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This year, for the first time, Stellenbosch University (SU) joins the EUTOPIA Alliance Languages Week from 4 to 8 March 2024 to celebrate languages, culture and diversity.
The EUTOPIA Alliance is an international gateway for exchanging knowledge and culture, and SU is one of six global partner universities EUTOPIA associates with beyond its core alliance of 10 universities in Europe.
Institutions across the world are participating in EUTOPIA Languages Week, creating an opportunity for staff and students from all EUTOPIA partners to attend online events all over the world during that week, and to interact with each other.
At SU, Languages Week takes place in person, online and in hybrid format, with a rich variety of activities across many SU departments. Events belong to one of four categories: Films, Flex, Language Learning and Talks. Films include film evenings showcasing films in Afrikaans and Mandarin, while Flex represents interactive and fun events where you get to put your multilingual abilities to work in a social setting, such as the Language Café and Multilingual Karaoke events. Language Learning does what it says: here you can get the feel of a language you might like to explore a bit, from isiXhosa to South African Sign Language. Talks give you access to experts sharing gripping phenomena in language, culture, literature, translation, multilingualism and even in the international language policy arena. Scroll through our programme to read more!
All events are free to attend to SU staff and students and to all EUTOPIA Alliance partners. Registration links are available in the programme. Please register to secure your spot, and venue info and links to join online will be sent after registration. If you change your mind after having registered, do let us know so that we can open that spot to someone else, or to avoid us preparing for you unnecessarily.
Coordinated by the SU Language Centre, Languages week at SU promises to be an exceptional event. Join the celebration of languages, culture and diversity along with like-minded people across the world!
View the full SU programmehereand book your spot via links available in the programme. The EUTOPIA Languages Week page offering all events by all global partners is available here, and you can book your spot for global events there.
SU uses the concept of internationalisation at home to enhance the integration of local students with visiting students from other countries. This approach gives the Language Centre an opportunity to leverage its ability to create value from a service delivery perspective, and collaborate on global initiatives. We’re sharing a few of our language learning initiatives from the first semester of 2023 below:
The closing ceremony with the INP-HB Côte D’Ivoire group, who did afive-week Business English immersion course with the Language Centre’s English portfolio
Ivory Coast students immerse themselves in English with the Language Centre
A group of 23 master’s students from the National Institute of Polytechnics Félix Houphouët Boigny in Côte D’Ivoire completed an intensive five-week Business English immersion course with the Language Centre’s English portfolio during May and June. The English portfolio collaborated with SU International and Dr Nico Elema, director of Centre for Collaboration in Africa (CCA) to realise this event. This short-term programme is the first-ever non-degree Africa mobility event to take place through the CCA and SU International, and there is hope for more initiatives like these. A video was made to capture the students’ experiences.
Fresh cohorts of Parisian students visit the Language Centre to improve their academic English
A group of 280 students from the SKEMA business school in Paris completed the English for Academic purposes (EAP) course offered by the Language Centre’s English portfolio in the first semester.
A second group of students is expected to attend another EAP semester course in the second half of the year. The collaboration with the SKEMA business school is a valuable way for SU to enlarge its global footprint and deliver high-quality service to international partners.
SKEMA students completing their EAP writing exams
IEP students on an excursion to the SU Botanical Gardens
Intensive English Programme draws students from all over the world
The Intensive English Programme (IEP) focuses on improving students’ English reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. It is presented in blocks of eight weeks across six levels, from beginner to advanced. The English portfolio’s current intake of multilingual students for the IEP are from China, Congo, DRC, Gabon, Sweden, Turkey, Germany, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Angola and Libya. A unique feature of the programme is the fortnightly outings, which give students the opportunity to communicate and connect with each other outside the classroom.
