How is this relevant today? Post-apartheid South Africa continues to promote the Zulu-Xhosa divide through its own official language policies in schools.

A Xhosa language school in Cape Town has ventured onto the social networking scene, for a different reason than most, namely to teach language.

Xhosa is the country’s second biggest indigenous African language. In class I am often confronted with mismatches between what the grammar books say and how people express themselves in speech.

Those who pick up Zulu or Xhosa can thus chatter with at least 40% of South Africans. Ms Awodey says Duolingo has “a role to play in preserving and teaching endangered languages”.

In addition, the Bhaca and Mfengu have adopted the Xhosa language. The name “Xhosa” comes from that of a legendary leader called uXhosa.

Cape Town - Xhosa speakers will soon have access to the Firefox web browser in their own language, thanks to a language services company. Rubric has donated its translation services to make the ...

The second-oldest colonial city in South Africa, Port Elizabeth, has a new name. It mixes some of the unique linguistics of the Xhosa language, yet many South Africans are struggling to pronounce it.