Category: Our languages

The days of the week in isiXhosa

Why do we say ‘Monday’ for Monday? Where do the names for the days of the week come from in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans?

uMvulo (The day opening the week)

In Afrikaans and English, the names of the days of the week come from Roman mythology. So, Monday is a loan translation of the Latin ‘dies lunae’, which means ‘day of Luna’, because this day is dedicated to the Roman moon goddess Luna.

In isiXhosa, each day of the week is linked to a specific meaning. The first day of the week in isiXhosa, ‘uMvulo’, is derived from the verb ‘-vula’, which means ‘to open’. In other words, Monday is the day opening the week.

uLwesibini (The second day)

The amaXhosa also use the seven-day week, however, unlike in Afrikaans or English, they derive the words for Tuesday to Friday from numerals. The word for ‘two’ in isiXhosa is ‘-bini’ and that is why we say ‘uLwesibini’ for Tuesday in isiXhosa.

uLwesithathu (The third day)

For the remaining days before the weekend, we can simply substitute the numeral part of the word to show which day it is. To create the isiXhosa word for Wednesday, we use the numeral ‘-thathu’, which means three, to form ‘uLwesithathu’.

uLwesine (The fourth day)

For the fourth day of the week we use the isiXhosa numeral ‘-ne’, which means ‘four’, to create ‘uLwesine’ – the isiXhosa word for Thursday.

uLwesihlanu (The fifth day)

Friday is the last day of the week derived from numerals in isiXhosa. We use the numeral ‘-hlanu’, which means ‘five’ in isiXhosa, to get to ‘uLwesihlanu’ – the Xhosa word for Friday.

uMgqibelo (The day ending the week)

According to the seven-day calendar Sunday marks the end of the week. However, in isiXhosa, Saturday is considered the last day of the week or the day that ends or closes the week. Therefore, in isiXhosa we use the word ‘uMgqibelo’ for Saturday, which is derived from the verb ‘-gqibela’, meaning ‘to finish’.

iCawa (Church day)

Sunday is the day when people traditionally go to church. European missionaries settled among the amaXhosa in the 1820s, introducing Christian traditions, some of which the amaXhosa have adopted. That is why we use the isiXhosa word for church, ‘iCawa’, to refer to Sunday in isiXhosa.

If you’ve read until this point, congratulations – you’ve added seven words to your isiXhosa vocabulary!

24 May 2024Tags: Africa Day, isiXhosa, learning isiXhosa, life is language, names of weekdays in isiXhosa

Freedom Day reflections: Language, expression and responsibility

Spiderman hit the nail on the head when he said something to the effect of “with great power comes great responsibility”. The same applies to freedom, as Eleanor Roosevelt rightly said: “With freedom comes responsibility.”

While we’re living, learning and thriving (and, well, sometimes just surviving) in a democratic, multilingual South Africa, we also have the responsibility to grapple with the concept of freedom and the responsibilities that true freedom brings with it, particularly when we reflect on what Freedom Day, celebrated on 27 April, means to us.

Freedom of expression

According to Article 19, an international think-do organisation concerning itself with freedom of expression, “freedom of expression enables dialogue, builds understanding, and increases public knowledge”. We as the Language Centre agree: Being able to share ideas and information freely makes us all smarter and helps our communities thrive.

As South Africans we have the benefit of many hard-won freedoms in our country today, not least the freedom of communicating in our mother language or a chosen language. More than that, there is space for many voices and many opinions – space to be heard.

What does freedom mean to us at the Stellenbosch University (SU) Language Centre?

To us, freedom is not merely a concept; it is a guiding principle that shapes our interaction with the world around us as well as our approach to learning and teaching. It begins with freedom of expression – the fundamental right to articulate our thoughts, emotions and ideas in a language of our choosing. In the modules, workshops and short courses we offer, we strive to create spaces where participants feel free and safe to express themselves authentically, to ask questions, and to engage in meaningful dialogue with those around them. We also endeavour to create such spaces across campus with our language and interpreting services.

Creativity

Freedom also encompasses the liberty to be creative – to explore new linguistic landscapes, experiment with different modes of expression, and push the boundaries of traditional language conventions. We encourage those with whom we collaborate – students, participants and clients alike – to unleash their imagination and harness the power of language to convey their unique perspectives and experiences, be it in isiXhosa, Afrikaans, English or SA Sign Language.

