Xhosa language

Xhosa
isiXhosa
Native to	South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho
Region	Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Free State
Ethnicity	Xhosa people
Native speakers	8.2 million  (2011 census)e18 11 million L2 speakers (2002)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni Zunda Xhosa
Writing system	Latin (Xhosa alphabet) Xhosa Braille
Official status
Official language in	South Africa Zimbabwe
Language codes
ISO 639-1	xh
ISO 639-2	xho
ISO 639-3	xho
Guthrie code	S.41
Linguasphere	99-AUT-fa incl. varieties 99-AUT-faa to 99-AUT-faj + 99-AUT-fb (isiHlubi)
Proportion of the South African population that speaks Xhosa at home      0–20%      20–40%      40–60%      60–80%      80–100%

Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by 7.6 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Xhosa is written using a Latin alphabet. Henry Hare Dugmore helped translate the entire Bible in Xhosa language. Xhosa has ten vowels.

Xhosa is well known for its set of three major clicks.

Xhosa Language Media

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  Geographical distribution of the Xhosa in South Africa: density of Xhosa home-language speakers. *

  •       3000 /km²*

Trilingual government building sign in Afrikaans, English and Xhosa

Sign outside the AmaZink township theatre restaurant in Kayamandi welcoming visitors in Xhosa

xhosa story Ibali Xhosa

English missionary Henry Hare Dugmore helped translate the Bible into Xhosa in 1859

Nelson Mandela was a Xhosa and was a member of the royal family of the Thembu tribe