Soon Sign Language To Join Other Official Languages Of South Africa

South Africa will soon adopt Sign Language as the 12th official language of the country. The Constitutional Review Committee in Parliament has recommended it and the same has been confirmed by the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).

According to PanSALB spokesperson Sibusiso Nkosi, the proposal of making the SASL an official language was long overdue and the committee is recommending to make some amendment in the constitution.

Nkosi added the Parliament would be making the required amendment in the constitution.

As of now there are 11 official languages in South Africa and those are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.

The most common language spoken in the country is Sulu and about 23 percent of the people speak it. The next two common languages are Xhosa and Afrikaans.

The other common languages spoken in South Africa are Lobedu, Fanagalo, Northern Ndebele and Fanagalo. These are not mentioned in the constitution.