| Zulu | |
|---|---|
| isiZulu | |
| Native to | South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland |
| Region | KwaZulu-Natal , eastern Gauteng , eastern Free State , southern Mpumalanga |
| Native speakers | 10.4 million (2007) |
| Language family |
Niger–Congo
|
| Writing system |
Latin (Zulu alphabet) Zulu Braille |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | South Africa |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | zu |
| ISO 639-2 | zul |
| ISO 639-3 | zul |
Zulu (isiZulu in Zulu and South African English) is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority (over 95%) of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population) as well as being understood by over 50% of the population (Ethnologue 2005). It became one of South Africa's eleven official languages in 1994.
According to Ethnologue, it is the second most widely spoken Bantu language after Shona language . Like many other Bantu languages, it is written using the Latin alphabet.