Visiting students from Georgia, USA, learn Afrikaans and isiXhosa during their stay
A group of 16 students visiting from the University of Georgia in the United States of America learnt basic isiXhosa and Afrikaans alongside their studies at SU in seven sessions for each language during the first semester of 2023 with the Language Centre. They learnt to speak basic Afrikaans and gained more insight into Afrikaans culture as well. At first the students struggled a bit with pronounciation in isiXhosa, but as time went on, they grasped the isiXhosa terms they needed to communicate around Stellenbosch. They were particularly interested in South African culture and also asked for music recommendations. “When introduced to some songs, their faces lit up because they have a heard snippets of the songs and they now had a better explanation of what they meant,” isiXhosa facilitator Stembele Johnson explains.
Students visiting from the University of Georgia in the United States of America
Beginner Afrikaans level 1 students with their lecturer, Dr Vernita Beukes (3rd from left)
Exchange students from all over the world choose to learn Afrikaans while visiting SU
During the first semester of 2023, students from England, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, the United States of America and Dubai attended the Beginner Afrikaans level 1 module offered by the Language Centre through SU International’s GEP offering. By the end of the module students were able to have basic conversations in Afrikaans with conversational partners all over Stellenbosch.
Afrikaans Culture Course for Dutch-speaking students highlight language connection
The Afrikaanse taal- en kultuurkursus vir Nederlandssprekendes, part of SU International’s GEP offering, had a very successful intake in the first semester and the Language Centre hopes to welcome a group of new students in the second semester.
The aim of the course is for the students not only to discover the wonderful differences (and similarities) between Afrikaans and Dutch, but also to experience the rich culture of the diverse Afrikaans-speaking community.
Topics such as identity, history, music and literature form part of discussions, and outings to places such as the Afrikaanse Taalmonument or a visit from Tribel Echo’s Frazer Barry give these students a unique experience of Afrikaans language and culture.
Dutch-speaking students on an excursion visiting the Afrikaanse Taalmonument
Five of the students wearing some traditional attire during a field trip to Kayamandi
International students eager to learn isiXhosa
The IsiXhosa Language and Culture module, also part of SU International’s GEP offering, is a semester course aimed at international students offered by the Language Centre. Most of the students who attended the offering in the first semester of 2023 were busy with postgraduate studies and some have been in South Africa for a year already. They were eager and excited to learn about the Xhosa culture, and participated well, attending most of their lectures and submitting their work on time. They wanted to explore Cape Town and use vocabulary they have acquired in class.
The course concluded with a field trip by Nocawe Holdings in Kayamandi. This included a tour of Kayamandi, a spread of African food, an opportunity to dress up in Xhosa attire and sing some Xhosa songs, and hearing more about Nocawe’s upbringing and context. Field trips like these help students gain insight into more aspects of the South African context.
More SU staff members learning isiXhosa
The Masabelane isiXhosa course for SU staff is becoming ever more popular on campus. Many staff members are eager to learn isiXhosa to communicate with their colleagues and others. There were two full intakes during the first semester of 2023, both entirely booked by University divisions or departments. Colleagues attended and submitted their work enthusiastically, but also felt that they still needed more time to learn the language.
Staff members attending the Masabelane isiXhosa course hard at work learning isiXhosa
Staff members attending the Masabelane isiXhosa course hard at work learning isiXhosa
Due to work commitments, participating staff members find it difficult to fully commit and attend all lectures, which then results in them missing out on some lecture content. Slides accompanied by audio were provided, but learning isiXhosa face to face is different from online self-study. However, isiXhosa facilitator Stembele Johnson says that even with the challenges, colleagues acquired enough isiXhosa vocabulary and sentences to communicate.
“I never even knew that that kind of personal freedom existed, because I had never experienced it before …”
Liselotte Voets, a Belgian exchange student from KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) who visited SU last year as part of her studies towards a master’s degree in philosophy, attended the Language Centre’s Afrikaans course for Dutch-speaking students while she was in South Africa.
In celebration of Freedom Day on 27 April, she shares her thoughts about freedom with us, originally in Afrikaans, but translated into English below.
