In this edition of the language corner, we begin a month-long focus on isiNdebele, which is one of South Africa’s eleven official languages. There are essentially two dialects of Ndebele, namely Southern Ndebele and Northern Ndebele, or Matabele/ isiNdebele. Over the next four weeks, we will further explore the Ndebele language. The Northern and Southern Ndebele languages both fall in the Nguni group of Bantu languages. Northern Ndebele is essentially a dialect of Zulu, and the older Southern Ndebele language falls within a different subgroup.