Category: Our languages

Catch them out with language

It’s urgent! It’s from a well-known organisation! Act now!

It’s probably fake …

If you’re working for a large company, the odds are that you’ve received e-mails from the IT department, warning you of phishing attacks. The reason for such alerts could be that someone clicked on a link in an e-mail that tried to steal usernames, passwords or banking details, and the culprit highly likely used this person’s account to distribute even more phishing e-mails.

Verizon, a telecommunication company in the USA, found that it took more than half an hour (on average) for an employee to report a suspicious e-mail. Hence, during a mere thirty minutes, at least one person will already have taken the bait, statistically. Once on the hook, you will be reeled in and suffer the consequences.

The good news is that the key to avoiding a phishing attack could lie in language.

During the 12^th International Conference on Semantic Computing in 2018, hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), researchers have illustrated that, by analysing the language used in phishing e-mails, they could identify phishing attempts more accurately than cyber security company Netcraft’s leading anti-phishing program. One of the main clues identified by the researchers was that phishing e-mails almost always sounded urgent, containing statements such as “Change immediately” or “Submit in the next 24 hours”. Another red flag is the way in which the recipient is addressed – something generic or impersonal like “Dear customer” must activate alarm bells! Something else to ask yourself is: Are there any spelling errors? Often spelling and typographical mistakes are dead giveaways, pointing to questionable sources.

If linguistics is not your forte, hold on to the following:

Verify that the e-mail and website addresses in the e-mail are irreproachable.
Don’t click on any link in any e-mail – unless you know that the sender and link are trustworthy.
Don’t respond to requests for personal or sensitive information. The age-old principle still prevails – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Keep your passwords secret at all times, even if you think you can trust the source asking for your passwords.

Unfortunately it is a cyber jungle out there. Be alert at all times!

25 June 2019

Second home for Dutch prof

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.

4 April 2019

It’s a sign!

MI(SA), performed at the 2019 Woordfees, is an ambitious piece of theatre. It is a musical tryptic containing three masses: the Missa Luba (a Latin Mass set to traditional song forms from the Democratic Republic of Congo), the Misa Criolla (one of the first non-Latin masses) and the MI(SA) itself, a new South African mass written by the Afrikaans poet Antjie Krog and set to music by Antoni Schonken. The production involves numerous members of the Cape Town Opera, six dancers, two choreographers and one Amanda Strydom.

But that is not what marks this production as special or important. Likewise, the use of South African Sign Language (SASL) and the inclusion of two SASL interpreters on stage during this scientific mass for the universe, is significant, but not defining.

What makes this production unique, is that it is the first time SASL and SASL interpreters have been involved in the co-creation of a piece of theatre from the first day of rehearsals. (To put this in context: SASL as home language was included in the matric exams for the very first time in 2018.) “The functional use of SASL and the way it was integrated into the production right from the start is a first for the Cape,” says Marsanne Neethling.

Marsanne is a Language Centre interpreter who has extensive experience in interpreting for the Deaf in a wide variety of settings – including classrooms and theatres. According to her, a lack of exposure to creative events such as these means that many Deaf people are neither proud of their culture nor of SASL. She acknowledges that her participation in MI(SA) has an “awareness component”.

By having the cast learn SASL and use it while they sing, and by developing more poetic signs and more poetic styles of delivery, three things are happening. Firstly, mainstream cultural spaces are being made accessible to the Deaf community. Secondly, SASL is being enriched in precisely the same way that any language is broadened by poetry. Thirdly, the mainstream audience is suddenly exposed to SASL in a high-culture setting, increasing awareness of SASL and the Deaf community.

Missed MI(SA) at the Woordfees? It’s on show at the Suidooster Festival in Cape Town on 28 April if you’d still like to share in this experience.

Interpreters from the Language Centre were on duty at 11 current affairs discussions during the recent Woordfees. If you’d like to ensure that all voices are heard in any meeting, discussion or set of proceedings you are arranging, contact Nanette van der Berg to have trained, experienced professional interpreters at the ready.

4 April 2019

A story accessible to Deaf children and children who can hear

SU’s Department of General Linguistics has embarked on a project that involves a children’s story that young speakers of various languages – including users of South African Sign Language (SASL) – and their parents can enjoy together.

This idea comes from work done by two Belgian siblings, Filip and Hilde Verhelst, who are Deaf themselves. They published a children’s book, entitled Gebarentaal Redt, in 2013, which comes with a bilingual DVD in Dutch and Dutch Sign Language to tell the story of Noah, a Deaf little lion, who goes diving with his friend Adam. Although Adam can hear, they are saved by the fact that they can use sign language when something goes wrong under water.

