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<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html> <head> <title>Northern Sotho language, alphabet and pronunciation</title> <meta name="description" content="Northern Sotho is a Bantu language spoken in parts of South Africa by a about four million people." />  <script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-WB7PSHBG');</script>  <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.omniglot.com/images/logos/omniglot_thumbnail.jpg" /> <meta property="og:type" content="https://www.facebook.com/pg/Omniglot-100430558332117/posts/" /> <link href="/styles/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="https://the.gatekeeperconsent.com/cmp.min.js" data-cfasync="false"></script> <script async src="//www.ezojs.com/ezoic/sa.min.js"></script> <script> window.ezstandalone = window.ezstandalone || {}; ezstandalone.cmd = ezstandalone.cmd || []; </script></head> <body> <div id="header">  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-WB7PSHBG" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <p><a href="/index.htm"><img src="/images/logos/header_omniglot.png" width="600" height="70" alt="Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems & languages" /></a></p> <ul> <li><a href="/index.htm">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/index.htm">Alphabets</a></li> <li><a href="/conscripts/index.htm">Constructed scripts</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/languages.htm">Languages</a></li> <li><a href="/language/phrases/phraseindex.htm">Phrases</a></li> <li><a href="/language/numbers/index.htm">Numbers</a></li> <li><a href="/language/ml.htm">Multilingual Pages</a></li> <li><a href="/search.htm">Search</a></li> <li><a href="/news/index.htm">News</a></li> <li><a href="/about.htm">About</a></li> <li><a href="/contact.htm">Contact</a></li> </ul></div> <div id="bodybox"> <span style="text-align:center;"><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-162"></div> <script> ezstandalone.cmd.push(function() { ezstandalone.showAds(162); }); </script></span><div id="body"> <h1>Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa / Sepedi)</h1> <p>Northern Sotho is one of the official languages of South Africa and is a member of the Bantu/Nguni family of languages. It is spoken by about 4.2 million people in the South African provinces of Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. </p> <p>Northern Sotho is referred to as Pedi or Sepedi in South Africa. Pedi is one variety of Northern Sotho spoken by the Pedi people who live in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The Pedi dialect of Northern Sotho is also the basis for the written language. </p> <h2>Northern Sotho pronunciation</h2> <p><img src="../images/writing/nsotho.gif" width="589" height="352" alt="Northern Sotho pronunciation" /> </p> <p><a href="../charts/northernsotho.xls">Download an alphabet chart for Northern Sotho</a> (Excel) </p> <p><em>Information about Northern Sotho pronunciation compiled by Wolfram Siegel</em> </p> <h2>Sample text in Northern Sotho</h2> <p>Batho ka moka ba belegwe ba lokologile le gona ba na le seriti sa go lekana le ditokelo. Ba filwe monagano le letswalo mme ba swanete go swarana ka moya wa bana ba mpa. </p> <h3>Translation</h3> <p>All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. <br /> <em>(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)</em> </p> <h2>Sample videos in Northern Sotho</h2> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zPDctOT3nNM" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aQNZL4zrDaY" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cncfrWnSDBA" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <p class="info"><a href="/writing/nsotho.htm">Information about Northern Sotho</a> | <a href="/language/phrases/northernsotho.htm">Phrases</a> | <a href="/language/numbers/northernsotho.htm">Numbers</a> | <a href="/babel/nsotho.htm">Tower of Babel</a> </p> <h2>Links</h2> <p>Information about Northern Sotho<br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sotho_language">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sotho_language</a><br /> <a href="http://africanlanguages.com/northern_sotho/">http://africanlanguages.com/northern_sotho/</a> </p> <p>Northern Sotho phrases<br /> <a href="https://iitranslation.blogspot.com/p/practice-and-learn-sepedi-words-phrases.html">https://iitranslation.blogspot.com/p/practice-and-learn-sepedi-words-phrases.html</a><br /> <a href="http://www.salanguages.com/northernsotho/sepwrd.htm">http://www.salanguages.com/northernsotho/sepwrd.htm</a><br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sotho_language#Vocabulary">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sotho_language#Vocabulary</a><br /> <a href="https://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/southafrica/ZA_Sepedi_Language_Lessons.pdf">https://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/southafrica/ZA_Sepedi_Language_Lessons.pdf</a><br /> <a href="https://app.memrise.com/course/1317308/learn-sepedi/">https://app.memrise.com/course/1317308/learn-sepedi/</a></p> <p>Northern Sotho dictionary<br /> <a href="http://africanlanguages.com/sdp/">http://africanlanguages.com/sdp/</a> </p> <h2>Bantu languages</h2> <p><a href="/writing/bafaw-balong.htm">Bafaw-Balong</a>, <a href="/writing/bangi.htm">Bangi</a>, <a href="/writing/basaa.php">Basaa</a>, <a href="/writing/bemba.php">Bemba</a>, <a href="/writing/bena.htm">Bena</a>, <a href="/writing/benga.htm">Benga</a>, <a href="/writing/bhaca.htm">Bhaca</a>, <a href="/writing/bube.htm">Bube</a>, <a href="/writing/bukusu.htm">Bukusu</a>, <a href="/writing/bulu.htm">Bulu</a>, <a href="/writing/centralteke.htm">Central Teke</a>, <a href="/writing/chichewa.php">Chichewa</a>, <a href="/writing/chokwe.htm">Chokwe</a>, <a href="/writing/chuwabu.htm">Chuwabu</a>, <a href="/writing/comorian.htm">Comorian</a>, <a href="/writing/dciriku.htm">Dciriku</a>, <a href="/writing/digo.htm">Digo</a>, <a 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