Tsotsitaal, or (isi)Camtho, is a patois mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province in South Africa, such as Soweto. It is a pidgin of Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Afrikaans, English and some of the other languages spoken in the multilingual country. Although originally associated with the criminal subculture ("tsotsi" refers to an urban thug), its recognition has spread with the popularity of kwaito music.

Tsotsi is a Sesotho slang word for a "thug" or "robber" and taal is the Afrikaans word for "language". The alternative name, isiCamtho, comes from Zulu and is a combination of the language prefix isi- with a derivation of ukucamtha, which means "to chat".

See also

• Tsotsi, winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

External links

• Kwaito, an isiCamtho song style
• some isiCamtho poetry
• Ethnologue report on (isi)Camtho, Iscamtho