A Niger-Congo language and a member of the Bantu family (Nguni group), spoken by more than 5 million people in the south-eastern part of South Africa, most notably in Cape Province and Transkei; also known as isiXhosa.
Nguni languages are unique among the Bantu family in the use of click sounds as consonants. These sounds were borrowed from the Khoisan languages of the original inhabitants of the area. Xhosa has three basic clicks.
The closest linguistic affiliation of Xhosa is with Zulu, the two languages being mutually intelligible to a great extent. Xhosa is spelt in the Roman alphabet.
Like many other languages from the Bantu family, Xhosa is a tonal language.
| Courses | |
| Complete Xhosa | XHOSA CBEG 1(PACK) |
| Lumko Self-Instruction Course in Xhosa | XHOSA CBEG 4; XHOSA CBEG 4(PACKS 1-4) |
| Masithethe isiXhosa : an audio-visual guide | XHOSA CBEG 3(PACK) |
| Speak Xhosa With Us | XHOSA CBEG 2(PACK) |
| Dictionaries | |
| The English Afikaans Xhosa Zulu aid : Words lists & phrases in four languages | AFR DICO 2 |
| Films | |
| The good man | XHOSA FILM 4(DVD)* |
| Son of man | XHOSA FILM 1(DVD)* |
| Tsotsi | XHOSA FILM 3(DVD)* |
| U-Carmen e khayelitsha | XHOSA FILM 2(DVD)* |
| Medicine | |
| Communicating with the African patient | ZU MED 1 |
| Vocabulary | |
| 5000+ English - Xhosa Xhosa - English Vocabulary | XHOSA VOCAB 1 |
| Clicking with Xhosa : A Xhosa phrasebook | XHOSA VOCAB 2 |
| External Link |
| The world and the word: tales and observations from the Xhosa oral tradition (ACLS Humanities e-book, controlled access) |