Comments on: All languages equal but English (and Afrikaans?) more equal?

By: bryan

bryan — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:42:33 +0000

I think Prof. is right what is said in the constitution is not in line with what is happening in practice. and with all the circumstances one can tell that in theory all languages are equal but in practice their are not come what may nothing will change it as far as any suggestion one makes has its own conflicts say for example multilingualism 3/11 is equivalent to fail languages are not equal and thats it moreover constitution construdict itsself the freedom that its talking about makes it impossible to perfom equity in terms of languages in that if every person is free to stay/work in the place of his/her choice it means every african must know all the 11 official languages

By: lils

lils — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:01:18 +0000

silly

no logic at all

By: lils

lils — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:00:42 +0000

silly

no help at all

By: Anonymouse

Anonymouse — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:27:29 +0000

In the absence of a translation of what Khosi has stated above, allow me to paraphrase for those who do not understand (and, Khosi, please correct me if I am wrong):
“All those above,
In my opinion (view) we may (should) not (never) allow one language to be treated above (preferential to) the others.”
Khosi, this time around, I, for one, agree with you; and, I’m sure Prof De Vos and all the others above will also agree with that sentiment of yours. That does however not solve the problems that we ecounter in practice today (and it does not seem as if they will be solved in the foreseeable future unless suitable interpreters are employed) – see my above comments and that of Clara’s. Any suggestions?

By: Clara

Clara — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:17:31 +0000

Sorry, Michael, I don’t quite get what you’re saying there. Is it at all possible for you to express yourself a little more simply?

By: Michael Osborne

Michael Osborne — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:26:54 +0000

Sorry, for “anyone” read “no-one.”

By: Michael Osborne

Michael Osborne — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:22:51 +0000

Anyone who fails to understand what Khosi has said (and I include myself), has standing to argue for the use of indigenous languages in official SA discourse.

By: Clara

Clara — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:30:41 +0000

I agree entirely with what you say, Anonymouse. The only solution seems to be to bring on the interpretors. In the meantime, children whose mother-tongue is not a universal language such as English should be taught it from a relatively early age, say 10 years. Black South African parents are generally only too keen for their children to learn English at the earliest opportunity, and with good reason. But this is discouraged by the authorities, possibly because of a cultural/political bias.

The other day, someone argued on the Cape Times’s Letters page that as an employer he favoured workers from Malawi “because they can communicate efficiently in a universal language”. He could not employ “those who come from my home town, East London, once recognised as the cradle of multilingualism in South Africa, as these days, sadly, most cannot communicate in anything but their own limited vernacular”, and that “whoever argues against this reality is entirely lacking in pragmatism”. Quite.

By: khosi

khosi — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:19:42 +0000

Nina bangasethla,

Mina ngokubona kwami kumele singavume
li ukuthi kube khona ulimi olukhonya ngendlela eyenza ezinye izilimi zifidibale.

By: Anonymouse

Anonymouse — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:18:09 +0000

Wessel, I agree, but only to an extent. I, for one, am fluent in two African languages besides English and Afrikaans, but that has never been enough because I am daily confronted with other official languages that I do not understand or speak. In the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Kwa-Zulu-Natal, that might not pose a problem, but in almost every other Province of SA, the mastery of one or two indigenous languages is simply not enough as I have indicated in some of the examples above. Once again, with the kind of regionalsim promoted by the requirement that lawyers should learn at least one indigenous language besides Afrikaans and/or English, one would have a great problem in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Problem is, many (if not most) presiding officers are older than 40 years, and at a time of (after)life that the ability to learn foreign languages is almost non-existent, even under force or threat of force. Foreign languages are only wholly (naturally) acquired between the ages of 0-7 years; and, easily between 7-13 years; but, thereafter it becomes quite difficult. The older one gets (20 years or older), the more difficult it becomes to an extent (probably 25years>) where it becomes almost impossible to learn more than a basic few words and phrases, which is not enough to deal with the difficulties encountered in legal practice in a cosmopolitan area. It is in the schools that basic tuition in the African language(-s) most prevalently spoken in the region is necessary to develop all (official) langauges on an equitable basis. But then again, transformation targets on deploying lawyers (i.e., those employed by the Legal Aid Board), prosecutors and magistrates/judges in SA tend to focus onlly on colour (race) and gender, while language and culture are mostly neglected. This is where the problem presents itself – a Zulu judge in the TPD being unable to properly hear an appeal in a case that was heard in English or Afrikaans; a Venda magistrate in Mpumalanga being unable to adjudicate a case where the accused and the witnesses are Afrikaansspeaking; an Afrikaansspeaking magistrate, who is fluent in English and Zulu and Shangaan, in Limpopo being unable to try a case where the parties are all Sipedi-speaking; a legal aid lawyer (Swasi-speaking) in Mpumalanga being unable to properly consult with Afrikaans-, English- and Sipedi-speaking clients; and, unable to properly follow evidence and cross-examine witnesses who elect to speak one of the mentioned three languages, etc. The problem goes much wider than merely requiring lawyers to learn one or two indigenous languages besides their mother-tounge, and I still think it can only be solved by stepping up the interpretation services in SA.