Zulu | ||||
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isiZulu | ||||
Native to | South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland | |||
Region | KwaZulu-Natal, eastern Gauteng, eastern Free State, southern Mpumalanga | |||
Native speakers | 12 million (2011 census)e18 L2 speakers: 16 million (2002) | |||
Language family | ||||
Writing system | Latin (Zulu alphabet) Zulu Braille | |||
Official status | ||||
Official language in | South Africa | |||
Regulated by | Pan South African Language Board | |||
Language codes | ||||
ISO 639-1 | zu | |||
ISO 639-2 | zul | |||
ISO 639-3 | zul | |||
Guthrie code | S.42 | |||
Linguasphere | 99-AUT-fg incl. varieties 99-AUT-fga to 99-AUT-fge | |||
Proportion of the South African population that speaks Zulu at home 0–20% 20–40% 40–60% 60–80% 80–100% | ||||
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Zulu or isiZulu (Zulu: isiZulu) is the language of the Zulu people. 10 million people speak Zulu, and most of them (95%) live in South Africa. It is the most common home language in South Africa, where 24% of people speak it at home. Over 50% of the population also speak and understand the language.