South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. Almost all South Africans speak English to some degree of proficiency, in addition to their native language, with English acting as a lingua franca in commerce, education, and government.[1][2] South Africa has eleven official languages, but other indigenous languages are spoken by smaller groups, chiefly Khoisan languages.[3]
Members of the middle class, who are predominantly white and Indian but whose ranks include growing numbers of other groups, have lifestyles similar in many respects to that of people found in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
The Apartheid state legally classified South Africans into one of four race groups, determined where they could live, and enforced segregation in education, work opportunities, public amenities and social relations. Although these laws were abolished by the early 1990s, the apartheid racial categories remain ingrained in South African culture,[4][5][6][7] with South Africans continuing to classify themselves, and each other, as belonging to one of the four defined race groups (blacks, whites, Coloureds and Indians)[7][6] making it difficult to define a single South African culture that doesn't make reference to these racial categories.[7]
^Posel, Dorrit; Zeller, Jochen (2011). "Home language and English language ability in South Africa: Insights from new data". Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. 29 (2): 115–126. doi:10.2989/16073614.2011.633360. hdl:10413/8453. ISSN 1607-3614. S2CID 145123143.
^"ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA – A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD (2)". Teaching English Today. 3 November 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
^du Plessis, Menán (2019). "The Khoisan Languages of Southern Africa: Facts, Theories and Confusions". Critical Arts. 33 (4–5): 1–22. doi:10.1080/02560046.2019.1647256. ISSN 0256-0046. S2CID 203429045.
^Rondganger, Lee (6 June 2006). "Being an African makes me who I am". IOL. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
^du Preez, Max (9 March 2011). "Are we all 'coloured'?". News24. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
^ abPosel, Deborah (2001). "What's in a name? Racial categorisations under apartheid and their afterlife" (PDF). Transformation: 50–74. ISSN 0258-7696. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2006.
^ abcPillay, Kathryn (2019). "Indian Identity in South Africa". The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity. pp. 77–92. doi:10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_9. ISBN 978-981-13-2897-8.
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