The Last Speaker: South Africa’s dying language | Africa Direct Documentary
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Claudia Snyman is a language researcher in South Africa and her grandmother, Katrina Esau, is the last remaining fluent speaker of N|uu, the ancient language of the San, or Bushman, people.
Together they work painstakingly on a dictionary of the click-based words of this disappearing language, believed to be 25,000 years old. Once oppressed and derided in colonial times, they are determined that it will come back from the brink of extinction and into modern-day use.
Nadine Angel Cloete is an award-winning South African filmmaker who focuses on themes of identity and history. Her feature documentary, Action Kommandant, won several awards across Africa and the United States. She also directs fiction films.
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It's their fault if this language is dying why do they speak Afrikaans instead of It. I speak Xhosa it is similar to it as it clicks but it doesn't die. I can click like them. I learnt it how to speak isiXhosa from my great grandmother. They had to speak to their generation write books, create films like gods must be crazy. I enjoyed that film because it reminds me where I come from. Not Afrikaans because Afrikaans it's foreign language to me. It's Holland language. Click guys we like it. I steal click most of the time as a Xhosa even to my children. They know. Stop speaking Afrikaans at all. Develop your language. It's all up to you.😂😂😂😂😂❤
How dumb can you be Afrikaans was not a choice for the busman it was Force on them by the colonizers..so you don't hear what the grandma is saying that they were killed for speaking they're language on the farms but you won't understand because you're people came here as slaves and got more of the land then the busman and look what is happening today because of you're BEE it's the same as white privilege... so don't come and speak bullshit here because you have no idea what the people went threw for you to own 30% of everything in this country without working for it ....
Idc
@@vuyelwagxoko1266go educate yourself before making any commentary, the Khoisan were killed for speaking their mother tongue. Go do research and you'll find out how you were brought here on ship with the Europeans lol you idiot
Pls people don't let this language Die .. its our Roots and its beautiful
I cant imagine how difficult it is to try and record a language when you arent a linguist. I wouldnt even know where to start ! A beautiful story.
My heart breaks that we’ve lost so much of our first peoples’ culture 💔 I’m so glad that we have South Africans making sure we preserve it
Need to do a crowd funding campaign. Tag linguist all over the world to help support and help fund it.
😅 don't even bother
I'm from South Africa and I can tell you that money would dissappear before it reaches it destination
There are people who needs those funding bra not everyone is as stupid...when culture comes first greed comes last!
Problem is as south africans greed comes first culture comes last.. so yah half if nt all of the donations will grow legs 🦵
They actually need legal fees and assistance as they were destroyed because they deserve first nation status while Zulu kings are on the payroll bushmen should be put first as they were here first and parliament wants it a secret.
@@gabriellewhalley1328 We as Africans are one, it's a proven fact the bushman is suffering from tribal war and it needs to end they deserve as much as anyone and be remembered and praised for what they mean to the continent, they suffered the most!
Please make a feature length documentary on this important N|UU language 🙏🏾
Please 🙏
Please can we have more? I'm in tears because this is a miracle of the highest order... The language with the most clicks worldwide and there is a chance that my grandchildren and even myself can be taught this ancient language.
God bless this lady and her family
As long as they have a captured/recorded on paper or digitally, the language will never truly die.
"If you don't know who you are, then your existence is meaningless." Eternal words.
Marvelous effort, Africa is rich in culture, heritage and language,due to diversity in tribes.
They would integrate better if they spoke the same language. Cultural diversity is mostly inefficiency.
@@jonatand2045.
@@jonatand2045everyone learns English or Afrikaans already, so people can already communicate, so there's absolutely no reason to get rid of richness in culture and language.
True our continent we lucky we were able to hold onto that eventhough the damage colonial rule has done and still does subtly today on our country 🇿🇦 & continent as a whole eg the resources still going to the American government and European govt too even China wants in nowadays.
I’d like to honestly send prayers of encouragement to this lady and uGogo to truly, truly keep going. They are doing the work that has been yearned for for centuries by their ancestors. 🤲🏾👑 they’ll be successful
I love how she says "I'm not feeble, I'm still young."😅 So precious😊
For those picking up that there's actually two languages used in the clip to tell the story - you are correct. The other dutch-sounding language is called Afrikaans, and the people of the northern province and west coast speak the most beautiful and pure dialect of that language to my ear.
So inspired by your story, keeping indigenous culture alive, and strong for future generations. Traditional language is a big part of your identity and connection to your ancestors and mother earth.
The English religious people from England use to hurt our Aboriginal people, and stop them from speaking our ancestor's language, of our people. They would hit my Grandmother and family with a stick or leather strap to stop them from speaking her language in the reservations, and mission camp communities.
