Skills on AI

Locale Tn Za

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Use when working with the Tswana (South Africa) locale (`tn-ZA`) — its endonym Setswana (Aforika 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 Tswana (South Africa) locale — endonym Setswana (Aforika Borwa), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

  • BCP 47 tag: tn-ZA
  • ISO 639-1: tn
  • ISO 639-3: tsn
  • Script: Latn (Latin)
  • Region: ZA (South Africa)
  • Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

  • L1 (native): 4,200,000
  • L2 (additional): 3,500,000
  • L1+L2 (total): 7,700,000

Pluralization

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

  • one — n = 1 (e.g. 1)
  • other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Setswana is a Sotho-Tswana Bantu language of Botswana and South Africa, one of the official languages of South Africa. It is written disjunctively, with noun classes and tone. This guidance is lower-confidence; have a native reviewer check it.

Translate ideas, not words.

  • Setswana 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 Setswana terminology (from PanSALB and the National Language Service) rather than raw English borrowings where one exists.
  • Re-express idioms and proverbs (diane) by meaning.

Grammar and register.

  • Writing is disjunctive (compare conjunctive Nguni languages such as Locale Zu 001). Do not join pronouns and verb markers into single words.
  • Polite address uses titles (rra, mma) and the plural. Greetings are important (Dumela, Dumelang).

Orthography and typography.

  • Follow the standard orthography for ts, tsh, tl, tlh, kg, kgh, and ng.
  • Currency rand (R) in South Africa, pula in Botswana; dates 17 Diphalane 2026 (check the month name with a reviewer); check CLDR.

Common pitfalls

  • Writing conjunctively.
  • Mixing Sesotho or Sepedi forms.
  • Wrong noun-class concords.

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-tn-za/SKILL.md on GitHub