Question

Explain how the official language of South Africa changed between 1600 and 2009.

Answer 1

There are eleven official languages of South Africa: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. Fewer than two percent of South Africans speak a first language other than an official one.

Answer 2

South African language suffered several changes because of the invasions. Before the Europeans San and Khoekhoe people were the first inhabitants. Then Europeans arrived, first were the Dutch and then Britain, that's why South Africa has so many languages.

Also, through historians we know that the first explores were from Portugal, after that came the Dutch colonisation between 1652 and 1815. Then the British arrived between 1815 and 1910.

So, these events explained the language diversity.