[lg policy] Ayanda Borotho explains why she has a no English policy in her house

[Harold Schiffman]

 Ayanda Borotho explains why she has a no English policy in her house
By Kyle Zeeman - 21 November 2018
[image: Isibaya actress Ayanda Borotho.]
<https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2dnUeYfMb5ybwEF_jW-40dcobLCCMg9WOJh2U54TdvHNiiqpBkwYoFg2IVSxANfFkHVa2KtC6Rbx2XiSy44BZy0Sc3j1XUiHMA=s1200>
Isibaya actress Ayanda Borotho.
Image: Kyle Zeeman / File

Ayanda took to social media recently to post a quote about English not
being a sign of intelligence and explained her stance. She said it was her
personal feeling and she wasn't judging people who thought differently.

"I honestly don't want anyone feeling judged by this post‚ these are my
personal views and no one has to do what I prescribe to in my life. Anyone
that knows me well will know that I have a zero English policy in my house.
I went to model c schools from standard 1/ grade three and I never spoke
English at home.

"A few years ago my now 5-year-old son was ready for nursery school. After
2 weeks of going‚ I took him out. The fact that English had begun eroding
his mother tongue freaked me out. I have delayed nursery school for this
reason."

She said all her children speak Sotho and Zulu as their default language.

She also recounted how her sons had started swimming classes last year and
their instructor picked up that they did not speak English. She responded
by saying he was a "mo sotho boy born of a Zulu mother. He speaks his
languages."
<https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/lifestyle/2018-10-16-growing-xhosa-for-50-years/>
Growing Xhosa for 50 years
The isiXhosa National Lexicography Unit at the University of Fort Hare,
which aims to preserve and grow the isiXhosa language, turns 50 this ...
Lifestyle
<https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/lifestyle/2018-10-16-growing-xhosa-for-50-years/>

Ayanda admitted that she got weird looks from people who try speak to her
children in English and she asks them to speak in Zulu or Sotho.

"I've had issues with my own people (black) look at me like I'm weird when
they speak to my kids in English and I kindly ask them to speak Zulu or
Sotho. I don't understand this attitude. Isingisi asinanhlonipho for one.
'hi mom' and 'sawubona ma' are two very different things (again‚ my
opinion). Language is our first point of connection with who we are."

She said the world was doing all it could to destroy indigenous languages.

"There is so much of our identity as 'a people' that is embedded in our
languages. The truth is‚ when these kids come of age (early 20s) and are
grappling with identity‚ they will blame us for robbing them of a very core
and intimate part of who they are and of one that connects them with who we
are to them. The world is doing all it can to rid us of our languages in
schools and we are aiding the agenda. Silele
Ay
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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