The Department of General Linguistics has bought the translation rights to the book and plans to release a book-and-DVD set in five South African languages. The South African version will make it possible for families to listen to Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa or isiZulu while watching the SASL story. Viewers would also be able to follow the story in the book, which contains the same pictures and a simplified version of the story as it is told on the DVD.

Prof Frenette Southwood, chair of the Department of General Linguistics, says they hope to release the first of three such stories on World Book Day (23 April). Interested parties may contact the editor, Vanessa Reyneke, for more information.

The Language Centre has two sign language interpreters who interpret for Deaf students in the Faculty of Education and for SU staff members. Contact Vicki for more information on SASL interpreting at the University.

4 April 2019

How does multilingualism look at Stellenbosch University?

“Multilingualism among young children has been shown to promote and develop those children’s thinking skills, problem-solving abilities and their understanding of complexity and systems. In old age, multilingualism could even combat the decline in mental abilities.” Prof Arnold Schoonwinkel, Vice-Rector (Learning & Teaching), opened this year’s Language Day at the University with these inspiring facts.

On 28 September, 75 students and staff members gathered at STIAS to interact around this year’s Language Day theme, ‘Multilingualism @SU: Creating an enabling environment’. The day was meant to create space to continue considering the diversity of opportunities that exist at a university sensitive to a multilingual approach. In the context of a tertiary environment, Prof Schoonwinkel pointed out that multilingualism played a role in combating occurrences of racism, xenophobia and cultural intolerance, and that it was worth exploring ways to harness multilingualism in the learning and social environments on campus.

Small-group discussions gave the diverse group of participants a platform to reflect on the value of multilingualism and how an enabling environment could be created. The two main topics, ‘Multilingualism in Teaching and Learning Spaces’ and ‘Multilingualism in Social Space’, directed the conversations. Tough questions arose, such as: why do we even bother to foster minoritised languages in education, and how does this manifest in our classrooms? The feedback from the floor made it clear that being multilingual was woven into our beings as South Africans, that it defined us and that it set us apart as a nation. Other comments were: “Multilingualism shows sensitivity to inclusiveness and uses the power that language carries in a cultural as well as professional society.” “We should be bothered by multilingualism up to the point where we commit to creating enabling environments to help create clarification and understanding. A tangible way of doing this could be by providing more trilingual (or even multilingual) terminology lists in the form of mobile applications, as is done by the Mobilex project.” The general consensus was that, in whatever way we approach the challenges of multilingualism, we should always keep in mind that we do this to be inclusive, to accommodate others and to be sensitive to individual needs. In this way, multilingualism creates opportunities for personal growth and for reaching out, rather than mere passive observation. Carli van Wyk, Chairperson of the Student Representative Council of 2018/2019, summarised the sentiment in the room as follows: “We should focus on creating a welcoming culture at SU where our values should drive our strategy of celebrating diversity and create multilingual spaces to learn from one another.”

Although the University focuses on Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa, there is also an increased focus on South African Sign Language (SASLI). In addition to interpreting in Afrikaans and English, SASLI interpreting was also available, enabling deaf students to join the Language Day conversation. If you would like to follow the conversation, view a recording of the full day here or have a look at the student invite to experience the feeling of a multilingual campus.

Language day invite

13 November 2018

For the love of reading!

The Language Centre loves books and takes pride in advancing literacy. We’d like to share with you how we connected to the wider community with books and reading sessions this year.

In July this year, the Language Centre, Vriende van Afrikaans and the residence Academia donated two book chests to the value of R15 000 to two schools in Stellenbosch. This time the recipients were Bruckner de Villiers Primary School and AF Louw Primary School. A book chest contains a variety of English, Afrikaans and Xhosa books, and can serve as a mobile library, particularly for schools without a traditional library. We had an opportunity to connect with the children when we handed over the book chests, to read some stories to them and to guide them on how to handle, look after and enjoy books. Our hearts melted when we received a handmade thank you booklet with cards from the children.

Subsequently, another initiative flowed from the book chest project: we started reading to the children. In collaboration with Vriende van Afrikaans and Academia, the Language Centre coordinates weekly reading sessions at twelve nursery schools and the pre-primary classes of the two schools that received book chests this year. In doing this, we hope to nurture a love of books. We also believe that this investment will yield an abundance of literacy dividends. If you are keen to join the reading team, please e-mail Vernita Beukes.

