[lg policy] South Africa: Language - the Great Debate

[Harold Schiffman]

South Africa: Language - the Great Debate

By Lerato Molisana and Thabang Moselane

UFS students have their say

Language policies at institutions of higher learning have been the subject
of controversy and intense debate all over the country. It is located
within the broader transformation contestations. Last week we carried a
piece by Professor Daniel F M Strauss, who made the case for Afrikaans.
This week, UFS students have their say.

Hlonipha Matshamba, BComm Entrepreneurship, honours student

The language policy for me is a string of hope. Hope that maybe finally top
management is taking us, as students, seriously. There is a sense of hope
that more changes will be made after this - changes that will support true
transformation.

I believe that the new language policy would be a good gesture that the
students are being heard.

However I do wonder whether it will really be changed. Why now, what has
prevented it from happening in the past, and won't it be stopped by the
same people who could have prevented it before?

I would love for us to have one language as a medium of instruction but
will that truly bring about transformative change. It might be the start,
and I say, why not try.

We have tried dual medium already. So why not have English as our only
medium of instruction. Times have changed, centuries have passed and yes,
it is time we move away from being an "Afrikaans university". Changing the
language policy carries a lot of weight and would drastically change the
way we are viewed externally, and how 'welcome' we feel as black UFS
students on campus.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201509161262.html

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150916/a23fd9bb/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list