My exchange visit of five and a half months in Stellenbosch kicked off in February 2022. Choosing South Africa was obvious to me: the cultures, the people, the scenery, the history, the mountains and the climate appealed to me. All these aspects naturally made a huge positive impression on me. One result of my visit I had not expected, is the new way in which I now look at the concept of freedom. If I had to explain in an intuitive way how I experienced freedom in South Africa, I would first of all mention the landscape. In my opinion, the vastness of the country represents in a very symbolical way what it means to be free in South Africa. There are still so many open spaces that can be filled. The possibilities seem to be endless. If one compares it with Belgium, where I am from, you have to conclude that most of Belgium has been built up. It really is a challenge to find a piece of open land from where one can see the horizon across an open expanse; where everything is not covered with walls, houses, streets, towns and cities.
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It feels as if one is being watched – always and everywhere – and as if you can’t escape and commune with nature.”
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Now that I’m back in Belgium, I find it even more difficult to endure, and I miss South Africa so much more. Of course, in Belgium we have more (a feeling of) safety and security. The price we have to pay for it is our personal freedom. However, I never even knew that that kind of personal freedom existed, because I had never experienced it before. Perhaps it is also typical of Europeans to regard the kind of freedom we know as the only kind of freedom and not to leave room for other interpretations. But this is actually a contradiction in terms. I should have known that ‘freedom’ can’t be encapsulated in a single viewpoint. I’ve also noticed this kind of personal freedom in the South Africans I’ve met: they are not being lived (their lives are not being ruled and regulated), but they live on their own accord; they welcome others with open arms and start each day courageously. This great personal freedom in South Africa seems to come at a price, though, and is something that should absolutely not be underestimated: many people are left to their own devices – to fend for themselves. They need to survive on their own. Seen from that perspective, my impression was that some South Africans see the South African landscape more as a kind of emptiness than an open future. I think, and sincerely hope, that this can still change.
Blog by Liselotte Voets; translated by Ingrid Swanepoel
Get to know us through the books we read! This month we chat to Vernita Beukes, a lecturer and coordinator of language acquisition courses at the Language Centre. She says: “I honestly have the best job in the world! As part of my job, I get the opportunity to teach international students from everywhere in the world Afrikaans. There’s a lot of truth in the saying that if one does something you are passionate about, you won’t need to work a single day in your life! I’m also involved in the reading project of the Vriende van Afrikaans. Here I get the opportunity to read children’s books to pre-school children! How lucky am I?”
Vernita loves her husband, her dog, family and friends, and reading and travelling are at the top of the list of things she likes doing. “But I absolutely detest tomatoes,” she confesses.
What is the title of your favourite book, or a book that left a deep impression on you, or a book that you found unforgettable for some reason or another? Reading has always been part of my life. My mother read to us every day. I also had wonderful teachers from Sub A (Grade one) onwards, who encouraged my love for books and reading. When I was a student teacher, Dr Anker read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to us. Over and above his beautiful voice, the truths in that book also made an indelible impression on me.
Why did this book make such an impression on you? The section on page 72 (in my copy of the book) became my own philosophy of life. That is where the fox explains to the Little Prince that it is only with one’s heart that one can truly see. That which is really important cannot be seen with one’s eyes.
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I try hard to look at and listen to people with my heart.”
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Who is (are) your favourite author(s)? Also tell us why? I have many favourite authors, because I feel that different authors appeal more to one in different stages of your life. Jojo Moyes has touched me to the point of ugly crying, and John Grisham, Clive Cussler and Sofia Segovia has made me disappear into their worlds.
What are you reading at the moment? I’m reading two books: The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia.
Do you have a preference: reading physical books with paper pages or on a Kindle or other electronic platform? Why do you say so? Nothing, but nothing at all, can beat the smell of a new book!
What book have you reread? Also tell us why? The Little Prince, among others, because it is my favourite book and the truths it contains have a fresh impact on me every time I read it.
Who is your favourite literary character? Claire Randall in the Outlander series. I think living in Scotland could work for me too!
What book or books would you recommend to your students, friends or anyone else?
Get to know us through the books we read! This month we chat to Helga Sykstus. Helga manages the Language Centre’s Language Learning Hub and is a specialist in the field of language acquisition in Afrikaans. She also presents academic literacies modules.
