The National Language Service promotes and facilitates communication across languages in South Africa. In keeping with the language requirements of the Constitution, the NLS manages the linguistic diversity of South African society and is responsible for harnessing all the languages of the people by putting into practical effect policy measures aimed at promoting the use of these languages, including those languages which have historically been neglected.
The NLS' core business is to meet the language requirements of the Constitution by facilitating, promoting and providing a translation and editing service in all the official languages and by managing language diversity through language planning and terminology projects.
The NLS functions as the Government's professional language support system by translating official documents in all the official languages. Its terminology service assists with the development and modernisation of the technical vocabularies of the official languages. The language planning functions include advising the Government on the development of language policy and implementation strategies.