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It is interesting to know that English is the joint 5th most spoken language in South Africa - but is the business language of choice.

Just out of interest, how many of you have attempted/learnt some of the official languages of South Africa (excluding English)?

"According to the 2001 census, isiZulu is the mother tongue of 23.8% of South Africa's population, followed by isiXhosa at 17.6%, Afrikaans at 13.3%, Sesotho sa Leboa at 9.4%, and Setswana and English each at 8.2%.

Sesotho is the mother tongue of 7.9% of South Africans, while the remaining four official languages are spoken at home by less than 5% of the population each.

SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES 2001聽
Language聽 聽 % of total
Afrikaans聽 聽 聽 聽13.35%
English聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 8.20%
IsiNdebele聽 聽 聽 聽1.59%
IsiXhosa聽 聽 聽 聽 17.64%
IsiZulu聽 聽 聽 聽 聽23.82%
Sesotho sa Leboa 9.39%
Sesotho聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 7.93%
Setswana聽 聽 聽 聽 聽8.20%
SiSwati聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 2.66%
Tshivenda聽 聽 聽 聽 2.28%
Xitsonga聽 聽 聽 聽 聽4.44%
Other聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 0.48%
TOTAL聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 100.00%

* Spoken as a home language
Source: Census 2001"

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I am learning Afrikaans - although my husband is Afrikaans so I have a learnign advantage. I am not fluent but can understand most conversations (if I concentrate) and can respond with simple sentences. So no deep and meangingful debates yet but I will get there!

I would also like to learn [Southern] Sesotho, the other language of the Free State.