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| Street market St Georges Mall |
South Africa has 11 official languages. America has none. You really won't need to start learning to speak Tsonga, Nedebele or Venda to get by. English is readily spoken by most people. In rural areas you may find some locals only speak their mother tongue.
Road signs are in English and some are also in Afrikaans which is very similar to Dutch or Flemish. The local language in Cape Town is Xhosa. Xhosa has distinct click sounds when you see an X or a Q written. It's really hard to do if you haven't grown up speaking Xhosa.
Search You Tube for Xhosa clicks to hear the sound or find Miriam Makeba's click song
You can also learn some basic lingo for free on-line by going to this link - free on-line African language
Hambe Kahle - Goodbye or Go well - in English.Labels: blog, blogsherpa, Cape Town, Green Point, information, Lonely Planet, news, South Africa, travel
