Even though the Khoisan languages share similarities in their sound systems, their grammatical systems are quite unique. In the absence of historical records, it is difficult to determine their genetic relationship to each other and to other African languages.

Today, the Khoisan languages are spoken only in southwestern Africa, in the region around the Kalahari Desert extending from Angola to South Africa, and in one small area of Tanzania. The Hadza and Sandawe languages in Tanzania are generally classified as Khoisan, but are extremely distant geographically and linguistically from the others.

It is fair to say that of all the language families of the world, the Khoisan languages are among the most neglected by language scholars and the least studied.

Afro-Asiatic Nilo-Saharan Niger-Congo Khoisan Austronesian

Status
The Khoisan languages are becoming increasingly rare. Few of them have more than 1,000 speakers. The number of speakers is fast diminishing, and several are known to have become extinct. One of the main reasons is that bilingual Khoisan speakers shift to the dominant language of the area and stop teaching their mother tongue to their children. There are some exceptions, for instance, the Sandawe language in Tanzania whose speakers have maintained a relatively stable linguistic community. Unfortunatately, many of these languages have left behind no written records, so their loss is permanent.

Ethnologue lists 13 Khoisan languages with populations of 1,000 and over:

Nama is an official language of Namibia. The language is used at all levels of education and in the media.
Kxoe is used as a spoken, but not a written language in primary schools i.e., textbooks are in English.
Naro is used as a lingua franca among speakers of other Khoisan languages.

Click here to view a compelling National Geographic multimedia presentation on the San people.