LinkUp — isiXhosa translation sheet (for checking)

Built: 2026-09-14 · Status: 🟡 awaiting native-speaker check · Nothing rendered yet

Scope: the three posts already published on Facebook plus the levels explainer video
(v001, Amara VO). Sourced from the live Pages on 2026-09-14, not from the repo — the register
and the Pages disagree, so the Pages won.

There are TWO LinkUp Pages. LinkUp: Dating App (1254301564441453, English) and
LinkUp: Maatsoek-app (1330420210151954, Afrikaans). Between them, exactly three photo
posts are live. Everything else on the feeds is a reel, a profile picture or a cover photo.

Posts 2 and 3 are the same post in two languages — one isiXhosa version serves both. The
captions differ slightly, so both are set out below.

⚠️ Three things the checker should rule on, not just correct

1. "No cap." — Mzansi slang, not English. It is used unchanged in isiXhosa speech, so the
   sheet keeps it. The alternative is Akukho nkohliso. ("no deception"), which is accurate and
   flat. Ask the checker which one a Xhosa speaker would actually post.
2. The levels claim contradicts itself across the two pieces. Post 1's caption says
   "Nobody is locked out and nothing is hidden from you"; the video says "you only see people
   on your own level, or below". Those cannot both be true. This is an English copy problem we
   shipped, not a translation problem — but a careful checker will stop on it, and we should fix
   the English before the isiXhosa is finalised.
3. linkdup.co.za is not reliably sayable. The English VO already refuses to speak it
   (SCRIPT.md: every TTS respelling transcribed back as "linkedup.co.za"). An isiXhosa VO will
   hit the same collision. The domain stays on-screen only, in every language.

Terms held constant (so the three pieces agree)

Post 1 — "No cap." / Levels

On the artwork

Line 5 is the longest string on the artwork and isiXhosa runs ~35% longer than English.
It will need a type-size drop or a three-line break when we render.

Caption — English (live)

No cap.

Level 1 is free. No verification, and you can still match with anyone you want.
Level 2 means we have seen their face.
Level 3 means we have seen their ID.

Nobody is locked out and nothing is hidden from you. You just get to see how far someone was willing to prove they are who they say they are, and then you decide who is worth your time.

That is the whole idea.

Join the waitlist at linkdup.co.za

LinkUpSA #Mjolo #DatingSouthAfrica #Mzansi #VerifiedDating

Caption — isiXhosa

No cap.

Inqanaba 1 lisimahla. Akukho qinisekiso, kwaye usenako ukumatsha nabani na omfunayo.
Inqanaba 2 lithetha ukuba sibubonile ubuso babo.
Inqanaba 3 lithetha ukuba sisibonile isazisi sabo.

Akukho mntu uvalelwa ngaphandle, kwaye akukho nto ifihlwayo kuwe. Ubona nje ukuba umntu wayezimisele kangakanani ukungqina ukuba unguye ngenene lo athi unguye — uze wena ugqibe ukuba ngubani ofanelwe lixesha lakho.

Yiyo leyo yonke into.

Bhalisa kuluhlu lokulinda ku-linkdup.co.za

LinkUpSA #Mjolo #DatingSouthAfrica #Mzansi #VerifiedDating

Hashtags left in English — they are the standing brand set (marketing/hashtags.md) and a
tag only works if everyone spells it the same way. If we want an isiXhosa tag it should be
added to the set, not swapped in: #UthandoLwaseMzansi is the obvious candidate.

Post 2 — "Less swiping. More connecting." (English page)

On the artwork

Lines 1–2 are the headline and must stay a matched pair of two short commands. The literal
noun-phrase version (Ukuswayipha okuncinci. Unxibelelwano olungakumbi.) is grammatically
closer to the English and reads dead — flag it if the checker prefers the literal, because
it changes the whole headline treatment.

Caption — English (live)

Less swiping. More connecting.
Nobody wants to spend an evening thumbing through strangers. You want fewer people and more real ones.
Level 2 means we have seen their face. Level 3 means we have seen their ID. You still choose who you talk to, you just know more before you do.
Join the waitlist at www.linkdup.co.za

datingadvice #datingtips #datingapps #datinglife #singlemomlife

Caption — isiXhosa

Swayipha kancinci. Qhagamshelana ngakumbi.
Akukho mntu ufuna ukuchitha ubusuku bonke eswayipha abantu angabaziyo. Ufuna abantu abambalwa, kodwa abokwenene.
Inqanaba 2 lithetha ukuba sibubonile ubuso babo. Inqanaba 3 lithetha ukuba sisibonile isazisi sabo. Usakhetha wena ukuba uthetha nabani — wazi nje ngaphezulu ngaphambi kokuba uthethe.
Bhalisa kuluhlu lokulinda ku-www.linkdup.co.za

datingadvice #datingtips #datingapps #datinglife #singlemomlife

Post 3 — "Minder swipe. Meer konneksie." (Afrikaans page)

Same artwork and same master line as Post 2. The isiXhosa is therefore identical — this is
one translation, not two. What differs is the hashtag set, which is Afrikaans-specific.

