Sotho, Southern Language | Joshua Project

Home People Groups Lists Language: Sotho, Southern

Language: Sotho, Southern

Population of Groups Speaking

6,260,000

People Groups Speaking as Primary Language

Scripture Status

Complete Bible

Audio Bible

Not Available

Jesus Film

Watch

Gospel Recordings

Listen

Map Notes

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Progress Scale: ●●●●●
☀
= Frontier peoples
People Group ▲	Country	Country Population	Global Population	Indigenous	Primary Religion	Progress Scale	% Christian Adherent	% Evangelical	Est. Workers Needed *
Sotho	Botswana	12,000	6,228,000		Christianity	4 ●	85.00 %	10.00 %	-1 -
Sotho	Eswatini	5,100	6,228,000		Christianity	4 ●	90.00 %	7.00 %	-1 -
Sotho, Southern	Lesotho	1,758,000	6,228,000	●	Christianity	5 ●	94.00 %	13.93 %	-1 -
Sotho, Southern	South Africa	4,453,000	6,228,000	●	Christianity	5 ●	82.00 %	21.04 %	-1 -
Sotho-Taung	Lesotho	32,000	32,000	●	Christianity	4 ●	95.00 %	6.00 %	-1 -
Totals: 5						0 ●			0

* An estimate of the number of pioneer workers needed for initial church planting among unreached people groups by country. Estimates are calculated only for unreached people groups and are based on ratio of 1 worker-unit (single person or married couple) per 50,000 living in an unreached people group by country, or for example one team of four worker-units per 200,000 people. Some workers may already be onsite. Many more workers are needed beyond this initial estimate.

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Click column headings for sorting ▲▼

Progress Scale: ●●●●●
☀
= Frontier peoples
People Group ▲	Country	Population	Global Population	Indigenous	Primary Religion	Progress Scale	% Christian Adherent	% Evangelical	Est. Workers Needed *
Sotho, Khutswe	South Africa	611,000	611,000	●	Christianity	5 ●	80.00 %	14.00 %	-1 -
Xhosa	Lesotho	24,000	8,593,000	●	Christianity	4 ●	75.00 %	10.00 %	-1 -
Zulu	Lesotho	189,000	14,110,000	●	Christianity	5 ●	70.00 %	11.00 %	-1 -
Totals: 3						0 ●			0

Download Data Data Sources Definitions

Item	Value
Status	Living
Ethnologue Code	sot
Written	Yes
Bible Translation	Complete Bible
Progress Scale	●

Language Alternate Names
Sesotho
Sisutho
Souto
Suthu
Suto

Dialects
Phuthi
Sesotho
Taung

Dialect Alternate Names
Sutho

Translation	Year / Status
Bible Portions	1839-1993
New Testament	1855-1982
Complete Bible	1872-2010

Possible Print Bibles
Amazon
Forum Bible Agencies
National Bible Societies
World Bible Finder
World Bibles

Online / Mobile App Bibles
Bible.com (YouVersion)


Resource Repositories
Language Archives
Linguist List
Scripture Earth
SIL Resources

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Resource ▲	Link
Audio Recordings	Audio Bible teaching (GRN)
Audio Recordings	DAVAR Partners recording, complete Bible
Film / Video	Jesus Film: view in Sotho, Southern
Film / Video	Story of Jesus for Children (JF Project)
Film / Video	Walk with Jesus (Africa, JF Project)
General	Four Spiritual Laws
General	Got Questions Ministry
Text / Printed Matter	Bible: Sesotho 1989 Translation (Standard Orth)
Text / Printed Matter	Bible: Southern Sotho 1909/61 Translation (Standard Orth)
Text / Printed Matter	OneHope resources for children and youth
Text / Printed Matter	Online Bible text (Scripture Earth)
Text / Printed Matter	World Missionary Press Booklets

The Joshua Project Progress Scale is an estimate of the progress of church planting among a people group, people cluster, country or language. The Progress Scale is derived from people group values for percent Evangelical and percent Christian Adherent.

Level	Description	Criteria
1	Unreached - Few evangelicals and few who identify as Christians. Little, if any, history of Christianity.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians <= 5%
2	Minimally reached - Few evangelicals, but significant number who identify as Christians.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 5% and <= 50%
3	Superficially reached - Few evangelicals, but many who identify as Christians. In great need of spiritual renewal and commitment to biblical faith.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 50%
4	Partially reached - Evangelicals have a modest presence.	Evangelicals > 2% and <= 10%
5	Significantly reached - Evangelicals have a significant presence.	Evangelicals > 10%

Disclaimers:

Joshua Project data is drawn from many sources and of varying accuracy depending on source and editorial decisions. Populations are scaled to the current year. Other data may have varying ages. We welcome suggested updates.
A displayed zero can mean true zero, a very small rounded number or sometimes unknown. Blanks mean an unknown value.
The data is sometimes not as precise as it appears. Values for %Christian Adherent and %Evangelical (which determine unreached status) are often informed estimates, some more accurate than others. We recommend against using %Christian Adherent and %Evangelical to calculate absolute numbers.
Joshua Project makes every effort to ensure that the subject in an image is in fact from the specific people group. In rare instances a representative photo may be used.
Joshua Project may be able to provide more information than what is published on this site. Please contact us.
On-the-ground reality may vary from what is presented here. Before making travel plans based on data presented here, please confirm with other sources to the extent possible.

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