South African languages in Taiwan: Afrikaans, Zulu, Tswana, Tsonga

Taiwan’s linguistic landscape is famously diverse, shaped by Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Indigenous Austronesian tongues. Yet, in recent years, a small but notable presence of South African languages has emerged, carried by expatriates, students, and professionals.

Afrikaans started in South Africa in the 1600s among Dutch settlers. It is similar to Dutch but easier in grammar. It also took words from Malay, Portuguese, and African languages. Today, it is spoken by about 7 million people in South Africa and Namibia.

Zulu is the most spoken home language in South Africa. It is part of the Bantu family and uses click sounds. There are over 8 million native speakers in South Africa.

Tswana (also called Setswana) is mainly spoken in Botswana, where it is the national language, and also in South Africa. It belongs to the Sotho-Tswana group of Bantu languages. It is spoken by around 4.5 million people in Botswana and South Africa.

Tsonga (or Xitsonga) is spoken in southern Mozambique, parts of Zimbabwe, and northeastern South Africa. It is a Bantu language but has special features from nearby languages. There are about 3.7 million native speakers, mainly in Mozambique and South Africa.