In a nation boasting 12 official languages, ranger Nick Duranty, has passionately embraced the challenge of learning several, driven by a simple yet profound belief: to connect.
Hoedspruit, South Africa (08 May 2025) – South Africa is home to 12 official languages, each uniquely special and a medium of communication between culturally diverse and remarkable people.
With so many in our midst, Nick Duranty has taken a keen interest in learning as much of them as possible!
Nick, who has fast gained online popularity for his videos as a ranger and K9 dog trainer, is one of those cool South Africans who surprises many strangers he encounters when he opens his mouth to greet and speak isiZulu or isiXhosa fluently as a white man.
Naturally, he’s received many questions about where he’s from and where he learnt to speak Nguni languages so well.
He shared a video on his Facebook where he opened up about a military deployment at 18, where he found himself surrounded by Zulu men who spoke no English.
Of course, he picked up a lot of slang and swear words first – as guys do when in military camp, apparently – but he went on to learn more of the language, including animal names and everything related to nature, before grasping how to put together sentences and communicate properly.
Today, Nick not only speaks Zulu, Xhosa, and Tsonga fluently but also understands Swati and Sotho, and is actively learning Venda and Shona.
And if you’re wondering why it is so important for this ranger to understand so many languages, his reason is simple yet significant:
“I think it’s important in a country with so many languages that we can communicate with each other and be able to speak to each other in each of the languages. I think it’s very important,” Nick says.
Now, that’s a really great way of embracing our country’s rich diversity and its people.
Sources: Nick Duranty
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