Freedom is not only the absence of external constraints, but is also the presence of environments that enable us to realise and express our full potential. This means that we need to create inclusive environments where diverse voices and languages are not just heard and seen, but are welcomed. It comes down to fostering and encouraging a culture of tolerance and respect, and promoting fair access to opportunities and resources, not least when it comes to language – essentially a multilingual mindset. At SU and the Language Centre, this, for example, translates to having access to interpreting services during lectures as well as the opportunity to hear many languages, both local and international languages, used freely on campus and in our communities.

A very human longing

The concept of freedom contains within itself our fundamental human longing for autonomy, dignity and self-expression. It is a dynamic and evolving principle that lies at the heart of our human experience, driving progress, justice and the pursuit of a more just and equal world. A world where all voices have a place, and all stories can be told and appreciated. In short – a multilingual and multicultural world.

Join us at the Language Centre as we embrace the transformative power of language and learn from the authentic voices of those around us, on campus, in our classrooms and in our homes – also about freedom.

Feel the freedom!

– by Esther van der Vyver (edited by Susan Lotz and Ingrid Swanepoel)

23 April 2024Tags: democracy, freedom, Freedom Day, multilingual mindset, multilingualism

Our mother languages: What’s in it for us?

At the SU Language Centre, we share UNESCO’s belief in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies, and we embrace the world-wide celebration of International Mother Language Day on 21 February each year.

Mother Language Day is not only about your and my individual mother languages, but also about those of the people around us. If we understand that the mother language of the person next to us is just as dear to them as our mother language is to us, and respect that, we’ve made great strides already.

Why are mother languages important, other than because we attach emotional value to the language(s) we grew up with and started expressing ourselves in? How can they be of practical use to us, even if we often function in a second or third language to ensure that we communicate in a manner that helps others to understand what we’re saying?

Mental springboards

Mother languages are mental springboards. We all use our mother language as a way to scaffold knowledge. When you acquire new knowledge, you usually start with familiar information and then journey from there into the valleys of unknown knowledge. So, if you start at a place where you know what a certain concept is in your mother language, you have somewhere to kick in your heels and get purchase, and you can use that familiarity as a springboard from where to understand more complex concepts, even when offered in a different language than your mother language.

Therefore, students can, and should, use their mother languages at university, even if their language is not one of the official learning and teaching languages of the institution. If we think of SU, the University has committed to using English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa – the official languages of the Western Cape. Afrikaans and English are the primary languages of learning, teaching and assessment. IsiXhosa may also be used in learning and teaching, where there is capacity and lecturers find it appropriate to use it, and where there is a pedagogical need. The University is committed to developing isiXhosa as an academic language, as well as to maintaining Afrikaans as a language of teaching, learning, assessment and research. SU is also one of the few South African universities aiming to develop and promote South African Sign Language. This is all part of a national mandate for tertiary institutions to adopt at least one African language, where we focus our resources on that language, while at the same time maintaining what we’ve already developed. This is an important way for us to bring the South African Constitution to life. By respecting languages at a tertiary level, we raise their status.

SU students and staff are indeed a far more diverse bunch than only English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa speakers, but working with the most common mother languages in the Western Cape is a starting point. And other South African universities have committed to develop at least one of the official South African languages in their regions. This way, speakers of isiZulu could, for example, also benefit from resources in isiXhosa, as those languages are closely related, and the same applies to other closely related languages. But we as mother language speakers need to choose to use our languages ourselves when the opportunity arises.

Raising the status

If we want to maintain, extend and raise the status of our languages, there are two overarching ways to do it. One way is by writing in that language – through the creation of literature – showing that your language is capable of expressing abstract thought and creative and complex ideas, and that it is flexible enough to do so. The second way is through creating terminology to describe new technical domains.

Probably every single language apart from English (as terminology seems to be created in English far more naturally as part of the process of new inventions and developments) needs to continually raise its status to keep up in our modern world. Every other language, whether French, German, Chinese, Afrikaans or isiXhosa, has the challenge to try to keep pace, and English itself doesn’t even always stay ahead! Also, English might possess the terminology, but the meanings of those words are not always so transparent. Terminology in isiXhosa, Afrikaans or even French is often much more descriptive and therefore more transparent to the speakers of that language. Think of “koppelaar” in Afrikaans for “clutch”, or the isiZulu word for “bill”, “umthethosivivinywa”, literally “a law in process”. There are so many other examples. But do we choose to embrace and use those beautiful words, or do we revert to English automatically?

A great benefit of raising the status of a language and using various languages is that we make our environments more inclusive. Seeing and experiencing their languages in different spaces remind people that they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Different sides of the same coin

As we celebrate Mother Language Day this year, perhaps we should start pondering the following two questions: What does your mother language do for you, and what do you do for your mother language? When you use your mother language for learning, in everyday life and in official matters, you’re not only helping yourself but also supporting and preserving your language’s heritage. Your use of the language keeps it alive and ensures it continues for the future.

