How to say Hello to every South African

Say "Hello" in all 11 official South African languages

English will reach less than 10% of South Africans in their home language. The first thing every South African should learn at school is how to say "hello" to every other South African they'll meet. It's not so hard.

You'll need to learn eight new words. IsiZulu and Siswati share "Sawubona"; Sesotho, Sepedi and Setswana share "Dumela"; and you already know how to say hello in English. 

English
Hello
Afrikaans
Goeiedag
IsiNdebele
Lotjha
isiXhosa
Molo
IsiZulu
Sawubona
Siswati
Sawubona
Sesotho
Dumela
Sepedi       
Dumela
Setswana
Dumela
Tshivenḓa
♂Ndaa / ♀Aa
Xitsonga
Avuxeni

Those are the basics. Most South African languages also have different greetings for depending on the time of the day or when meeting or saying goodbye to groups or individual people.

Click on any of the languages below to get dedicated resources for the South African language you would like to learn.

Learn IsiZulu Conversation

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