South Africa: Millions in SA 'speechless' and 'African languages in crisis'

[Harold Schiffman]

Millions in SA 'speechless'
05/03/2008 21:28  - (SA)







See also:
Indigenous languages threatened

'African languages in crisis'

(1) Johannesburg - Millions of South Africans do not enjoy freedom of
expression because their languages do not have the same status as
English or Afrikaans, said Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan on
Wednesday. He was speaking at a language conference in Woodmead,
Johannesburg.
Jordan said: "Despite being recognised as official languages, it is a
matter of deep concern that it is virtually impossible to find a book
store in any of our shopping malls that distributes literature in the
indigenous African languages." He said it was easier to find a book in
French, German or Portuguese than it was to find a book written in
Pedi, Tsonga, Tswana, Zulu or Xhosa. "The effect is that those people
who speak these as their home language cannot fully realise their
right to freedom of expression... the capacity to both write and read
in one's home language gives real meaning to freedom of expression."
Jordan invited South African publishers to rise to the challenge of
publishing in African languages.

Have to use other languages

He said this would help with the exclusion of millions of African
people, and their inability to express themselves in their mother
tongues. "People using the language of their choice and equality among
languages are inextricably linked. "Large populations are unable to
participate in national discourse and debate because the languages
used are not their own," said Jordan. Closer co-operation between
students in South Africa and those in other parts of the continent
would enable African students to work together and develop language
development strategies, procedures and models. This would help launch
the indigenous languages "on a journey to join others on the
information highway", and help foster cross-border publishing.

Jordan said the development of Human Language Technologies (HLT) in
South Africa, would assist with the language-barrier problem. "HLT can
facilitate multilingualism and fast-track the development of
previously marginalised indigenous languages. These enabling
technologies may range from sophisticated high-level machine
translation systems, to voice-activated educational or commercial
systems which can be used by non-literate people." He said the
technologies would be included in education and training, in the
public service and commerce.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_2282746,00.html

(2) 'African languages in crisis'
15/03/2005 13:57  - (SA)

Johannesburg - A crisis is looming in the country regarding the
preservation, maintenance and identity of South Africa's indigenous
African tongues.
This is according to a framework report on the development of these
languages in higher education, presented to Education Minister Naledi
Pandor on Tuesday. Put together by a specialist team led by the
University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Professor Njabulo Ndebele, it
recommended "well-co-ordinated, long-range national plan to provide
adequate resources and support for indigenous African languages".
Pandor's spokesperson Tommy Makhode said: "The Ministry is studying
the report and will, in due course, indicate the key areas to be
pursued." It pointed out that the objective to develop official
indigenous languages as mediums of instruction in higher education
required systemic undergirding by the entire schooling system.

It read: "Also needed was the enhanced public and social use of these
languages in the daily lives of South Africans." However, the report
acknowledged that declining numbers of students wished to study
African languages, resulting in the closing down of African language
departments in a number of higher education institutions. It further
recommended that each higher education institution should be required
to identify an indigenous African language of choice for initial
development as a medium of instruction. "Higher education institutions
could adopt a regional approach by taking collective decisions on
areas of speciality to be targeted for teaching.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1676652,00.html

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