Blessings from Australia.
'keep it alive
Keeping an indigenous language alive means keeping it isolated and with less access to tools. Good luck finding computer programs in an obscure language. If they like their traditions so much, they will keep them alive after the language barrier is gone. The world would be less divided and products could more easily be exported if most languages died.
@@jonatand2045stop pretending like people don't already learn English or Afrikaans in schools. Indigenous culture is important and must be preserved. It's not like these people are walking down the street unable to communicate with people like you're suggesting. That's absurd.
@@VisionsOfSpy
"Indigenous culture is important" Almost not at all, try eating or getting cured by culture.
@@jonatand2045 you clearly have no appreciation for culture or history. Yes culture is important. Maybe not in your limited mind but it is
@@jonatand2045do you not know ppl can be bi or multilingual ? The human brain is not just limited to learning one language. If you think ppl are cured by one language or culture you are ignorant! Let other people preserve what is a huge part of their identity & keep it pushing.
As a Xhosa person there is fable that says the name by which we are defined "Xhosa" is a San word which means fierce people. I don't know how true that is our culture is very lost to us as a nation but that's something I will always find fascinating. I wish there were more resources poured into this
@@lezzsebothoma you misunderstood my comment I know that do your research on the Xhosa name bra, speculation is that it comes from two things, we either named after uXhosa or the thing that I said
@@unathimankosi7442He’s commenting to comment.
@@lezzsebothoma Read properly, stop embarassing yourself!!
I hope this language and culture is preserved. This is so deeply moving.
Coloured People. As The colonialists said "Hottentot", today known as "hotnot" a derogatory term aimed specifically at "Coloured" People". Why because we were the originals then the Dutch east Indies and VOC came. Brought slaves from Madagascar, Indonesia and Countless other countries in Asia as well as Africa. Today mixed together and loosely referred to as Coloureds. 'Coloureds' differ tremendously but the majority of us are direct descendants of the various San Tribes within Southern Africa. How this beautiful language even stayed alive after all these years of injustice is a miracle. One time for my beautiful Coloured/Kleurling people ❤
There's a lot of farms in the EC between Cradock and Graaf-Reinet where you'd find people who can speak N|UU even though mostly communicate in Afrikaans and Xhosa on a daily.
I grew up in a Xhosa/Colored community, my granny would have visitors and they'd speak N|UU fluently without mixing even though we spoke Xhosa and Afrikaans mostly, she never lost her mother tongue. I wish we had time so she could have taught me❤
N|uu was never spoken in the EC... Are you meaning a different San language?
Im so happy to see this kudos to Al Jazeera producers for this extraordinarily work.
Im South 🇿🇦 of Xhosa descent, and i was told my language isiXhosa was "borrowed " from the San people as it contains alot of clicks. I am friends with different races, however, i will tell u this that whenever we discuss cultural things with my coloured friends, they distance themselves from San poeple. They dont take pride in their unique beautiful culture..breaks my heart.
But Coloureds are a mixture of other races they are not necessarily San, and trying to mix them by putting them in one term derails the conversation
Coloured was a term created by the Apartheid regime, in that time black skinned people and "Europeans/whites" we not allowed to mix let alone have children, i get offended as a Coloured when people say that a Coloured is black and white mixed, when Coloured people has created their own culture, so being Coloured is more a way of upbringing and living than the colour of your skin.
Just felt i should add that. 🤷🏾♂️
@@urban_legend. so what is your proffered or ideal term we must use to address you?
@@ciandahebe5692 human being.
This is a beautiful piece, about a beautiful culture and people. Thank you for making this. ❤️🔥
Thank you for watching :)
First Asians
With Africa Direct i hope to see more beautiful African stories that are hidden behind the image of poverty
This is sad I can’t imagine not being able to speak my Nguni language and my kids also 😢
it will.....all of the young africans today all want to be gangster rappers, and social media influencers. Look at how much South Africa has changed in 20 years....listen to the music...its noise.... gugulethu....for 19 minutes. this is the second colonization of africa, first they took resources, now they have taken the culture
Dusty language
@@AbiolaRahamen from your country are in South Africa marrying women who speak these Nguni languages and teach them to their kids. Keep your jealousy to yourself.
@@AbiolaRahawhy do you call it dusty?
@@AbiolaRahauyanya wena. Siyaziqhenya ngama lwimi wethu.
As descendants of the San/bush this ouma is a treasure to us
Its by time that the indigenous people of southern africa get recognition,because we are fed so much lies in our own South Africa.
Many people today don't give much care to the dialects of their forefathers. I admire this lady for her work. I can't even comprehend on how to write the letters much less try to speak it.