And then, when we take another step forward, namely to start learning each other’s mother languages, we support and strengthen those languages even more, while finding new ways to understand and appreciate each other.

– by Susan Lotz, Dr Kim Wallmach, Sanet de Jager and Jackie van Wyk

21 February 2024Tags: International Mother Language Day, mental springboard, mother language day, multilingual mindset, multilingualism

First-ever Languages Week at SU, with something for all staff and students

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 programme here and 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.

Enquiries or cancellations: taalsentrum@sun.ac.za

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12 February 2024Tags: EUTOPIA, Languages Week, learn Afrikaans, learn isiXhosa

IsiXhosa courses for SU staff now free

There is some good news for staff members who would like to start learning isiXhosa this year or build on what they’ve learnt already. IsiXhosa staff courses will be subsidised during 2024, which means that staff will be able to attend the lunch-hour Masabelane A1 and A2 courses offered by the Language Centre free of charge. Registrations close on 1 February for the first offering starting on 7 February.

Stembele Johnson, isiXhosa lecturer at the Language Centre, is excited to teach colleagues more about the isiXhosa language and culture. “Learning isiXhosa also enables you to communicate easily with speakers of other Nguni languages: IsiZulu, IsiSwati, and IsiNdebele,” Stembele explains.

“Learning isiXhosa can be the gateway to speaking four South African Languages.” She loves helping her students become part of a broader isiXhosa culture in an encouraging learning and teaching environment.

If you’re an absolute beginner, Stembele recommends starting with the Masabelane (Beginner) A1 short course. By doing this course you will be actively cultivating a multilingual mindset in the office and in class, and you will be able to start having basic conversations in isiXhosa. You’re bound to learn a song or two as well!

Beginner A1 course dates (register here):

7 February – 8 March (NB: register by 1 February)
7 April – 26 June
15 July – 4 September
16 September – 6 November

Masabelane A2 (Elementary) is a short course aimed at staff members with a beginner’s knowledge of isiXhosa. It is the ideal follow-up course if you have completed the original Masabelane A1 course and would like to further your knowledge of the language. If you haven’t attended Masabelane A1 but you already know a bit of isiXhosa, you’re also welcome here. This is a fun-filled course offering you a linguistic and cultural taste of isiXhosa as a language in a wider cultural context. By the end of the course you should be able to speak social isiXhosa with confidence and identify the gist of social conversations. You will also have knowledge of basic isiXhosa grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.

Elementary A2 course dates (register here):

7 April – 24 July (Register by 22 March)
20 August – 6 November

You could also email Stembele at ssjohnson@sun.ac.za if you’d like to find out more about the courses.

29 January 2024Tags: isiXhosa staff courses, learn isiXhosa

Let’s emphasise ABILITY!

Why foreground hearing disability if you can foreground language ability instead?

At the Language Centre, we’d like to emphasise ABILITY when observing International Day of Persons Living with Disabilities, celebrated on 3 December. We respect and support all forms of communication needs of persons living with various forms of hearing abilities.

Did you know:

👆🏽 Someone who identifies as Deaf uses a signed or visual language as their primary mode of communication. And because sign languages are not universal, we refer to the sign language used in South Africa as South African Sign Language (SASL) – a language that includes the rich dialects from various regions and cultures in South Africa.

👆🏾 Other communities include those who identify as hearing impaired, who choose to communicate using a written and spoken language, and those who identify as hard of hearing, who have good enough access to sound to understand spoken languages too.

👆 The assumption that subtitles and written text are an adequate replacements for SASL has impacted negatively on communities using SASL. Let’s change that!

At SU there are several opportunities for you to learn SASL – have a look here:

🌟 Our Comms Lab SASL short course: https://languagecentre.sun.ac.za/product/south-african-sign-language-beginner-level-1a/

🌟 SASL Acquisition 178 (1-year module) at the Department of General Linguistics

🌟 Soon we’ll have a StellenboschX course giving an intro to SASL that is online and self-paced (follow us to get the notification when the course is ready!).

Join the ability movement and learn SASL!

3 December 2023Tags: ability, Deaf, equitability, hard of hearing, SASL, South African Sign Language

Language learning at Language Centre opens doors for internationalisation

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 a five-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 (3^rd 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

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.

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2 August 2023Tags: business English, immersive experience, internationalisation, Language learning, learning Afrikaans, learning isiXhosa

Teamwork makes the team work: Lecturers’ online partner in multilingualism

Some educational interpreters and lecturers they collaborate with

Success should be celebrated! Recently the Language Centre’s Interpreting Service hosted a collaboration celebration with some of the lecturers who use interpreting during their lectures.

