“Learning the Language of My Forebears”: Cape Town Woman’s Khoisan Lesson Goes Viral

• A Cape Town woman shared a video teaching basic Khoisan phrases, including greetings and common questions, which got over 6,000 likes as she connects with her ancestral roots
• The woman posted the language lesson on 21st March 2025 to help preserve the ancient click language of her ancestors
• South Africans flooded her comments asking where they could learn the language too, with some suggesting it should be added to language learning apps like Duolingo

A Cape Town woman has touched hearts across South Africa after sharing her journey of learning the language of her ancestors.

Content creator @earthy__tones, who regularly posts about her love for nature and healthy living, uploaded a video at the end of March teaching basic Khoisan phrases to her followers.

In the clip posted, she starts by asking questions in the language and then answering them in the same language with an English translation pinned on the video. The video ends with her greeting everyone and wishing them a great day in her ancestral language.

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The video was shared with the simple caption:

"Learning the language of my forebears."

The clip quickly went viral, collecting over 6,000 likes from South Africans who were inspired by her efforts to connect with her heritage.

Who are the Khoisan people

The Khoisan people were once the largest group of humans on Earth, about 22,000 years ago. These hunter-gatherers lived across southern Africa and had incredible knowledge about surviving in nature. They knew which plants to eat, how to make medicine from herbs, and had amazing hunting and tracking skills.

Today, only about 100,000 Khoisan people remain, and many live in poverty with their cultural traditions under threat. The group is also known as Bushmen, and their way of life is slowly disappearing as they're forced to give up hunting and move to farming or herding.

One of the most important parts of Khoisan culture is their language, which uses clicks as consonants. Language experts believe that the more clicks a language has, the older it is, and Khoisan has five clicks - more than any other language in the world.

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Sadly, this ancient language is at risk of being lost forever as younger generations don't get the chance to learn it properly. In places like Botswana, there are laws stopping traditional hunting, and many Khoisan communities have been pushed off their ancestral lands.

The loss of the language means losing thousands of years of knowledge about surviving in nature, understanding animal behaviour, and traditional medicine that could benefit everyone.

Watch the Instagram clip here

SA wants to learn too

The video sparked huge interest from South Africans who want to help preserve this important part of our heritage:

@heavyweightboxernamibian revealed:

"Come to Namibia, we have it as a subject in school."

@aewonwolf was curious:

"Amazing🙏🏿 Can I ask if 'Ra ha' is 'live'? I'm just guessing from your translation text 😅"

@khanya__nel had a great idea:

"Can't they gather speakers to help add this to duolingo?? 😭😭"

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@biekies97 felt connected:

"My grandfather is a Nama-speaking man from Namibia, Khoisan sounds very similar 😍😍This just made me feel nostalgic."

@zipper_lips19 wanted to know more:

"Oooo, well done🔥🔥🔥 Are you going to classes??? I am very interested."

@marietjiem_ appreciated the effort:

"Thank you for keeping this language alive! More people need to learn it 🙌❤️"

3 Other stories about different languages

• Briefly News recently reported on Big Zulu speaking Sesotho to explain something personal about his rap career, but what he revealed about his musical history had fans completely surprised.
• A mother helped her son with Afrikaans homework despite not speaking the language herself, and the creative way she tackled the challenge earned praise from thousands of South Africans.
• A white man speaking isiZulu got over 1 million views on TikTok, but it was what he was eating and how much he enjoyed it that had Mzansi cracking up with laughter.

Source: Briefly News