On the artwork

Caption — Afrikaans (live)

Minder swipe. Meer konneksie. Niemand wil 'n hele aand lank deur vreemdelinge sit en swipe nie. Jy wil minder mense hê, en meer regtes.

Vlak 2 beteken ons het hulle gesig gesien. Vlak 3 beteken ons het hulle ID gesien. Jy kies steeds met wie jy praat, jy weet net meer voordat jy dit doen.

Sluit aan by die waglys by linkdup.co.za

VindJouPotsenaksel #VerifieerDanDate #VerifiedVirLiefde #GeenCatfishing #WieSeHartGaanJySteel

Caption — isiXhosa

Swayipha kancinci. Qhagamshelana ngakumbi. Akukho mntu ufuna ukuchitha ubusuku bonke eswayipha abantu angabaziyo. Ufuna abantu abambalwa, kodwa abokwenene.

Inqanaba 2 lithetha ukuba sibubonile ubuso babo. Inqanaba 3 lithetha ukuba sisibonile isazisi sabo. Usakhetha wena ukuba uthetha nabani — wazi nje ngaphezulu ngaphambi kokuba uthethe.

Bhalisa kuluhlu lokulinda ku-linkdup.co.za

Hashtags — the Afrikaans set does not survive translation

⚠️ These are proposals, not translations. A hashtag is a coinage — it only works if real
users would type it. This is the part of the sheet most worth a native speaker's opinion, and
the part where "grammatically correct" and "would actually be used" diverge most.
#VindJouPotsenaksel has no isiXhosa idiom behind it; #FumanaOwakho ("find your own") is a
replacement, not an equivalent.

Video — Levels explainer (46s, v001 Amara VO)

Two things need translating: the voiceover (10 lines, timed) and the on-screen text,
which is a separate, much terser set of words animated per frame. They are not the same copy.

Voiceover

Timing will not hold. isiXhosa is agglutinative — lines 3, 7 and 9 are materially longer
than the English and will overrun their frames. Assume the frame timings get re-cut, not that
the translation gets squeezed. Ask the checker to mark anything that can be shortened without
losing the meaning, especially line 9.

Line 10 keeps the English pronunciation problem. The VO must not attempt the domain.

On-screen text (animated per frame — separate from the VO)

Frames 01, 02 and 07 animate word by word in the English build. isiXhosa words are longer
and fewer, so the word-by-word reveal will need re-beating rather than a straight string swap.

Caption — English (live)

Real people. Real chemistry. Verified.

On LinkUp every profile carries a shield showing exactly how verified someone is. Level 1 is free, no verification. Level 2 adds a face check. Level 3 adds a government ID check.

And here is what makes LinkUp different: you only see people on your own level, or below. Level 3 sees everyone.

Join the waitlist: www.linkdup.co.za

Caption — isiXhosa

Abantu bokwenene. Umtsalane wokwenene. Kuqinisekisiwe.

Kwi-LinkUp yonke iprofayile inekhaka elibonisa kanye ukuba umntu uqinisekiswe kangakanani. Inqanaba 1 lisimahla, akukho qinisekiso. Inqanaba 2 longeza ujongo lobuso. Inqanaba 3 longeza ujongo lwesazisi sikarhulumente.

Nantsi ke into eyenza i-LinkUp yahluke: ubona kuphela abantu abakwinqanaba lakho, okanye elingaphantsi. Inqanaba 3 libona wonke umntu.

Bhalisa kuluhlu lokulinda: www.linkdup.co.za

What happens after the check

Nothing here is rendered. Once the sheet comes back marked up:

1. Fix the levels contradiction in the English first (see flag 2) — otherwise we ship the
   same error in a second language.
2. Posts: the artwork templates are HTML (posts/levels-no-cap/post.html,
   marketing/demo/post5.html), so a Xhosa edition is a copy swap plus a type-size pass on the
   long lines — the same route post 006 took for Afrikaans.
3. Video: new VO (voice casting is an open question — Amara is an English voice), re-beat the
   word-by-word frames, re-render. Afrikaans took a full re-cut, not a text swap.
4. The Xhosa posts get their own numbers via deliverable.py register, which queues them for
   Kyle's approval automatically.