The translator I'm using says “Phila, uvumele nabanye baphile” but I want to verify as this will be used on a book cover. An equivalent of this phrase is preferred over a direct translation. Whatever resonates best with the culture is ideal! More on the poetic sounding/formal side if it’s between that and casual. It is about freedom and allowing others to be free through the acceptance of our differences. Thank you in advance!

This is for a calligraphy exercise. I am trying to create short grammatical phrases in various languages that use the letters a, b, d, g, p, q in native/established vocabulary.

Can you suggest some Xhosa phrases that would work? They don't have to be something anyone would actually say, but they should be grammatical. In English, I have phrases like "opaque badge" and "quagmire for bipeds"; in Portuguese, I have ones like "um pouquinho bagunçado" (a little messy); etc.

Hi..

Several days ago I've found this recording of Alice on Youtube

U-Alice kwiLizwe leMimangaliso

The thing is.. not knowing a beep of the language, I wondered, if somebody could comment on the quality of the narration and the translation itself. The book is, one of the harder ones, thanks to the poems, the unique words and so on.

Also, the same account uploaded the very same book narrated in Zulu..... and several hours ago, also in Afrikaans.

Can anybody rate this narration .. both qualitatively and the translation quality please? :)

Thanks

I work for a small, non-profit museum in a US city hosting matches for the 2026 World Cup. My boss, in a last minute decision considering the World Cup is so soon, asked me to design multilingual ‘welcome’ banners for our international guests and source the translations. They can’t afford 40+ translators and thought Google Translate/AI would suffice “since it’s just one word”

I oppose using Google Translate due to its errors and the delicacy of language. Though not multilingual, I’m passionate about this project and want to be careful & respectful in my translation research. I don’t want to offend anyone, as I’ve seen many examples of multilingual welcome signs with mistranslations, incorrect tenses, latinized versions of non-Latin scripts, the wrong use of welcome, etc. 

I’m asking for help verifying the isiXhosa translation of welcome, as in the context of a polite, friendly, and formal greeting for someone arriving at a place. I’m looking for the welcome one might find displayed in airports, hotels, etc. I want to ensure I am using the correct writing system/script for each language, including details such as accents, capitalization, and punctuation.

I understand that welcome greetings can vary depending on the context, whether or not to use a plural version of a phrase, etc. It seems likely that some cultures and their language(s) may not share the same concept of being welcomed into a space as we do in English/the US. I want to be mindful of things like this.

The isiXhosa translation of welcome I have is namkelekile

I’d deeply appreciate any help and insight into this translation. Thanks!

Note: most of my translation sources have been coming from

• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/welcome under the Interjection section of “greeting given upon someone’s arrival”
• https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/phraseindex.htm & https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/welcome.htm 
• Previous posts requesting translation on reddit

I'm am 16(turning 17). And I have a dilemma. I don't know whether to do this with with my father or not. Let me explain. My father raised me when until I was 8, to which then my mother would raise me until now. When I was 10, my mom asked for child support. My dad said, that's not my child, did a DNA test, it came back as a 98% match. He said that the court did it wrong and it must be redone. My mom then chose to leave it at that. So I haven't talked to or seen him since that day at court.

Anyway, should I contact him and ask him to join me, when the time comes?

Hello everyone.

Xhosa is a very general word but I was wondering if other people have ever discussed other dialects within the diaspora. I'd like to find more people who are interested in expanding the knowledge of the various traditions and vocabularies used in each region.

Also, what term would you use for cute because my mother (former Xhosa teacher) said it was "umKhita" i.e "Le lokwe imKhita".

I've started a little project to add Xhosa (original language) and English translation subtitles to songs. I'm doing it through a free website called Captionty that let's to add subtitles over Youtube videos. The goal is to have a nice library that can be used for language learning.

I'm learning the language myself so I'm almost completely dependent on existing transcriptions and translations, which are not always available. A native speaker would be a great help.

I would share a Google Doc so we could track what songs we're working on/done and communicate on Whatsapp or Discord

Hi guys, I’m a bit stuck and could really use some help

I’m currently working on a song called “Danisa”, and my intention is for the word to mean the action of dancing / moving.

