South Africa has the largest number of native Zulu speakers; around 10 million people and 95% of the population. Zulu is also one of South Africa’s 11 official languages since 1994.
Most speakers can be found in the provinces of Zululand and Natal. In these areas the language is widely used in daily life, as well as in the media and for formal educational purposes. It was just a verbal language until European missionaries came to the continent in the 19th century. Then, a writing system developed using the Latin alphabet.