Together we reflected on a semester of working together to create a high-quality multilingual classroom experience for students. It was the first opportunity for some lecturers to meet the interpreters with whom they’ve been working face to face – both an exciting and a strange experience!

Educational interpreting is a free service provided by the SU Language Centre’s Interpreting Service. It is available for modules that qualify according to faculties’ language implementation plans, or where there is a pedagogical need.

Students can benefit immensely from a multilingual teaching and learning space. By bringing different languages into the teaching and learning space, students are given the opportunity to approach learning material from different perspectives and to find the way that resonates best with their learning style. It also allows for more voices to be heard in an authentic way. Therefore, it is critically important for lecturers to understand how educational interpreting on our campus works and how to use it, and to encourage students to make use of it.

Accordingly, interpreting on our campus can be useful and meaningful in many more situations than only where students do not understand the language in which a lecturer presents a lecture. Students sometimes prefer listening to the lectures in Afrikaans for the first few weeks after the commencement of lectures because they may be unsure about the English and the subject terminology.

When they listen to the whole lecture in Afrikaans in real time, it helps them with the transition from school to university. As Dr Christine Steenkamp (Physics) puts it:

In cases where students stop making use of interpreting after a month or two, we don’t see it as meaning that the interpreting was unsuccessful. It might actually mean that it worked, because the transition has taken place and the student can move on confidently.”

Some of the benefits of interpreting for lecturers were also highlighted during the event. Prof Hermann Swart (Psychology) explained that it was invaluable to him to know that he has an online partner who can deal with the Afrikaans so that he can be at his best when he lectures in English. It is a shared goal of lecturer, interpreter and student to include the preferred language of more students in the class, and the fact that he can depend on interpreters to convey the content in Afrikaans to students who understand it better in Afrikaans or simply prefer it in Afrikaans, contributes to his being able to relax more.

Remerta Basson (Financial Accounting) mentioned how impressed she was with the interpreters’ knowledge of subject terminology, and the authentic and natural manner in which they conveyed the content in the interpreted lectures.

Thanks to the innovativeness of the technological team at the Interpreting Service, real-time online interpreting was integrated in the classrooms almost seamlessly. For the students it is as simple as putting on earphones in the classroom there and then!

You are welcome to find out more about educational interpreting by sending an email to juanli@sun.ac.za at the Interpreting Service or visiting our web page.

25 July 2023Tags: Educational interpreting, multilingual learning, subject terminology

Spanwerk laat die plan werk: Dosente se aanlyn meertaligheidsvennoot

Van die opvoedkundige tolke en die dosente waarmee hulle saamwerk

Sukses moet gevier word! Die Taalsentrum se Tolkdiens het onlangs ŉ samewerkingsviering met van die dosente wat van tolking in hulle klaskamers gebruik maak, gehou.

Daar is saam besin oor ŉ semester van samewerking om ŉ meertalige klaskamer-ervaring van hoë gehalte vir studente te bied. Vir sommige van die dosente was dit die eerste keer dat hulle die tolke saam met wie hulle werk, in lewende lywe gesien het – iets wat gelyktydig ŉ opwindende en vreemde ervaring kan wees!

Opvoedkundige tolking is ŉ gratis diens wat deur die US Taalsentrum se Tolkdiens gelewer word. Dit is beskikbaar vir modules wat volgens fakulteite se taalimplementeringsplanne daarvoor kwalifiseer of waar daar ŉ pedagogiese behoefte bestaan.

Studente kan geweldig baat by ŉ meertalige onderrig- en leerruimte. Wanneer verskillende tale ingebring word, bied dit aan studente onder meer die geleentheid om leermateriaal uit verskillende perspektiewe te benader en dit maak dit moontlik vir meer stemme om outentiek gehoor te word. Dit is daarom uiters noodsaaklik dat dosente die gebruik en werking van opvoedkundige tolking op ons kampus verstaan en studente aanmoedig om gebruik te maak daarvan.

Die benutting van tolking op ons kampus strek dus veel wyer as situasies waar studente nie die dosent se taal van aanbieding verstaan nie. Soms verkies studente om vir die eerste paar weke van klasse na die lesings in Afrikaans te luister omdat hulle dalk onseker is oor die Engels en die vakterminologie.

Deur intyds na die volledige klas in Afrikaans te kan luister, kan dit hulle help met daardie oorbrugging van skool na universiteit. Soos dr Christine Steenkamp (Fisika) dit stel:

In die gevalle waar studente na ŉ maand of twee ophou gebruik maak van tolking beteken dit nie vir ons dat die tolking onsuksesvol was nie. Dit beteken dalk juis dat dit gewerk het, want die oorbrugging is gedoen en die student kan met selfvertroue vorentoe beweeg.”

