Learning to click

I learned how to pronounce !Khwa ttu when I visited there last week. The ! represents a click which are sounds found in all San languages.

!Khwa ttu is a San living museum in the Western Cape near the West Coast National Park. !Khwa ttu is dedicated to the culture and heritage of the San people of Southern Africa. They offer tours and accommodations, a delicious restaurant and they have a replica San village and an awesome art gallery and craft shop. !Khwa ttu is a joint venture between the San people and the Swiss philanthropic UBUNTU Foundation. All proceeds benefit the San people directly.

One of the ways !Khwa ttu encourages the San spirit to flourish is by teaching San language classes. There are several San languages which originated across Southern Africa and only a handful of San who still speak them and carry on the tradition.

In fact one of the San languages has been all but completely eradicated from use. The San group in question were forced to speak Afrikaans by their colonial oppressors and eventually there were no native speakers left. But don't worry, there are other San groups who act as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the lost languages.

First you have to master the clicks. Each has a distinct way of formation. tongue to teeth, roof of the mouth, etc. My favorite is like a kissing sound.

Pucker up. Believe me, it is going to take a lot of practice.