It can be difficult to find somebody to translate from English to Xhosa. Xhosa is a language spoken in Africa by less than 20 million people. Xhosa is an official language in two South African countries: Xhosa is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a second language in South Africa, mostly in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, and Northern Cape.
Translate from English to Xhosa
If you need to translate from English to Xhosa, there are good online tools to do so, or you can pass the job on to a qualified translation service that is capable to deliver an excellent job of translation from English to Xhosa. It used to be very hard to find a translator who could deliver a good Xhosa translation in a short time. With the help of the internet it’s a lot easier to find good translators for English to Xhosa, and if you are in a hurry, “quick and dirty” online translation is possible. You need to keep in mind, that the online tools might not always deliver the most accurate translation.
Translate from English to Xhosa Online
Google may not be your favorite website, but Google can help to translate almost any language!
Try this: Enter “google translate english xhosa” into the Google search field and you are immediately presented with a form where you can enter the text to be translated.
I.e. if you type “Translate this text to English” the site immediately returns the translation: “Guqulela lo mbhalo kwisiNgesi”.
Or, if you enter a larger chunk of text like i.e. this paragraph: “If you need to translate from English to Xhosa, there are good online tools to do so, or you can pass the job on to a qualified translation service that is capable to deliver an excellent job of translation from English to Xhosa.”
You get the result back within not even a second: “Ukuba ufuna ukuguqulela kwisiNgesi ukuya esiXhoseni, kukho izixhobo ezifanelekileyo kwi-intanethi ukwenza oko, okanye ungadlulisela umsebenzi kwinkonzo yokuguqulela enobuchule ekwaziyo ukuzisa umsebenzi obalaseleyo wokuguqulela ukusuka kwisiNgesi ukuya esiXhoseni.”
Translate from English to Xhosa with an English to Xhosa Dictionary
There are moments where you only need one word translated. To translate from English to Xhosa word by word, the good old Xhosa dictionary will be perfect, as you don’t need to have internet access.
This book “Modern Xhosa Dictionary: Xhosa-English and English-Xhosa”, ISBN 979-8616539236 is a good start. Here’s the description by the editor “Learn Xhosa the modern way with Xhosa kasahorow!Start exploring the modern world with Xhosa! The Modern Xhosa Dictionary is a Xhosa explorer’s dictionary for English language speakers. Read Modern Xhosa confidently. Contains all the words you need to understand every book in the kasahorow Xhosa Library. Discover the joy of learning new things in Xhosa. Suitable for everyone 13 years old and older.”
A more comprehensive book is “English/Xhosa Dictionary (Based on the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current)” , ISBN 978-0195702903. “A comprehensive English-Xhosa dictionary that includes everyday and technical terms and indicates the class system of Xhosa nouns. Numerous examples of usage in context make this dictionary a leader in its field, with about 15000 entries.” This is strictly only English – Xhosa and a lot more expensive.
Translate from English to Xhosa with a Mobile App
For Android there are plenty of apps in the Google Playstore, i,e, this one: “Xhosa to English Translator” which works also as English to Xhosa Translator.
Here is the official description for this app:
Easily translate Xhosa text to English using our free Xhosa to English Translator App. You can also perform English to Xhosa Translation.
Using inbuilt voice recognition technology, you can type your text using your voice and then translate the text. This convenient feature allows you to translate regular conversations. You can translate your Xhosa voice to English and English voice to Xhosa.
Using inbuilt speak functionality, you can listen to words or sentences. Click on speaker and the app will read Xhosa words/sentences. The app will also read English words/sentences.
Use it as a Dictionary. You can type your words in Xhosa and get the exact word in English. You can type your words in English and get the exact word in Xhosa.
As you see, there are many ways to translate from English to Xhosa.