<Table> <Tr> <Td> <1 / km2 1--3 / km2 3--10 / km2 10--30 / km2 30--100 / km2 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 100--300 / km2 300--1000 / km2 1000--3000 / km2> 3000 / km2 </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> <1 / km2 1--3 / km2 3--10 / km2 10--30 / km2 30--100 / km2 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 100--300 / km2 300--1000 / km2 1000--3000 / km2> 3000 / km2 </Td> </Tr> <P> The most common language spoken as a first language by South Africans is Zulu (23 percent), followed by Xhosa (16 percent), and Afrikaans (14 percent). English is the fourth most common first language in the country (9.6%), but is understood in most urban areas and is the dominant language in government and the media . </P> <P> The majority of South Africans speak a language from one of the two principal branches of the Bantu languages represented in South Africa: the Sotho--Tswana branch (Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Tswana), or the Nguni branch (Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele). For each of the two groups, the languages within that group are for the most part intelligible to a native speaker of any other language within that group . </P>

What is the most widely spoken language in south africa