We’re complex beings, living complex lives, and language is what brings us together. Language is a transformational space that has the power to change lives, inform policy and unite people.
At the Stellenbosch University Language Centre, we believe that improving communication isn’t just about increasing vocabulary or perfecting punctuation. It’s so much more. Being a language centre also makes us so much more than a language school. We are a vibrant hub for students, staff and clients who are looking for language and communication assistance. We work collaboratively with you on your language journey.
The Language Centre is home to experts in language learning and teaching, academic literacies and professional communication, translation, copy editing, interpreting and corporate communication. We also do language-related research, and we even have a team who specialise in plain language. All this just 30 minutes from Cape Town.
“This course is course met every aspect of my expectations. I would go so far as to recommend this course become part of the onboarding program for all SU staff.”
Nicolas Olivier, Faculty of Military Science
Participant, Effective Office Communication and Documentation online course
“Thank you for the enjoyable course. It was much more than expected and very informative. The course was designed in such a way that writing was made easy. I had a problem with tenses, and we covered everything from grammar, tenses, shortening sentences, clear writing etc. The feedback given after assignments were also very insightful. Thank you!”
Lucrecia Tsauses, NAMFISA in Windhoek, Namibia
Participant, Cutting-Edge Business Report Writing online course
“Ek dink dis ‘n jammerte dat ons so vroeg moes vertrek waardeur ek my Afrikaanse taalavontuur nie heeltemal kon volbring nie. Deur jou aanlyn lesse en die interessante en blikverruimende assesserings het ek op ‘n afstand egter altyd gevoel asof ek my avontuur voort kon sit. So dankie vir jou moeite om ook aanlyn die kursus baie interessant te maak.”
[What a pity I could not complete my Afrikaans language adventure in person. But through your online lectures and interesting and expansive assessments I felt that I was able to continue my adventure even from a distance. Thank you so much for making the course so interesting, even when it was presented online.]
Belgian student
Afrikaans language and culture course
“Labonline was another aspect of this module that I greatly appreciated as I was able to get my reading word count from approx. 250 to 600 words in just a few weeks, a skill that could help most students when digesting work and studying.”
Student
Academic Discourse for Economic and Management Sciences module
“I have never thought that I would be affected by problems so that I would end up not doing my academic work – I always thought I was tougher than any situation. I am really sorry, Madam, because I know how much you care about us.”
Student
Academic Literacy for Theology module
“Before I ask for advice, I would like to commend you on the tremendous effort that you have put into crafting all the students of SciComm146 into successful article/journal/report writers! You are such an inspiration to me!”
Student
Scientific Communication module
Dr Schalk van der Merwe, extraordinary senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University (SU), has been a regular guest lecturer for several years at the SU Language Centre’s Afrikaans language and culture course for Dutch-speaking students, where he shares and discusses key events from South African history with students in a narrative style. “When it comes to the history and origins of Afrikaans, it is essential to reflect the language’s diversity, and also how it has served as a vehicle for social change,” says Dr Van der Merwe. As part of the course’s 10-year celebrations, we asked him a few questions.
