Zoulou survival kit

About this kit

Zulu (isiZulu) is spoken by about 12 million people in South Africa, where it is the country's most widely spoken first language. Famous for its characteristic clicks and the isicathamiya of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, it is a Bantu language steeped in history. With this kit, you have the essentials to greet, eat, ask for directions and handle an emergency.

Zulu (isiZulu) is the most widely spoken first language in South Africa, with about 12 million native speakers and over 16 million second-language speakers. Recognised as one of the country's eleven official languages since 1994, it is concentrated in the KwaZulu-Natal province and in major cities like Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria. It belongs to the Nguni branch of the Bantu languages, alongside Xhosa, Swati and Ndebele, which are mutually intelligible to various degrees.

Like all Bantu languages, Zulu is organised around noun classes: every noun carries a prefix (umu-, aba-, in-, izin-, isi-, izi-, ili-, ama-) that governs agreement on the verb, adjective and pronoun. Its most famous feature lies in the clicks, consonantal sounds borrowed from Khoisan languages: dental c, palatal q and lateral x, sometimes combined with aspirations or nasalisations. This feature popularised Zulu well beyond its borders thanks to Miriam Makeba's Click Song.

Zulu is carried by a dense history: empire founded by Shaka in the early 19th century, resistance against British colonisers, anti-apartheid struggle and cultural revival after 1994. Its oral literature is particularly rich in izibongo (praise poems), war chants and proverbs. In daily life, Zulu culture values the ubuntu concept: A person is a person through other people.

This kit gathers the bare essentials to get by in Durban, Johannesburg or in the townships: greeting correctly, asking for directions, eating, handling an emergency and politely saying goodbye. A few words of Zulu instantly bring smiles and respect across South Africa.