When it comes to linguistics, South Africa is like a melting pot of languages. In total, South Africa has eleven major languages ​​originating from both Africa and Europe. The main languages ​​used are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sesotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. In order to understand how each of these languages ​​arrived in South Africa, one must first look at the history of the people living 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 died out along with the indigenous Khoikhio people. Today, there are only a few indigenous South Africans who still speak Khoisan and live in the western regions of the country. Around the eighth century, many Bantu tribes migrated south from central Africa to the northern territories of South Africa. Each of these Bantu tribes brought with them their own Bantu language, nine of which still exist and are recognized as official languages ​​by the South African government today. These languages ​​are used throughout the African population, which represents 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, nine million people speak this language. Just behind, with seven million speakers, is the Xhosa language. Xhosa can be found around Transei, Ciskei and the Eastern Cape. The official language of Swaziland is Swazi and has two million speakers. The last Nguni language is Ndebele, spoken by half a million people in parts of northeastern South Africa. Between the four distinct Nguni languages, there are 12 different dialects. Both Pedi and Sesotho are 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 nationwide. 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 around three million speakers. Venda, spoken mainly in Transvaal, has more than half a million speakers.