“I have been sharing my passion for Afrikaans with my students and clients for 22 years, and also my passion for languages and culture in general. I teach Afrikaans at different levels, from beginner to academic level, and I hope not only to empower people through language, but also to forge links between them.”
What is the title of your favourite book, or a book that left a deep impression on you, or a book that you found unforgettable for some reason or another? When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi.
Why did this book make such an impression on you? I’m deeply interested in the stories of Afghan women because their situation is so completely different from my own reality, and I’m particularly inspired by their admirable inner strength, despite their complex and difficult circumstances. In addition, these stories are not merely fictional stories; they are the reality for so many women and children in in Afghanistan.
It is the story of a woman, Fereiba, who has to flee from Kabul with her three children because of persecution by the Taliban. She decides to go to family in London and embarks on a perilous journey through Iran, Turkey and Greece with her three children. However, her eldest son, Saleem, is arrested in Athens and separated from the rest of the family.
This book made me look with new eyes at, especially, the pain and sorrow that go hand in hand with immigration. This story about refugees and migrants who struggle to escape from misery and untimely death encapsulates the reality of what it means to be an immigrant. The author portrays it in a manner that makes a deep impression on the reader and tugs at one’s heartstrings. I often had to put the book aside for a few days because I found it too difficult to continue reading. The story shakes one to the core.
Who is (are) your favourite author(s)? Also tell us why? Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende because I love their subtle use of magical realism, and Khalid Hosseini for his deep and rich portrayal of Afghanistan.
What are you reading at the moment? I’m reading Inspire: Life Lessons from the Wilderness by Ben Fogle.
A few years ago, I fell in love with Ben Fogle’s programme, Where the wild men are, about people who have chosen to exchange life in a society for an isolated life in nature. The search for a calmer, less complicated life has always stirred my imagination, and was the reason why I decided to buy this book. Fogle shares his own life lessons as well as those of other people who live closer to nature. He wrote the following message in my book: “Dear Helga. Don’t stop dreaming and take the leap.”
Do you have a preference: reading physical books with paper pages or on a Kindle or other electronic platform? Why do you say so?Definitely ‘real’ printed books. I want to hold a book, smell its pages, and place it on my bookshelf so that I will always be reminded of the wonderful stories I have read.
What book have you re-read? Also tell us why? I don’t read books twice – there are too many books to read!
Who is your favourite literary character? I don’t have a favourite literary character.
Have you perhaps learnt a life lesson from a book or character that you would like to share with us? Most books that make an impression on me are about people’s inner strength and resilience, love for others, and a love for culture and nature.
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The lesson I learn from this is to be aware of the small things that happen around me every day and to take them all in properly.”
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What book or books would you recommend to your friends, students or anyone else?
The House of Spirits – Isabel Allende
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marques
The Stellenbosch University (SU) Language Centre has been involved in the Global Education Programme of SU International for more than 20 years by offering a Beginner Afrikaans course for visiting students. In 2015 it was decided to expand the offering to a tailor-made course, namely an Afrikaans Language and Culture course specifically for Dutch mother-tongue speakers from the Netherlands and Belgium. As Afrikaans is a sister language of Dutch, the focus in this course can be on so much more than just linguistics and the acquisition of Afrikaans. And although Dutch students do want to be able to speak a beetje (a bit) Afrikaans, most of them wish to experience a bit of the culture of the language and the country as well.
The language component of the course focuses mainly on the differences between Afrikaans and Dutch with regard to pronunciation, spelling and certain linguistic structures. Students also learn about the loan words in Afrikaans that were borrowed from languages other than Dutch, such as ‘baie’, ‘gogga’, ‘babelaas’ and ‘mielie’, to name a few. Another aspect that invariably leads to laughter and often to confusion is the many false friends between Afrikaans and Dutch. Words like ‘amper’, ‘vaak’ and ‘vies’ are among them, and then, of course, the Dutch word for cat.
