There are eleven official names of South Africa, one in each of its eleven official languages. The number is surpassed only by India. These languages include English, Afrikaans, the Nguni languages (Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, and Swazi), as well as the Sotho languages, which include Tswana, Sotho and Northern Sotho. The remaining two languages are Venda and Tsonga.
There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoi-San languages which are not official languages, but are one of the eight un-officially recognised languages. There are even smaller groups of speakers of endangered languages, many of which are from the Khoi-San family, but receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival. As a result, there are many official names for the country. These are:
| Language | Long form | Short form |
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Republiek van Suid-Afrika | Suid-Afrika |
| English | Republic of South Africa | South Africa |
| Northern Sotho | Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa | Afrika Borwa |
| Southern Ndebele | IRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika | iSewula Afrika |
| Southern Sotho | Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa | Afrika Borwa |
| Swazi | iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika | iNingizimu Afrika |
| Tsonga | Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga | Afrika-Dzonga |
| Tswana | Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa | Aforika Borwa |
| Venda | Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe | Afurika Tshipembe |
| Xhosa | iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika | uMzantsi Afrika |
| Zulu | iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika | iNingizimu Afrika |
And one former name:
| Language | Long form | Short form | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch | Republiek van Zuid-Afrika | Zuid-Afrika | 1961 — 1983 |
South Africa's country code, ZA, is an abbreviation of this former official name, Zuid-Afrika.
Famous quotes containing the words official, names, south and/or africa:
“I know one husband and wife who, whatever the official reasons given to the court for the break up of their marriage, were really divorced because the husband believed that nobody ought to read while he was talking and the wife that nobody ought to talk while she was reading.”
—Vera Brittain (1893–1970)
“No, no! I don’t, I don’t want to know your name. You don’t have a name, and I don’t have a name, either. No names here. Not one name.”
—Bernardo Bertolucci (b. 1940)
“The Great South Beach of Long Island,... though wild and desolate, as it wants the bold bank,... possesses but half the grandeur of Cape Cod in my eyes, nor is the imagination contented with its southern aspect.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In Africa I had indeed found a sufficiently frightful kind of loneliness but the isolation of this American ant heap was even more shattering.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)