Southern Ndebele is a Southern Bantu language spoken by about 2.5 million people in South Africa, where it is one of the official languages. Most of the speakers can be found in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West provinces. About 1.1 milion people speak Southern Ndebele as a first language, and another 1.4 million speak it as a second language.
Southern Ndebele is also known as Transvaal Ndebele, South Ndebele, isiNdebele or isiNdebele seSewula. It is closely related to Northern Ndebele, and there is some mutual intelligibility between the two languages.
Speakers of Ndebele are known as amaNdebele. Between in 1981 a semi-autonomous homeland known as KwaNdebele was established for them in the northeast of South Africa. Before then, their language had been marginalised, and they were discouraged from using it in public. They preferred to use Zulu, which they learnt at school. KwaNdebele became part of Mpumalanga province in 1994.
Download an alphabet chart for Southern Ndebele (Excel)
Hear how to pronunce Southern Ndebele:
More videos to help you learn Ndebele.
Abantu bonke bazalwa bekhululekile njalo amalungelo abo elingana. Balesipho sokucabanga lonembeza, ngakho kumele baphathane ngomoya otshengisa ubuhlobo.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Southern Ndebele | Phrases | Numbers | Tower of Babel
Information about Southern Ndebele
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ndebele_language
http://salanguages.com/isindebele/index.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ndebele.htm
Southern Ndebele phrases
http://www.salanguages.com/isindebele/ndewrd.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUp07Rd_zGs
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Page last modified: 08.03.24
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