 So yes, I did not make a video last week frankly school is getting harder So I have to stay focused on that but I hope you guys like what I have for you this week As you could probably tell from the thumbnail today's video is all about Botswana It's two official languages English and Sitzwana. That's just about it. So thank you guys for watching. Please like subscribe No, no, no, wait, that's not right. I knew my video is gonna be a bit longer than that. Ah Yes, it's about South Africa and it's 11 official languages Don't worry Botswana will tie into this video though today I'll be focusing on what exactly these languages are how exactly South Africa got into this mess of having 11 official languages And what challenges the country faces as a result Do I understand why South Africa is so many official languages for a country of only 60 million? I mean not a tiny population, but for 11 languages Sheesh, let's go back in time a little bit South Africa has been continuously inhabited for over a hundred thousand years as a result of one of the first human migrations away from the Horn of Africa The descendants of this migration are called the Khoisan people or sometimes Bushmen called that after the two major language families That these people speak the Bantu from West Africa had migrations eastward that began around the second century BC Which eventually resulted in the people's being spread across most of central and southern Africa Including eastern South Africa most South Africans today by the way are descended from these Bantu migrants One event in the late 1400s would change South Africa's history drastically the Portuguese arrival on the Cape of Good Hope Their colony was called such since it gave them a gateway into the Indian spice trade However, the Portuguese would eventually lose influence there and a colony would be created by the Dutch there in 1652 in the early 1800s the Dutch and British had control over the Cape at different times But the control was eventually secured by the British Sparking the great trek of Dutch colonists into the continent away from British rule The Dutch experienced attacks often from the Zulu under their leader Shaka But ultimately the Dutch had the upper hand and created the Boer Republics Eventually and unfortunately for the Dutch the Boer Wars happened and the British took those from the Dutch as well South Africa became independent in 1910 technically though it gained full sovereignty from the United Kingdom in 1931 and became a republic in 1961 through all this the white minority had considerable control over the majority black population and this was solidified when the National Party took control in 1948 and began apartheid during this time in South African history There were only two official languages English and Afrikaans the latter of which was originally spoken only by Dutch settlers But today is used by the main language of the Cape colored people who descend from both native Africans and white settlers The suppression of the numerous native languages, which I will name in a minute was one of the defining policies of apartheid The native population suffered in many respects during this time But the suppression of their languages was one of the most notable due to South Africa being further isolated from the rest of the world due to its policies and the native black population pushing for equal rights Guided by leaders like Nelson Mandela apartheid officially ended in 1994 Namibia also became independent during the end of apartheid in 1990 Within the next 10 years the ruling African National Congress would eventually pave the way for nine additional official native languages to be added Alongside English and Afrikaans to promote their usage among local populations with the total now being 11 So now we know why South Africa has 11 official languages But now it's time to see what they are first of all We have the two aforementioned Indo-European languages English and Afrikaans people who speak English as a first language comprise 9.6 percent of the population and Afrikaans speakers make up around 13.5 percent a Slim majority of native African speakers are Cape colored around 40% are white and the other 10% are other races mostly black Additionally, the majority of whites and coloreds in South Africa speak Afrikaans English has spoken as a first language roughly evenly amongst whites South African Indians blacks and colors with whites being the small plurality of English speakers Around 86% of Indo-South Africans call English their native tongue These next nine languages are all major native languages spoken mainly by the majority black South African population They all belong to the greater Bantu language family But there are smaller groups within it that can be found in South Africa The Unguni language group includes Isidun Debele, Isizulu, Isidun Rosa, and Siswati Firstly, Isidun Debele is the smallest language that is official nationally And is spoken natively by 2.1 percent of South Africans Speakers of the Debele mainly live in the provinces of Umbumalanga and Kauteng Constituting small minorities in both these provinces Isidun Rosa is one of the most major languages of South Africa with 16 percent of the population speaking it natively It is the majority language of the Eastern Cape and a large minority language in the Western Cape while having smaller minorities elsewhere in the nation While Isidun Rosa is the second most spoken language, Isidun Zulu is the most predominant language in South Africa 22 percent of the population speaks this language natively Most of them coming from the KwaZulu-Natal province where it is the majority Zulu is also spoken in Umbumalanga by around 25 percent of the population 2.5 percent of South Africa's population speaks the Siswati language Mainly spoken around the border with Iswatini where a version of the language is also spoken The province of Umbumalanga holds the majority of native Siswati speakers who comprise around 27.7 percent of the province's population The next group of languages are the Suthu Tswana languages, which includes Sassuthu, Sassuthu-Salaboa and Satswana Sassuthu is spoken by around 7.6 percent of South Africa's population Mainly around the border with Lassuthu. The province where it is the majority is in the Free State Where close to two-thirds of the population speaks it Sassuthu-Salaboa, also called Sipedi, is the native tongue of around 9.1 percent of South Africa's population They form a majority in the province of Limpopo and have a presence in the linguistically and ethnically diverse Khaotain Satswana is a language spoken by around 8 percent of South Africans natively and is also spoken in the neighboring Botswana Hence its name. Didn't I tell you I'd tie Botswana into this video? Who said that? Well, the language is spoken mainly in the Northwest province where it is the majority and also in the Northern Cape where it is a Significant minority as well as parts of Khaotain. These last two languages are both Bantu languages But do not fit into the other sub families listed Chivenda is spoken by around 2.4 percent of the population natively making it the second smallest official language in South Africa The province of Limpopo has most of the languages speakers though they form a minority there Finally, the Tsonga language is natively spoken by around 4.5 percent of South Africans Representing the Tsonga languages in South Africa. It is spoken mainly in Limpopo, Mbumeleanga, and Khaotain and is a minority in all these provinces Though the idea of having many official languages which are protected by the South African Constitution seems like a good idea and in many ways It is the fact that this can be a challenging proposition is undeniable There are many factors that make having 11 official languages difficult But one of the most important is which languages should take more precedence over the others in South Africa It's quite obvious that English is the language used in all parts of the country And is usually seen as the language that gives many opportunities that South Africans need to succeed many South Africans Unfortunately have trouble fluently speaking English however and much of this trouble originates in the school system there South African schools will normally teach their students in the native language until fourth grade Which then they are required to write all their assignments in English despite instruction continuing in the local languages This causes a situation where the students never fully learn English and also may lose touch with local languages and writing Is they're not even allowed to write them in their own school assignments? South Africa is a truly interesting country with a lot of history which has contributed to their multilingual background With 11 official languages spoken across the country most of their population has their native languages represented Though the sheer amount of languages inevitably has caused problems and the English language is often used to fill the roll up the lingua franca of the country Still the other languages are allowed to be spoken and are encouraged at the local level especially Thanks for watching be sure to subscribe like share and do everything you can to help this channel grow Once I get 1,000 subscribers, I can make much better content will only grow from there After this video you may want to look at other videos. I've made mainly concerning Europe and its geopolitics I do hope to make more videos about Africa though in the near future. I'll see you next time