When it comes to linguistics, South Africa is like a melting pot of languages. In total, South Africa has eleven major languages ​​from both Africa and Europe. The main languages ​​used are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sesotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. To understand how each of these languages ​​arrived in South Africa, we must first look at the history of the people who live in the country. The first identified language spoken in South Africa was Khoisan. This language was spoken by the indigenous people of South Africa, the Khoikhio, who lived mainly in the southern coastal regions of the country. Over the years this language slowly disappeared along with the native Khoikhio people. Today there are only a few native South Africans left who can still speak Khoisan and live in the western parts of the country. Around the 8th century many Bantu tribes migrated south from central Africa into the northern territories of South Africa. Each of these Bantu tribes brought with them their own distinct Bantu language, nine of which still remain and are recognized today as official languages ​​by the South African government. These languages ​​are used by the entire African population, which makes up three-quarters of the South African population. These languages ​​include: Sesotho, Tsonga, Pedi, Tswana, Venda; and the Nguni group of Bantu languages: Xhosa, Ndebele, Swazi and Zulu. Currently, Zulu is the Bantu language with the largest number of speakers. In KwaZulu and Natal there are nine million people who speak this language. Close behind, with seven million speakers, is the Xhosa language. The Xhosa are found around Transei, Ciskei and in the Eastern Cape. The official language of Swaziland is Swazi with two million speakers. The last Nguni language is Ndebele, spoken by half a million people in parts of north-eastern South Africa. Among the four separate Nguni languages ​​there are 12 different dialects. Pedi and Sesotho are both part of the Sotho group of Bantu languages ​​and share 11 different dialects. Pedi is the strongest language of the Sotho group. Pedi has four million speakers across the country. Three million people in Qwaqwa and the Orange Free State speak Sesotho. Tsonga, which has four dialects, has four million speakers living in Mozambique and Swaziland. The Tswana spoken in Botswana has approximately three million speakers. Venda, spoken mainly in the Transvaal, has over half a million speakers.