Zulu / isiZulu

Map of Southern Africa

Language Family: Niger-Congo --> Atlantic-Congo --> Volta-Congo --> Benue- Congo --->Benue-Congo --> Bantoid --> Southern Bantoid--> Bantu --> Southern Bantu --> Nguni-Tsonga --> Nguni --> Zunda --> Zulu

Speaker Population: 12 million native speakers (2011 Census) and 16 million L2 Speakers (2002 Data)

Zulu, or IsiZulu, is spoken by about 12 million people in southern Africa(And another 16million L2 speakers). It is a Nguni language, related to IsiXhosa, IsiNdebele, and SiSwati. A major language of South Africa, it is also spoken in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland(officially called Kingdom of Eswatini), and Lesotho. In the Republic of South Africa, it is the most popular home language (spoken by 24% of its population) and understood by more than half of the people there. It is also one of the 11 official language of the RSA.

It is offered through African Studies from first year through third year levels with fourth year levels available upon request. Zulu may be used to fulfill the foreign language requirement and is offered as an African Language Minor. Students of Zulu may be eligible for the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship.

African studies at IU