The Language Centre surprised everyone on campus again with a book tsunami in the Neelsie (the Langenhoven Student Centre) on 7 September. This special occasion commemorated International Literacy Day, celebrated all over the world on 8 September this year. The books we have been collecting throughout the year were stacked in the Neelsie to create a ‘wave’ of books. Anyone who entered the Neelsie could ‘dive’ in and pick a book to take home. We had one request, however: After having read the book, the reader should pass it on to someone else to keep the reading wave going. It’s our way of paying it forward. If you have any books to donate for our next book tsunami, please e-mail Vernita Beukes.

And while we’re on this topic: The Language Centre’s Reading Lab helps adult readers to read faster and smarter – it doesn’t matter whether the reading material is business reports, academic articles or text books. E-mail Marisca Coetzee for more about the Reading Lab.

12 November 2018

‘Is’ or ‘are’ – that is the question…

For English, it’s the dividing line: on one side you have (apparently) well-educated (probably) first-language speakers; on the other, everyone else. Very simply put, subject-verb agreement means that singular subjects take singular verbs and plural subjects take plural verbs. But if concord is so simple and straight forward, why is it considered such a clear indicator of linguistic mastery?

Often, the answer lies in the fact that not everybody agrees on whether the subject of a sentence is singular or not. At first glance this seems daft. Most people can distinguish between one (singular) and more than one (plural).

But look at this headline: ‘Stellenbosch FC suffer first defeat of the season, but stay top of NFD log’. The verb ‘suffer’ is in the plural form. If you were to rewrite it, it would read ‘They suffer their first defeat’ – plural subject, plural verb. But the soccer club’s first team is one team. Surely it should be treated as a singular subject?

Traditionally, however, Commonwealth or former Commonwealth countries treat the names of sports teams (including references to the national side) as a placeholder for the plural subject ‘the players’. If you were to rewrite that sentence as ‘The players have suffered their first defeat’, you have subject-verb agreement.

Another type of example can be found in slogans used by companies. Every now and then, a company may receive a call to the effect of ‘Your company’s slogan is wrong. It should be “When precision and accuracy matter plural, not matters singular”.’ Are these callers correct?

Well, it depends on two interrelated perspectives. Firstly, whether the company views ‘precision and accuracy’ as one concept (in which case it would take a singular verb) and, secondly, what the jargon for that particular industry is. If it is quite normal within the industry to see ‘precision and accuracy’ as a single concept, then ‘precision and accuracy matters’. Just as with the sports teams, the usage convention in that field overrides the counting strategy (precision [one] plus accuracy [one] equals two, therefore plural verb) most people rely on to determine whether a singular or plural verb should be used.

All these variables underline two basic points. Firstly, that English is, shall we say, a variable language. And secondly, language is more than just a matter of counting.

12 November 2018

An Amazing Reading Race for Kylemore Secondary

This year, the learners of Kylemore Senior Secondary School had a Mandela Day to remember. Together with various SU environments, the Language Centre spent time at the school on 25 July to honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela.

On the day, Faika Haroun and her team of fellow Language Centre staff members wanted to share the joy of reading with learners. “We devised a reading race to challenge and inspire learners to read with comprehension and compete for exciting prizes.”

The Language Centre’s Amazing Reading Race had four check-in points, and, as with any race, the objective was to finish first. Learners were divided into teams of five and moved from one check-in to the next. At each check-in, they had to read and discuss a text and, as a team, answer a set of questions relating to the text. They received their next assignment only if their answers to the previous one were correct.

After some hard reading, deep thinking and quick answering, Trishan’s team was first to reach the finishing line. In second place was Hayward’s team, followed by the team captained by Justine. Prizes consisted of dictionaries, books, stationery sets and note books. To add to the fun there was also a lucky draw. To these learners the race actively embodied the principle that those who read with the best comprehension eventually win in academia and in life.

The race also impressed and inspired the teachers, and some asked whether they could use the concept in their teaching: “Learners learnt to work in teams and realised that reading with comprehension is important in all their subjects.”

“The learners thought the race was great fun, and saw that reading could be really exciting. Seeing how successful this endeavour was, we are keen to take the race to other schools as well,” concludes Faika. E-mail her if you’d like an Amazing Reading Race at your school.

The Language Centre’s Reading Lab helps adult readers to read faster and smarter – it doesn’t matter whether the reading material is business reports, academic articles or text books. E-mail Marisca Coetzee for more about the Reading Lab.