As far as culture is concerned, we follow an eclectic approach. We aim at giving students an overarching experience of complex and colourful Afrikaans culture. Aspects that we consider are identity, origin, history and the economic and political role of the Afrikaans-speaking section of the population. Students are exposed to different kinds of texts, such as Afrikaans short stories, poems and academic articles, as well as music and films, as a basis for illustrating their own experience and understanding of the language and culture. They are also given the opportunity to experience the language and culture outside the lecture hall with excursions to the Stellenbosch Village Museum, the Afrikaans Language Monument and wine-tasting in Afrikaans on one of the wine farms in the vicinity. One of the highlights of the course is the guest speakers who visit the students to chat about their experience of language, their origins and their identity. When the course was offered for the first time, the singer Koos Kombuis and the landscape artist Strydom van der Merwe made a surprise appearance. The well-known poet Diana Ferrus has also visited, and more recently the AfriKaaps rapper Jitsvinger, who was a huge hit with the students. Another regular and very popular visitor is the rapper Frazer Barry (he is also the lead vocalist of the group Tribal Echo), who loves sharing his passion for music and Afrikaans as well his own origin with the students.
The main purpose of this course is to broaden the students’ horizons in the short time they spend in Stellenbosch and South Africa so that they return to Europe as enriched people who have experienced much more than the usual knowledge about Afrikaans stereotypes that is based on braaivleis, milk tart and rugby. Student feedback such as the following confirms that we’re hitting the right spot: “I’ve enjoyed every Afrikaans lesson; what a great addition to my semester here in Stellenbosch. Thank you for the course and the facilitator’s unwavering commitment – it is greatly appreciated!”
– by Helga Sykstus, translated by Ingrid Swanepoel
Would you like to be able to chat to your colleagues in Afrikaans once we’re all back on campus?
As Madiba had noted so aptly, when you talk to someone in their language, chances are that you will speak to their hearts, and not to their minds only. Learning a new language also opens doors to the culture of the people speaking that language. Without communication, we misunderstand each other so easily and are sometimes even afraid of one another.
At the SU Language Centre, language is our business. If you’d like to learn Afrikaans (it is after all one of the official languages of the Western Cape), you have come to the right place! We offer an interactive Beginner Afrikaans language course to the public and University staff, running from 15 March to 18 June 2021. We will decide closer to the time whether we will meet in person for the course or whether it will be offered online. Either way, you will have a great linguistic experience, and also learn more about the different cultural groups within the diverse Afrikaans community. If you are interested, please e-mail Vernita Beukes. Gou-gou (quickly)!
In April of this year, the comprehensive, multi-volume Afrikaans dictionary the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (the WAT) released its fifteenth volume, representing the second instalment for the letter S. It covers Afrikaans words from ‘skool’ (school) all the way to ‘Sri Lankaans’ (Sri Lankan). It also contains an addendum with new words from A to S – a much needed inclusion, since Volume I of the WAT (words from A to C) appeared in 1951. At the time, ‘amabokoboko’ (the South African national rugby team), ‘beurtkrag’ (load shedding) and ‘google’ were probably unthinkable. Work on the WAT officially began in 1926 and in 1929 Stellenbosch University assumed responsibility for the dictionary.
As of January, the WAT’s editorial team has been working on the third and last volume to cover S – work which should be concluded within the next two years if everything goes according to plan. More team members were appointed last year to enable the WAT to reach Z by 2029.
The WAT contains many more words and much more information than, for example, the HAT (Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal – a one-volume dictionary). In fact, its purpose is to document Afrikaans vocabulary to the broadest extent possible. Consequently the WAT is an authoritative reference work for anyone who wants to be absolutely sure or for those researching Afrikaans words. It is also available electronically – even on mobile platforms. The Language Centre would like to congratulate the WAT on completing Volume XV (obviously we are enthusiastic WAT users).
Not everyone knows what language resources are available or where to find them. The Language Service has created a resource page for its language practitioners. This page is accessible to anyone and contains links to a large variety of e-dictionaries, word lists and terminology lists. The latest version of the Language Service’s own Afr/Eng Translation Equivalent List is also to be found there. The Language Service provides a professional editing and translation service for clients anywhere in the world. E-mail your request to Marguerite – we can help you in at least 15 languages!
