What happens when you use all 11 national languages in South Africa

By admin, 20 March, 2025
Language distribution

Imagine you have a website that's only in English. That's great, but only a certain number of people in South Africa speak English as their first language.

Now, let's add all 11 official languages of South Africa to your website!

  • English: About 9.6% of South Africans speak English at home.
  • isiZulu: This is the most spoken home language, with about 22.7% of people using it.
  • isiXhosa: Around 16% of people speak this language at home.
  • Afrikaans: About 13.5% of people speak Afrikaans.
  • Sepedi: Approximately 9.1% of people speak Sepedi.
  • Setswana: Around 8% of people speak Setswana.
  • Sesotho: About 7.6% of people speak Sesotho.
  • Xitsonga: Around 4.5% of people speak Xitsonga.
  • siSwati: About 2.5% of people speak siSwati.
  • Tshivenda: Around 2.4% of people speak Tshivenda.
  • isiNdebele: About 2.1% of people speak isiNdebele.

If you add all these languages to your website, you're potentially reaching almost everyone in South Africa! That's a huge jump from just reaching the English speakers.

Why These Numbers Matter:

  • It's like going from having a small lemonade stand to having a giant supermarket! You'll have so many more customers!
  • It means your website can help more people and share important information with everyone.
  • It means more people will feel welcome when they visit your website.

So, by making your website multilingual, you're making it much more inclusive and reaching a much larger audience.

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