Because it is more worthwhile to learn a language that is actually used.
@@jonatand2045 economically speaking, yes.
@@beataplayathis guy seems to be under the impression that you can't preserve a traditional language and know how to speak other languages at the same time. In other words, they're a moron
this is a very wise young lady, keep it up and I wish her and granny will finish the dictionary
I wish this was longer. ❤️
Reviving a language that is about to be dead takes a lot of effort.But good on these people to pass on to the next generation.
Wasted effort. They could be teaching them another useful language to increase their success.
You can preserve culture and speak other languages as well.
@@jonatand2045cultural preservation is never wasted effort. They already speak English and Afrikaans
@@VisionsOfSpy It isn't free. What benefits does society get? I understand cataloging it at least, but that funding could go to other skills besides language. It's not like their education is in the best shape.
@@argosy09 It's not free. If it is not their mastery of a more useful language that needs that funding, it is their education or someone else's.
Its a beautiful language. Thats why those colonialists killed them off and did not want them to speak it. It sounded beautiful but was too complicated for them to speak, so jealousy of having a black person having a more versatile tongue than them (considering that our tongue had no problems at all learning and speaking their language), too over.
As a South African this is the only language that most us of do not understand ,but we need to support them by trying to learn more,As a way of motivating the tribe not to give up or be ashamed of their roots.but some of them they are ashamed of speaking the language especially in the W.Cape,claiming that they are not black
They are NOT BLACK cos when they want jobs etc they NOT BLACK enough.
@ArmadilloArmada khoi and san and others are black people. Yes Languages are different from bantu languages
@ArmadilloArmada you should do research on the genetic analysis done of Cape Coloured. They are mostly Asian, white, and Bantu. Most have maybe 10% Khoisan, or less.
bruh, how can we be ashamed of speaking a language that we never even heard, why u making things up? i bet you most of Coloured people never even heard the language and here you are saying we're ashamed to speak it, its not adding up
Whyvdont u do it? then tell us if its true, because judging by the way you are claiming that most Cape Coloureds have asian, it looks like u suma did it yourself
San is still alive in Namibia..
@@ArmadilloArmada😂😂😂😂
But they speak other languages there
Niuu is the language she speaks
I like the way she caring her grandma
In Zimbabwe way back in the 1980s my cousin had a good friend who was San and spoke just like this old lady when he was persuaded to.
What happened to the friend?
@@nomahope3182 I have lost contact with him. The last time I saw him he was living in the highlands area of Harare.
that was ndebele....a derivative of San...through Xhosa
@@AugfordpdoggieNdebele is not descended from Xhosa. Also there are some San people in the very West of Zim.
I was on a plau to cape town with this lady and a man that helped her, he was so sweet
"We will even teach under trees if we have to." ❤ "Dié taal sal in die skool wees! Onse taal sal geleer word!" ❤
Now this is my REAL language, not Afrikaans
They speak like the HADZABE of Tanzania🇹🇿 remaining indegenous hunters and gatherous
I would be more than willing to learn this language given an opportunity.
And it's crazy how the nguni languages came from a group of people that were part of this tribe that spoke this language
One thing about this is to say how little we know of own history and it's language. The more things change, the more they stay the same.... In this case they became forgotten!!!
The most official South African language is not recognized as one of the official languages in the country. South Africa has 11 official languages, including Sesotho and Setwana which are from neighboring countries Lesotho and Botswana. Yet the original language is left to die. The attention to the language which holds the title of being the most in risk of becoming a dying language is Afrikaans, which is no where near to being a dying language as compared to N|uu language
Lesotho and Botswana are not the original homes of the those respective tribes( Basotho and Batswana). These tribes are fully South African, having been uprooted to where they are now during Colonial times. The ancestors of these tribes lived in SA for centuries along side the San, Khoi and Nama.
They are and always have been
Bathong. Batswana didn't migrate here. These borders were created on top of our heads. This is why we have some families on the other side.
Wena you are crazy, Free State and Gauteng is the home of all Basotho tribes your Bataung, Bakwena, Basia, Batlokoa and many others. Same thing with Batswana tribes with North-West your Bafokeng, Bakgatla and many others
Your comment about Afrikaans doesn't make sense, these people were speaking Afrikaans in the video, to each other. The kids are speaking Afrikaans, and the mom was teaching them N|UU. Guess what, Afrikaans is the third most common natively-spoken language in the country, after Zulu and Xhosa, out of the 11 official languages. Sometimes you should just do some research before you type and make yourself look like an idiot.
This is real content now.
