Skills on AI

Locale Nso Za

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Use when working with the Northern Sotho (South Africa) locale (`nso-ZA`) — its endonym Sesotho sa Leboa (Afrika Borwa), Latin script, left-to-right (LTR) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.

Reference data for the Northern Sotho (South Africa) locale — endonym Sesotho sa Leboa (Afrika Borwa), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

  • BCP 47 tag: nso-ZA
  • ISO 639-1: not assigned
  • ISO 639-3: nso
  • Script: Latn (Latin)
  • Region: ZA (South Africa)
  • Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

  • L1 (native): 4,700,000
  • L2 (additional): 5,000,000
  • L1+L2 (total): 9,700,000

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

  • one — n = 0..1 (e.g. 0, 1)
  • other — everything else (e.g. 2~17, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Northern Sotho (Sepedi, Sesotho sa Leboa) is a Sotho-Tswana Bantu language of South Africa, one of the official languages of the country. It is written disjunctively, with noun classes and tone. This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

  • Sepedi verbs carry subject, tense, and object markers as separate words in the written form (ke a bala). Restructure English sentences; do not translate word for word.
  • Nouns belong to noun classes with concord on adjectives, verbs, and possessives.
  • Use approved Sepedi terminology (from PanSALB and the National Language Service) rather than raw English borrowings where one exists.
  • Re-express idioms and proverbs (maele) by meaning.

Grammar and register.

  • Writing is disjunctive. Do not join pronouns and verb markers.
  • Polite address uses titles (rra, mma) and the plural. Greetings are important (Thobela, Dumela, Thobelang).

Orthography and typography.

  • Follow the standard orthography for š, ž, ŋ where used, and for digraphs such as tš, tlh, kg.
  • Currency rand (R); dates 17 Dibokwane 2026 (check the month name with a reviewer); check CLDR.

Common pitfalls

  • Writing conjunctively.
  • Mixing Setswana or Sesotho forms.
  • Dropping š and other special letters.

Learn more

  • Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
  • Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
  • Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), the statutory body for the official languages of South Africa

View locale-nso-za/SKILL.md on GitHub