When in Rome, do as the Romans do, so the saying goes, but when in South Africa, it can become quite difficult to follow this with the vast amounts of languages and culture that exists here. A truly diverse nation in every sense of the word, South Africa boasts 11 official languages and a multitude of cultures that have over time blended and mixed to create a plethora of interesting features and people. The most widely spoken language in South Africa is of course English and this is the main platform for businesses and industry in the country. The other languages that are official and that are present in the relevant schools according the region they are located in are Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Venda, Tswana, Pedi, Tsonga, Swazi, Sotho, and Ndebele.

Afrikaans is the languages derived from and still closely related to Dutch or Flemish. Most of the Afrikaans speaking people are of Dutch decent, with some of the Cape Colored community also adopting this as their native tongue. In the farmland regions, Afrikaans is widely spoken and many African people speak this as their second language as opposed to English. The culture of the Afrikaans / Dutch descendants stems mainly from the arrival in South Africa. Jan Van Riebeeck was the first Dutchman to land on South African soil and from here more and more people began to descent upon the peaceful, beautiful and fertile land. Most of the Afrikaans people are farmers and wine makers with Simon Van der Stel being the first person to insist that the Cape Wines could be bottled and sold to create a booming wine industry. » Read more: South Africa Travel Trips – Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans Culture Facts