Many thanks, dear Gabriel. We appreciate your positive feedback. 🙌
Only truth detected here
Watching this...i miss my grandma 😢
Me too😔
@@CodenameJamesleeI was literally just thinking about my Mama, I'm sorry to the both of you. ❤
@@Billie0728 ❤
@@Billie0728 ❤️
Help! Why is this making me cry
Wonderful.
We're glad you liked it, dear Kris. 🙌
What I can say is the Xhosa language is a telling memory of Koi, Nama and San marriage of languages with Nguni. The purity of San, Nama and Koi is in brink of collapse however, mixing them with other cultures could be a solution rather than a fear of extinction.
@KJ V
More languages should die. They should focus on learning a more widely spoken language to increase their opportunities.
@@jonatand2045u stupid
@@jonatand2045So, you saying Spanish speakers should stop speaking Spanish because they won't have as much opportunities as an English speaker?
@@maseti67
Over time yes, but at least Spanish is spoken by several millions. Machine translation will get around the problem though.
@@kjv8567Khoi’s and Sans are black! Thé anti black sentiment is what will bring extinction! You can hear that Xhosa is a derivative of these languages! It’s very apparent
This language is still very prominent in Namibia 🇳🇦 its called Damara
If these people only knew the languages r still well and alive
No. Damara is a totally different language to N|uu. Not even the same language family.
@caimaccoinnich9594 pretty much the same, they both khoisan languages with more similarities than you think.
@@drelombongo5480Khoisan languages are three language families that share a sprachbund or two but are NOT related. Damara is a Khoe-Kwadi language while N|uu is a Tuu language. Khoe-Kwadi languages originate in the North of Botswana and Namibia while Tuu languages were only found in the interior of South Africa. And the most Southern reaches of Botswana.
To my blood sister Dame x proud op jou Ouma en Jou se vir jou ouma syt nog n seun gekry vandag in KNYSNA 😊
I don't want to seem like I'm telling someone what to do. But definitely a crowdfunding and actually video recording the grandmother to have vision documentation and references so we don't lose that language.
Hi, I’m South African and have a very keen interest in learning languages… I can speak most SA languages fluently…. If there’s a volunteer to teach me Iam willing to learn.
This is exciting and heartbreaking at the same, being colonized is the worse thing that could happen to a nation, those colonisers were savages.
It's like sitting next to the last member of your friend group who's dying, or a grandmother, and all you want to do is spend every moment, and try as best you can to remember every detail. Knowing full well it will slip away, but nothing else in the world is more important than to hold on
Some maybe wondering that Botswana also has bushman tribe but the thing is the languages differ of Southafrica cause of how the words are produced and different things will havr different sounds
In Namibia too. We have the Hai//om, Ju/hoansi and Khwe sub-groups.
This type of doccie should have been done a long time ago
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Preserving heritage is the only way to honour those who came before us and to ensure those after us have a true view without distorted facts dreamt up by third party propaganda.
All of the best with the project and preserving something beautiful!
I love Aljazeera documentaries so much especially WITNESS.
They show us other parts of the world
Absolutely fascinating!
I knew a man named Father Alex who lived in America becoming a Catholic priest. He spoke the language but sadly passed away in the late 90s from TB (i was a child so I dont remember).
The fact that gogo is still wearing her wedding ring gave me some warmth
My nephew is a linguist specialising in Xri, among others. Currently studying at Anne Arbor, University of Michigan.
Martin Mössmer
Why it sounds like hadzhabe language?
Ey the damage Europe has done and the pain it has put us through is unspeakable and irreparable 🤞🏽🤞🏽
And they dare to call themselves civilized, what a joke!!
Lmao the ngunis are half the reason the San are almost extinct. Please get off your high horse
God will restore🙏🏼
We are such special people. ❤ we come from and belong to a sacred people and land. We were here. We are here. We will always be here. 👑 We are the the first people.
Beautiful!
Any language that does not have writing dies out fast. Recording and verbal transmission is needed. Many languages are disappearing.
Hearing gogo say “I’m not feeble. I’m still young…” made me think about a lot of things
I enjoyed the documentary
so beautiful!
The whites had hunting expeditions to wipe the bushman along the Drakensberg mountain and a Boer/ farmer would be paid for that depending on how many heads he had killed.the bantus also has a role in this but we bred with them especially the xhosas and tswanas and other tribes .but we still have a lot of them in Botswana,south Africa and namibia.zimbabwe ,Zambia, Angola and lesotho have them too.
You bred with them or intermarried? You must learn to use the english language correctly. We are not animals. Respect us.
The language wasnt gonna die if coloured people embraced it.
