulu speaking people. It took me about 6 months to understand then after a year i

could speak.

Hi Priscilla. Please note there are 11 official languages in South Africa. But on my opinion the main language is English. I personally live in Johannesburg. I have traveled to different parts of the country. I spoke English everywhere. Of course it will be a beneficial for you to speak any other additional official language. But you still need to speak English. It's also the most common language in work environment. Good luck!

Zulu is one of the top African languages.i learnt Zulu at home as my country has historical ties with RSA and Zulu.Its not difficult to learn.the shortest way of learning a language is to stay among the Zulu speaking people for about 6 months or less.its just an african language which shares linguistical with other african launguages in southern,east,central and west africa.

i speak Zulu when the situation or environment demands.i feel so happy when i talk Zulu as one of the top African languages.South africa has other languages,depending on area.its one of the languages of which Africaaners  were learning at School,

Hi ,
Not really. Everyone know English here whether it's plumber,carpenter or house keepers.

Local language is v difficult to learn but it's must in school for kids to learn basic.

Regards
Goshika

speaking zulu is good for a successful integration of south africa.this is partly true and partly untrue because south africa is divied along linguistic regions and each region specialises its own language like .but the economic hubs of SA are Zulu/ndebele /xhosa oriented.you need to appreciate other languages like shangani,siphedi,xhosa,sesuthu,africaans  and venda.but english has become the universal source of communication.but if you know africaans you stand a chance of getting employed by the africaans speaking communities or companies etc.

i think the approach is to learn a language as you are on a particular region,etc

Not necessarily it depends in which part of the country you are in.In some part they cannot speak Zulu at all.You can get away with speaking English.It is more tolerated if you are white than black.

As a rule of thumb anywhere in the world local lingo makes life easy

It depend with the province you wish to vistit, they are a lot of languages in south africa

Well Zulu is the most common local language, however in SA people are very flexible. Zulus appreciate Sipedi, SiSuthu, Tswana, Venda etc. No wonder its not strenuous for locals to interact, if you want to learn there are many places indeed and if you want to learn better just interact :)

Hi Priscilla,

English is the most common in all areas. Even thou there are 11 official languages but depending the area you are in one may be more prevalent. English you will get by just fine. Althou SA is my adopted home (my mother tongue is Spanish) I find people appreciate you learning their language if nothing else, greetings, thank you, some basic phrases. No matter what country people appreciate the effort you wanting to learn a little of their culture. In the end we are more alike than we are unalike. I myself know a little Afrikaans, and a litte isiXhosa. Just give it a try.