Tydens die geleentheid is sommige van die voordele wat tolking vir dosente inhou ook uitgelig. Prof Hermann Swart (Sielkunde) het verduidelik dat dit vir hom baie beteken om te weet dat hy ŉ vennoot aanlyn het wat die Afrikaans behartig sodat hy sy beste self kan wees terwyl hy in Engels doseer. Om meer studente se voorkeurtaal in die klas in te sluit is ŉ gedeelde doelwit tussen dosent, tolk en student, en die feit dat hy op die tolke kan staatmaak om die inhoud in Afrikaans weer te gee vir studente wat dit beter in Afrikaans verstaan of eenvoudig in Afrikaans verkies, dra daartoe by dat hy meer ontspanne kan wees.

Remerta Basson (Finansiële Rekeningkunde) het gedeel hoe beïndruk sy is met die tolke se kennis van vakterminologie en die outentieke en natuurlike manier waarop hulle die inhoud in die getolkte lesings oordra.

Danksy die innovasie van die tegnologiespan in die Tolkdiens, is intydse aanlyn tolking bykans naatloos geïntegreer in die klaskamers. Vir die studente is dit so maklik soos om daar en dan in die klas ŉ oorfoon ŉ oor te sit! Vind gerus meer uit oor opvoedkundige tolking deur die Tolkdiens by juanli@sun.ac.za te e-pos of ons webblad te besoek.

25 July 2023Tags: Opvoedkundige tolking, vakterminologie, veeltalige leer

Book chat with Christo dK

Get to know us through the books we read!

This month we chat to Christo de Kock. He is currently doing his internship at the Language Centre and has recently completed his honours in Translation. “Language is something very close to my heart and that’s why it’s such a joy doing my internship at the Language Centre, where I can work with language every day.”

What is the title of your favourite book, or a book that had a great impact on you, or a book that is memorable for some reason?
The Wordsmith (also published as The List) by the Irish author, Patricia Forde.

Why did this book make such an impression on you?
I have a great love for language, and without my language I’m unable to be me. The Wordsmith reflects my love and need for language very well, and showcases the absolute beauty of language. The book interrogates the idea of language being imperative for human survival. Without language our tongues are cut off, figuratively speaking. But language has more purposes than mere survival. Having a broad and colourful vocabulary allows us to live, think, reason and create, and not survive only.

In addition to the content that interests me, the author’s way with language also resonates with me. It flows like a melody and the author does not only tell a story, but also manages to paint with words – it’s an illustration of what we can achieve with language and what potential words have.

Who is (are) your favourite author(s)? Also tell us why?
Patricia Forde – she wrote The Wordsmith.

Roald Dahl – Roald Dahl’s stories are so colourful and timeless, and can be read by anyone – no matter how young or old you are. Just like Forde, he manages to play with language and illustrates its beauty.

What are you reading at the moment?
I’m currently reading Heidi by Johanna Spyri. I like reading children’s stories because that’s what’s keeping the young innocent child inside of me alive. And I feel like dusting off my German.

Do you have a preference: reading physical books with paper pages or on a Kindle or other electronic platform? Why do you say so?
I have a strong preference for printed books. I like things that are tangible. For me reading is also a sensory experience – I want to be able to see the book, to feel it. I want to be able to even smell the paper.

What book have you re-read? Also tell us why?
The Wordsmith. I read it more than once because I wanted to embark on another language adventure. But I also read the book in two different languages. As a young translator, I wanted to see what translation challenges could be identified in the book and how the Dutch translator went about with it – because I just love the Dutch language and I found it interesting and informative to read the book in Dutch, but also because I would love to be able to translate the book into Afrikaans one day.

Who is your favourite literary character?
Roald Dahl’s Matilda. She is intelligent and, despite being small and unimportant to others, she doesn’t allow people to walk over her. She’s mature and fiercely supports justice, and she makes sure that others are treated fairly.

Have you perhaps learnt a life lesson from a book or character that you would like to share with us?

Don’t underestimate the value of your language.”

What book/books would you recommend to your students, friends or anyone else?
Heidi – Johanna Spyri (if you feel like reading some German)
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Brolloks en Bittergal – CJ Langenhoven
George’s Marvellous Medicine – Roald Dahl
Matilda – Roald Dahl
Die Bergengel – Carina Stander

5 July 2023Tags: language, Patricia Forde, The List, The Wordsmith