What is Ndebele?
Ndebele is a name given to two distinct languages, the Northern Ndebele language spoken in Zimbabwe, and the Southern Ndebele language spoken in South Africa. Both languages are part of the Nguni group of the Bantu languages, but have some substantial differences. Northern Ndebele is spoken in Zimbabwe by roughly 1.5 million people. It is identified by the ISO-639-3 code nde, and is usually referred to as Northern Ndebele to differentiate it from Southern Ndebele. It may also be known as Tebele, Sindebele, or Isinde’bele. Northern Ndebele is also spoken by just over 8000 people in Botswana.