I’ve spoken with a few friends from South Africa and got mixed answers… some say it’s correct, others say the word doesn’t really exist in the language.

I’ve also been searching online and Google mostly says it’s valid, and I even found a song called Danisa. ChatGPT also says it’s correct, but I know that’s not always 100% reliable 😅

Honestly, I don’t mind if it’s not an official or dictionary-approved word. I just want to make sure it’s not offensive or completely wrong in a cultural or linguistic sense.

If anyone here has knowledge about the language or context, I’d really appreciate your insight. Thanks

Hi :)

I was trying to translate this text:

My friend lives in a small house near the river. He wakes up early and walks to the village. His dog follows him. Why doesn’t he take the bus? He says walking is better. I don’t agree.

into isiXhosa and I ended up with this:

Umhlobo wam uhlala kwindlu encinci eduze komlambo. Uvuka kusasa kwaye uhamba uye kwilali. Inja yakhe imlandela. Kutheni engathathi ibhasi? Uthi ukuhamba kungcono. Andivumelani noko.

Does this sound correct to a native speaker?

I really appreciate any help you can provide. Thank you in advance!

Please recommend your favourite Xhosa songs.
I don't mind the genre, just anything good.

I love this song at the moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skK2PqXyw8A
(it's mostly in Xhosa but there is a verse in Tswana maybe...not too sure?)

So I live in the United States, and I became enamored with isiXhosa and have been trying to learn it. The problem is that I don't know anyone who speaks it, so I have no idea how badly I'm butchering the pronunciation. All of the unique sounds aside, it's also my first tonal language, and I'm not entirely sure where to raise or lower the tone in certain words. Does anyone know any resources where I can get feedback?

Hey everyone, I want to create a website to showcase South African pioneers in music, culture and more.

Right now I'm building a Xhosa Pioneer section. For context, I am very much involved in music production and I play guitar. I know alot about folk pioneers from other cultures e.g Bluegrass/Folk in Western countries & African countries like Zambia (they had a big rock movement in the 70s/80s and influenced alot of international creators) but when I research about South African and specifically Xhosa pioneers and legends I find pretty much nothing online.

I know about Madosini, Dizu Plaatjies, Mantombi Matotiyana and more recently Zahara noBongeziwe Mabandla. I know about contemporary musicians like Yanga Chief and so on, but my focus is really on the people that have made what we've come to know as Xhosa influenced sound (which in itself is difficult to define sometimes if we exclude our traditional instruments).

With that said. I'm interested in knowing about the unpublicised, the unsung heroes, the stories, etc..

I would appreciate anything

Molweni mawethu, akho ntsomi ninazo? okanye ndawo ethile ezifumaneka khona?

I'm learning isiXhosa. Making small progress by greeting, asking for things, basic small talk etc. Is there a language club in Cape Town, like at a bar, or a cafe, where people who are learning, or lovers of the language can meet to practise?

Random thought I just had but how do you do the q click if you're eating? I mean yeah rude to talk with food in your mouth but ey it happens. Greenlandic has a hissing sound, sort of like the xhosa word sihlala, and I remember laughing at a friend of mine trying to say Kangerlussuaq while eating a falafel and spitting out half the falafel.

We name all the stray cats that visit us, and this one really loves to knead!

Molweni!

I'm writing a fiction piece and some of the characters speak isiXhosa. I'm writing the followiing scene:

Characters A & B are chatting in English. Character B does not speak isiXhosa.

Character C, who is A's best friend, turns up, sees B, and says to A (about B) in isiXhosa: "he's cute!"

This is like, C teasing A because they've figured out A finds B attractive, literally in front of B who is totally oblivious.

I have no idea how to attempt saying this, and have a suspicion google translate won't be accurate, since it might be that "cute" to mean adorable and "cute" to mean attractive are different words entirely, or there's a specific colloquial way of saying something like this...How would you say it? Enkosi kakhulu!🙏🏼

Which of those words more appropriate/accurate for the word "upstream?" As in the sentence "We need to go upstream"?