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 can share "Dumela"; and you already know how to say hello in English. 


IsiZulu Sawubona
IsiXhosa Molo
Afrikaans Hallo
English Hello
 
Sepedi Thobela
Sesotho Dumela
Xitsonga Avuxeni
Siswati Sawubona
Tshivenḓa Hurini
IsiNdebele Lotja
 
Setswana Dumela

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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