How often do you speak in your mother tongue? Updated Poelano Malema Share this: 21 February marks International Mother Language Day and highlights the importance of preserving culture through speaking one’s mother tongue. Family/ iStock According to ethnologue.com, there are more than 7,000 spoken languages in the world. South Africa alone is blessed with eleven official languages. They are Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and isiZulu. Sadly, as more people become bilingual and seek to learn a more prestigious language to gain social and economic advantages or to avoid discrimination, they can lose their own languages.