A language-teaching app tests tongues with Zulu and Xhosa

Learning clicking sounds is tough, especially online


  • by
  • 10 28, 2021
  • in Middle East and Africa

IN 1991 AMERICAN audiences had an introduction to Xhosa, one of South Africa’s most click-filled languages, when Miriam Makeba (pictured) appeared on “The Cosby Show”. When the celebrated South African singer started flicking her tongue as she said her name, four-year-old Olivia asked, “Oh I’m sorry, do you have a cold?”In most parts of the world the clicks of Zulu and Xhosa, the languages spoken most commonly at home in South Africa, sound completely foreign. Duolingo, the world’s biggest language-learning platform, is hoping to make them more familiar. Next year it will offer lessons in both to its 40m active users.

  • Source A language-teaching app tests tongues with Zulu and Xhosa
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