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Afrikaans:

Tha language Afrikaans has its roots in seventeenth century Dutch but it has been influenced by many languages including: English, Malay, German, Portuguese, French and some African languages. Up until the 19th century Afrikaans acted only as the spoken language and Dutch was used as the formal and written language.

English:

The history of the English language in South Africa can be traced back to the first British occupation in 1795. English was considered to be the civilized language and the upper classes, even those from the Dutch stock used it in their everyday life.

isiNdebele:

The Ndebela people were originally an offshoot of the Nguni people of Kwazulu-Natal. The language amanal and amaNzunza are related to that of the amaNdebele people of Zimbabwe. The Ndebele people are well know for their artistic talent - especially with regard to their painted houses and colourful beadwork.

Xhosa:

The people of the Xhosa Tribe of South Africa have a very rich cultural heritage and have played an important part in the developement of South Africa, especially when the most famous member of Xhosa, Nelson Mandela, became South Africa's first president elected in a democratic election in 1994.During the seventeenth century, a gradual migration movement took place which led thousands of people from southern Zaire in various directions to cover most of Africa south of the Sahara. One of the tribes who took part in this migration was the Xhosa, descendant from a clan of the Nguni. Today the Xhosa is the most southern group of the migrations from Central Africa into the Southern African areas.

isiZulu:

This prominent group of the Nguni people takes its name from the chief who founded the royal line in the 16th century. The warior king, Shaka, raised the tribe to prominence in the early 19th century. The complicated Zulu etiquette was refined during this reign. The current monarch of the Zulu nation is King Goodwill Zweletini. The language Zulu, or isiZulu, is understood by people from the Cape to Zimbabwe. Zulu is also the written language of the Northern Nguni. its's also a tonal language.

Sepedi:

The language Northern Sotho is mostly spoken in the Northern Province of South Africa. The language is often (as in the Constitution of South Africa) wrongly referred to as "Sepedi", while in actual fact the Sepedi is considered but a dialect of the language "Northern Sotho". It is a member of the Sotho language group. Different dialect clusters are found in the Northern Sotho speaking area.

Sesotho:

Sesotho, or Southern Sotho, is part of the Sotho language subgroup whithin the South-Eastetn group of the Ntu (Bantu) language family. Other languages spoken in the Sotho subgroup include Setswana. The language is spoken in the Kingdom of Lesotho as well as throughout the Republic of South Africa. Yet in South Africa the language is concentrated in the Free State province, the northern part of the Eastern Cape province and the south of the Gauteng province.

Setswana:

The language Tswana , is spoken widely in Southern Africa, Mainly in Botswana and in South Africa in the Northern Cape, the Central and Western Free State and in the North-West province. Setswana was the first Sotho language written to have a written form.

siSwati:

The Swazi people originated from the Pongola river valley in Kwazulu-Natal. They were ruled there by King Dlamini I (1750 to 1770). They were driven up by the Zulus.

Tshivenda:

Not much is known about the ancient history of the Venda people. They first settled in the Soutpansberg Mountains region. The first Venda capital, Dzata's, ruins are still there today.

Xitsonga:

The Vatsonga people came to South Africa long after most other African people settled in the Limpopo River valley. Xitsonga is spoken in Southern Mozambique, the Northern Province of the Republic of South Africa and South Eastern Zimbabwe.