He has always been fascinated by South Africa, says Prof Carel Jansen, Language Centre research fellow, who was here again from the Netherlands in March. Which is why he jumped at the opportunity to visit South Africa in the middle 90s when the Dutch Language Union wanted to start promoting interaction between the Netherlands and South African universities. He visited Stellenbosch, Pretoria and Johannesburg for the first time in 1996 and has since returned nearly 40 times. The people, the languages, the animals, the landscapes and the contrasts – these, for him, remain a wonderful experience time and again. His favourite word in Afrikaans? “Klopdisselboom,” he says.
In the Netherlands, Carel is currently emeritus professor in Communication and Information Studies at the University of Groningen after a long and successful career in academia. He initially qualified as a linguist, later focusing on document design, readability and health communication – subjects still very close to his heart.
His connection with the Language Centre dates from the late 90s, which led to mutual guest lecturerships for him and Prof Leon de Stadler (then Director of the Language Centre) at their respective universities – in Carel’s case, first the University of Utrecht, then the University of Nijmegen and now Groningen. At SU, he has earlier been emeritus professor and is currently research fellow at the Language Centre. Here, he is leading a research project on the development and refinement of a new readability formula for Afrikaans with various co-workers: Language Centre staff members, other experts and some of his postgraduate Dutch students. The project is now nearing the end of the second data-gathering phase. Anyone in the Stellenbosch area who would still like to participate as a respondent is warmly invited to contact Susan Lotz.
Carel is also co-editor of a recently published text book on professional communication, Communicate as a Professional, released by Amsterdam University Press. The book is based on the Dutch text book Leren Communiceren, of which he is co-author. Communicate as a Professional, however, was expanded for an international audience. Read more about this book here. Carel is planning to offer a short course on professional communication based on the book, together with our Comms Lab, when he visits South Africa again in October this year. He offered a very popular short course on form design here last year, which he will also offer again in October. E-mail Michelle Pieters for more information on these two courses.
The 11th, comprehensively updated edition of the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls (AWS), a title that means ‘Afrikaans word list and spelling rules’, was released early in August this year.
The AWS is a remarkable publication in that it serves as the ultimate lodestar for the Afrikaans-speaking community regarding the writing and spelling of Afrikaans. Another reason for its significance is that the first edition was published in 1917 – exactly a century ago – “to ensure that this language come into its own” (according to an inscription in the first edition, translated here from an early form of Afrikaans). Ever since, the Taalkommissie of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (the Language Commission of the South African Academy for Science and Art) has endeavoured to help establish Afrikaans as a written language by making available rules for consistent spelling and writing. The nine members of the current Taalkommissie, comprising academics and language practitioners, spent more than 700 hours in collaborative meetings to update the AWS since 2009 (the publication date of the 10th edition) – without any remuneration.
It is also important for the AWS to reflect the growing lexicon and idiom of Afrikaans, as well as the needs of the community who writes in Afrikaans. For this reason, the publication contains a word list that focuses on new words and words of which the written form might pose a particular challenge. The current list is 30 000 words strong and includes a remarkable range of new entries from Afrikaans varieties such as Cape Afrikaans and Orange River Afrikaans – among others, ‘antie’, ‘dhaltjie’, ‘gangster’ and ‘poenankies’ (meaning ‘cute’). Other new additions reflect recent social and technological advancements, such as ‘googleloer’ for ‘google’ as a verb, ‘hommeltuig’ for ‘drone’, ‘meem’ for ‘meme’, ‘antispioenware’ for ‘antispyware’, ‘warsender’ for ‘jamming device’, ‘skermgreep’ for ‘screen grab’ and ‘hidrobreking’ for ‘fracking’. ‘Selfie’ and ‘venue’ speak for themselves. Even ‘flop’ made it!
“Afrikaans is a dynamic language that develops continuously, and the most recent AWS is exciting and living proof of this fact,” said Prof Gerhard van Huyssteen, chair of the Taalkommissie.
The AWS is published by Pharos, an imprint of NB Publishers, and is also available online.
A collage of the different editions of the AWS, featuring the latest edition in the middle.
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