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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ A Bantu language 🧑🏿 A Bantu person
Tswana

Tswana

1 8.4
A language spoken mainly in Botswana and western South Africa
  • noun
  • /ˈtswɑːnə/
: tswana
  • She is learning to speak Tswana to connect with her heritage.
  • speak Tswana

Examples

  • In Botswana, many people communicate in Tswana as their first language.

  • Accordingly, choir members learn both the traditional, classical choral repertoire and the indigenous musics of Africa, including songs from the different regions and language groups in the country, such as Tswana, Ovambo, and Xhosa.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The Tswana language has many unique expressions that reflect the culture of its speakers.

Synonyms

Setswana
vsTswana
1 8.9

A language spoken by the Tswana people in Botswana and nearby areas

is the same language but described with a slightly different regional label
Sechuana
vsTswana
  • Archaic
9.9

A language called Setswana spoken by the Tswana people in Botswana and South Africa

is the same language but referred to with the other common name

Surface Forms

Tswana singular
Tswanas plural

Etymology

Tswana is also the name of the language spoken by those people. The language is often called Setswana, where the small part 'Se-' shows it is a language, so Tswana can be remembered as 'the language of the Tswana'.