In recent decades, Zulu has been gaining acceptance as a national language in South Africa. Zulu has been used more frequently in media and publications. Zulu is the most commonly spoken language in South African homes but English and Afrikaans are more popularly used by the government and in urban areas. Certain Zulu speaking tribes have begun to migrate out of South Africa and into neighboring countries. Zimbabwe has been an attractive country for these migrating Zulu tribes to bring their language and culture. While Zulu is spoken throughout South Africa, the highest concentrations of Zulu speaking communities are in eastern South African regions. Both Afrikaans and English have established themselves as the most popular languages for the government and businesses in South Africa.
Clicks are a major component of the Zulu language as well as other languages in southern Africa. The clicking sounds in Zulu are referred to as click consonants and exist in three types. The three types of click consonants in Zulu are dental, alveolar and lateral clicks. Zulu is also a very tonal language. The tones are learned through repetition and exposure to the verbal language as the written text will not indicate any accent or tones. Both of these qualities of Zulu may appear unusual to foreigners but they are very common to many of the Bantu languages.