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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Zulu

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Zulu

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The Zulu language is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages, and the second most-spoken language in the 250-member Bantu language group. Using the Latin alphabet, Zulu is especially noted for its click consonants. Referred to by Zulu speakers as isiZulu, it is the native language of the Zulu people with more than 10 million speakers worldwide. The vast majority live in South Africa. Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Zulu.

Sources: AboutWorldLanguages.com, AskMen.com, BuzzSouthAfrica.com, IBTimes.com

This article originally appeared April 28, 2014.

TheGuardian.com
TheGuardian.com

Zulu is used as a bridge language from KwaZulu-Natal to Zimbabwe

A lingua franca, or a bridge language, is used to make communication possible between people who do not share a mother tongue. Though Zulu is the native language of just one quarter of South Africa’s population, about half the country can understand it, along with hundreds of thousands of people in the surrounding region. Zulu is used as a lingua franca from the KwaZulu-Natal province through Zimbabwe.

ChobeSafari.com
ChobeSafari.com

Respect is a major component in Zulu

IsiZulu words reflect high value on respect, and vocabulary and grammar are designed to show special respect particularly for one’s elders. Ancestral spirits are often invoked, and feature prominently in the language.

Jamaica-Gleaner.com
Jamaica-Gleaner.com

Zulu does not mark gender

In contrast to many other languages, there are no definite or indefinite articles in Zulu, meaning that words are not given a particular gender. Instead, nouns are classified into 15 classes that have different prefixes, often dictated by what the noun itself has to do with.

MusikForSkning.se
MusikForSkning.se

The Latin alphabet was adapted for isiZulu by Christian missionaries in the 19th century

Christian missionaries who came to South Africa in the 1800s helped record isiZulu in writing, using certain letters to represent the clicking sounds. In isiZulu, a “c” represents a dental click, a “q” is an alveolar click (such as a bottle top “pop”), and an “x” is a lateral click, on the side of one’s mouth.

Linnternsjo.Wordpress.com
Linnternsjo.Wordpress.com

‘Ubuntu’ is a cornerstone of the isiZulu language and culture

Ubuntu, meaning compassion or humanity, has become one of the words most representative of South African culture, and is taken directly from isiZulu. The word embodies the country’s spirit of oneness and compassion between individuals for one another.

SUErego.com
SUErego.com

Standard Zulu is different from urban Zulu

Standard Zulu is taught in schools, and focuses on a more pure concept of the language – meaning that new concepts are described using derivations from Zulu words. Urban Zulu, on the other hand, borrows more extensively from English, and is used more frequently by young people. For instance, the word for a cell or mobile phone in standard Zulu is “umakhalekhukhwini,” while the same word in urban Zulu is “icell.”

TheMediaOnline.co.za
TheMediaOnline.co.za

IsiZulu, has had an enormous influence on South African English

While many isiZulu words reflect an English influence, the opposite holds true as well. Many words have found their way into South African English, such as “donga,” for ditch, “induna,” for chief of leader, and many more.

PRI.org
PRI.org

Some South African universities have made learning isiZulu mandatory

While isiZulu can be used in primary schools until second grade, and studied as an elective until 1oth grade, instruction in South African schools is primarily in English at higher levels of education. However, some schools, including universities such as the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, have made learning isiZulu compulsory for all incoming students.

DailyMaverick.co.za
DailyMaverick.co.za

In its simplified form, isiZulu is often called Fanagalo.

In small trading towns and mining areas in South Africa, a pidginized form of isiZulu known as Fanagalo is used as a lingua franca, or bridge language. It is a rare example of a pidgin language based on an indigenous language, rather than that of a colonizing power, and is thought to be spoken or understood by tens of thousands of people across sub-Saharan Africa.

ArtLink.co.za
ArtLink.co.za

IsiZulu has begun to play a prominent role in media in recent years

Since 1930, there has been a growth in Zulu publications, including newspapers and magazines. The South African Broadcasting Corp. (SABC) has domestic TV and radio in Zulu.