One of the things that tends to unite us is our language, but it is also something that can separate us as well. Sometimes, languages may come and go, and they can be lost in history in some cases.

One particular language that has been around for thousands of years is a click language which is one of the most endangered on the face of the earth. In fact, there is only one woman, Ouma Katrina Esau who can speak it fluently.

That language, N|uu is considered to be the most endangered language in the world. Out of a population that one time held many fluent speakers, there is only one left. Even the name of the language, which is spoken with a clicking sound between the N and the uu is somewhat lost.

The click language comes from the San people, who were part of a culture in southern Africa that were hunter-gatherers. Originally, and may have come from southern Kalahari, an area that borders Botswana, South Africa, and Nambia.

When the British Empire entered and began colonizing Africa in the 19th century, people who spoke the language were not treated well. If you spoke the language openly, you could be beaten or even killed for using it.

As a result, many people didn’t speak the language in the open and they would only speak it in private. Eventually, a sociolinguist, Dr Nigel Crawhall would uncover the language in an attempt to bring it back to life.

That was in the 1990s and at the time, 25 people were fluent in N|uu but in 2021, only Esau remained out of that group.

One linguist and a director of a professional linguistic consultancy, Dr. Kerry Jones said: “The 90s was a massive turnaround point and where people were starting to feel safe to come forward.

“We had these elderly people who were coming forward saying, ‘Look, I’m gonna die soon anyway, so it’s okay. I’m gonna let you know: I’m not actually ‘coloured’, I’m San. And I can prove it because I can still speak the language.’ The language became key in proving their identity.

“People used to move through that whole region between South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana all the time. Then all of a sudden, these people came and started putting up fences and saying you had to have identification and passports.

“This was the beginning of the demise in a way because it’s started to separate people. Their families were split up.”

Esau has been teaching her granddaughter the language and is working along with Dr. Jones to preserve it. Since May, they have now been teaching it to younger generations in local schools.

Dr. Jones said: “Her granddaughter, Claudia can speak the language. Not fluently, but as an additional language. But she’s literate and Ouma Katrina isn’t literate, so between the two of them, it’s a good combination.”

It would be amazing to continue having this language as a part of their culture.