You have no idea the level of genocide that the Khoikhoi, whites AND Bantu people have all aimed at the San for so long
Why we as children of the land always feel like we don't have to proof to others that we are entitled to first rights buy we always take a step back to give to all the adopted always first privilege, all we ask is to allow the house to keep its language as it is the language of the first Born of this specific land..I agree with you that ouma will live many more years until the assignment of re established the home language back in place again, and may more resources seek and find you to assist you more in this assignment as it's not a selfish and self gain Pursue..Cape town the mother city greets you and sends you peace and prosperity.🕊️❤️🤗
The trajedy is now the identity theft, bushmen are black people but now people who hate blackness are stealing the identity and claiming to be bushmen…..it’s crazy😅😅😅😅
With God nothing is impossible... through prayer and perseverance we ought to join together to preserve this precious language. I wonder how it's not taught in our local schools. OUR GOVERNMENT LEADERS SHOULD BE ASHAMED...!!!
She looks like former Sourh African president Nelson Mandela.
The day that San/Khoi people accept that they are African, Black and they descended from Angola! Is the day that they would heal and realise that many of their tribe mates are still there in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Angola!
But Apartheid damaged their core, they’d rather die than be called Black/African!
San /Khoi people know that they are black, the identity theft is a problem since coloured people are now claiming to be San but hate blackness forgetting that San are black…..that’s really f…up situation
I love this so much makes me proud that I'm also part of the qriqua lineage
my great great grandmother was able to speak this language fluently, but it unfortunately died with her
We need to respect elders! She should've moved the heater instead of telling her to move around it.
I saw that. What is worse it is a old person with a walking stick. She said that like she is talking to her younger sister
I come from a nomadic tribe aswell and we all speak different dialects but the different tribes still understand each other so theres no way the language will die there will always be a few groups who still honour tradition
This isn’t the last speaker… it’s a dying language, yes , however Northern Cape, Namibia and Botswana have communities still.
Are you not confusing this one N|uu language with the many different Khoe and Juu languages spoken in other communities across these regions? Nama, !Xoon and Ju|'hoan, for example, are completely different languages spoken other peoples. When Ouma Katriena says she's the last native speakers, it's because she survived her N||ng-speaking siblings and the 20 or so scattered elders who language researchers had helped connect with each other in the 1990s. This specific language has not been passed on to the younger generations since people like Katriena Esau's childhood- their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are mostly Afrikaans and/or Nama speakers. That's why there's revival and preservation efforts today.
Thats very true, most people don't know that we hav a lot of these communities in the Northern Cape
@@mnmeskc848 oh okay
And Angola
@@tsholofelomocumi4207 The government needs to document these languages if that is the case.
Dit is so 'n pragtige taal. Dit sal 'n ramp wees as die taal moet uitsterf. Oom Andre.
Yebo ouma joy is still young 😊😊I really wish I could learn
We can't let this language die!
🙏 language must survive ❤
In the neighboring Namibia, we also have a large San Population. They seem to speak a different dialect from that depicted here, they are Hai||om, !Khung and others. Just like the youngsters in the video, some San here speak other languages more, such as the related Khoekhoegowab, Afrikaans, Setswana, and others. The bushmen group of languages are all endangered. I hear similar thing in Botswana.
There is a another language I see dying here in SA and I do like iT, it's called Sephuthi
Sekgolokwe as well, siphuthi is well spoken in E.C and Lesotho
What is PANSALB doing because they are the one who is supposed to be funding the documenting of Nxhu .
That granny is a treasure on her own 😢
I would love to know if I'm related to khoi/san or not, our history has been erased and diluted so much it's hard to know where we come from
I'm 3:48 in and I'm crying...
I had the privilege of visiting this cave but it’s not finished and we just walked in there was nobody there it looked abandoned very sad
The government must help to preserve endangered languages.
They must stop being corrupt thieves and value human life and wellbeing first. Language comes second.
Boesman meisie ek is trots op jou🎉
THIS SHOULD BE THE WORLDWIDE COMMON LANGUAGE-FOR ALL AFRICANS, NO INVADER LANGUAGE HAS CORRUPTED IT🕷✊🏾
"Corrupted" is so meaningless. The truth is the dying language is useless, it belongs in a museum.
Africans forgetting that their invader languages was what helped nearly kill off the San
What can we do to help😢
Thank you Aljazeera
Grandma be looking like Nelson Mandela
The language is very close to isiXhosa
So sad to see my ancestors mother tongue is wiped out
are they the khoi khoi and the san people?
They are "San" people. "KhoiKhoi" is another group.
And instead of talking to each other in their own language they’re still speak Afrikaans (Dutch) the very language that cause the exstinction of their own.
How can we help these women?