3 September 2018

Comms Lab facilitates public speaking on several platforms

Public speaking is definitely a skill that can be mastered! On 8 August, the Language Centre’s Comms Lab and the Stellenbosch Toastmasters Club joined forces by hosting a demo Toastmasters meeting and information session in the Language Centre Seminar room. This was an opportunity for anyone to see first-hand how the Toastmasters do things: Prepared speeches, evaluations and impromptu speeches were presented in the structured setting of a Toastmasters meeting.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Toastmasters is about self-development at one’s own pace in a safe and positive environment. According to the Club’s president, Zimbili Sibiya, “We’re a warm and welcoming bunch and visitors are not obliged to participate in any way other than as observers – you won’t be put on the spot!” Over 30 new faces attended the meeting. If you’d like to attend the next Toastmasters meeting, e-mail them for more information.

The Language Centre’s Comms Lab is always on the look-out for partners – such as Toastmasters – to complement its superbly crafted corporate communication offering. Comms Lab courses are practical and interactive and can be tailored to specific needs. Face-to-face full-day sessions are supplemented by online learning, which creates an ideal advantage and convenient option for busy executives or office administrators. On successful completion of a course, a Certificate of Competence is awarded.

The Comms Lab also aims to build long-term relationships with its participants. “We can see from the number of participants re-enrolling for more of our courses that this is working. To name but a few, we’ve had people from Mediclinic, ICLEI, NKC, the Rupert Foundation, Alphawave, USB and Graham Beck Wines attending courses this year,” Michelle Pieters, Comms Lab coordinator, explains.

“It is always inspiring to see someone develop and reach the next step on their way to full potential. One of our recent stars is Sello Sekele, a young and enthusiastic trainee economist at the Bureau for Economic Research in Stellenbosch.” In August, Sello attended the Comms Lab short course Crafting confident presentations presented by Eduard de Kock, a radio personality, experienced MC and interpreter. “This practical and interactive course helped Sello gain enough confidence and public speaking skills to impress his colleagues to such an extent that one of them phoned me to tell me this!” says Michelle. Well done, Sello!

If you’d like to hone your professional communication skills, speak to Michelle to find out how we can help you.

3 September 2018

NPIT4 – a conference for finding common ground in communication

There is no nipping NPIT in the bud! This year, the 4th International Conference on Non-Professional Interpreting and Translation (NPIT4) was held on African soil for the first time. The conference was hosted at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) from 22 to 24 May. In addition, the first official Conference of the Association for Translation Studies in Africa (ATSA) was held on 25 and 26 May, also at STIAS. This way one could spend a whole week engaged in issues pertaining to translation studies and related fields – right here in Stellenbosch, but in international company.

In communities that use a range of languages, various kinds of mediation occur. NPIT4 centered on “finding a balance between required skills and available resources in non-professional interpreting and translation”, with the organisers themselves acknowledging that the designation ‘non-professional’ was rather fuzzy and was often interchangeable with ‘ad hoc’, ‘volunteer’, ‘informal’ and ‘limitedly trained’. The SU Language Centre joined the conversation by presenting three papers at the conference.

Dr Kim Wallmach (Director of the Language Centre) and Petri du Toit (a former postgraduate student of Dr Wallmach and a television interpreter) opened the Language Centre offering with a paper entitled ‘Framing South African Sign Language (SASL) interpreting: Pictorial representations of SASL interpreters from 1994 to 2018’. Another paper on their research on Deaf/hearing interpreter collaboration followed, entitled ‘Camera rolling … and … action!: What collaboration holds for Deaf and hearing interpreters on set’. Rounding off the triad of presentations, Carmen Brewis and Risha Lötter, two educational interpreters at the Language Centre, shared some first-hand insights on educational interpreting in their paper, ‘Towards more effective facilitation of interpreter-mediated university classrooms – a critical reexamination of ‘role’’.

An informative and enlightening atmosphere enveloped the three-day event, not only during the official presentations, but also during informal discussions on the sidelines. Communication experts from across the world were happy to share their knowledge, insight and experience. One colleague commented that she was struck by the great need for interpreters and translators in Africa. Another mentioned thoroughly enjoying the keynote address on neuroscience and translation by esteemed translation studies scholar Prof Maria Tymoczko. A third remarked that it was interesting to see a new trend in the profile of delegates – professional conference interpreter trainers who had previously done conference interpreting research were now starting to apply their research to dialogue or public service interpreting as well.

Petri du Toit, a sign-language interpreter, in action interpreting a speech by Julius Malema.
Petri co-presented along with Dr Kim Wallmach of the Language Centre at NPIT4. (Photo: Times LIVE)

26 June 2018