Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, as everyone knows, was the first democratically elected president of South Africa - that is, as long as a you define democracy as a country where everyone (at least above an given age) can vote regardless of race, religion, gender, or political affiliation.

Nelson was president for five years and retired at age 79. That's a reasonable age to retire although few American politicians seem to realize it. Of course, he retired from poliical office although he kept active in non-elective politics until 2013 when he died at 95 years young.

Most Americans know Nelson but not as much about his native langage which is Xhosa. The language is almost impossible for Europeans to speak because it not only contains most of the letter of their own alphabets, but also 18 consonants made by clicking the tongue in certain manner. The mother of well-known comedian, presenter, and commentator, Trevor Noah is Xhosa.

Although the Foreign Service Institute ranks Xhosa and the related language Zulu in the second most difficult category for English speakers (#4 out of 5), you'll probably will get an argument from people who have tried to learn it.

References

Nelson Mandela: A Biography, Martin Meredith, St. Martin's Press, 1998.

"Xhosa (isiXhosa)", Omniglot.