Culture and Customs of South Africa

Arts, crafts and architecture

Arts

Crafts

Architecture

Museums

Customs and traditions

Local traditions

Etiquette

Dress and behavior

Sensitive or taboo topics

Languages

South Africa is one of the countries in the world with the most official languages, with no fewer than eleven recognized as such by the 1996 constitution.

In descending order of speakers, these are Zulu (spoken by 23% of the population), Xhosa (16%), Afrikaans (13.5%), English (9.6%), Northern Sotho (9.1%), Tswana (8%), Southern Sotho (7.6%), Tsonga (4.5%), Swati (2.5%), Venda (2.4%), and Southern Ndebele (2.1%). It’s worth noting that the number of speakers doesn’t always correspond to the actual number of people who speak or understand a language. For example, while fewer than 10% of South Africans primarily use English as "their" language, over 80% of the population can speak it to varying degrees. Visitors will have no trouble communicating in English across the country, especially in the tourism sector.

Logically, the distribution of languages is quite uneven and often reflects the origins of populations based on their geographic spread. As for other languages, provinces are expected to promote those spoken by their minorities or foreign communities. This includes locally spoken Indian languages, Arabic, Portuguese, Greek, German, and even a little French, though it’s not widely spoken among the population.

Glossary

A few local words and expressions useful for travelers:

Festivals and holidays

Public holidays

1 January: New Year’s Day

21 March: Human Rights Day

Variable: Good Friday

Variable: Easter Monday

27 April: National Day

1 May: Labour Day

16 June: Youth Day

9 August: National Women’s Day

24 September: Heritage Day

16 December: Day of Reconciliation

25 December: Christmas Day

26 December: Day of Goodwill