Dr Schalk van der Merwe, extraordinary senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University (SU), has been a regular guest lecturer for several years at the SU Language Centre’s Afrikaans language and culture course for Dutch-speaking students, where he shares and discusses key events from South African history with students in a narrative style. “When it comes to the history and origins of Afrikaans, it is essential to reflect the language’s diversity, and also how it has served as a vehicle for social change,” says Dr Van der Merwe. As part of the course’s 10-year celebrations, we asked him a few questions.
Feel at home in South Africa. Learn the language. Live the culture.
Each semester, the SU Language Centre partners with the International Office’s Global Education Programme to offer three flagship language courses to visiting international students. During the first semester of 2025,…
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Thoughts on the book Africa Is Not a Country, in celebration of Africa Day
In Africa Is Not a Country, author Dipo Faloyin challenges the simplistic and stereotypical portrayals of Africa by emphasising its vast diversity – 54 countries, thousands of languages, and a…
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Ten years of Afrikaans language and culture for Dutch speaking exchange students: An interview with Sen Joostens
Sen Joostens completed our Afrikaans language and culture course for Dutch-speaking students in 2020 while he was an exchange student at SU from Belgium. Today, he facilitates Afrikaans language learning…
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Let’s talk language freedom in celebration of Freedom Day
On 27 April, South Africa commemorates Freedom Day, marking both the anniversary of the first democratic elections in 1994 and the introduction of the new (interim) Constitution, which guaranteed equal…
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Ten years of Afrikaans language and culture for Dutch-speaking students at SU: An interview with lecturer, Helga Sykstus
This year, it will be ten years since Helga Sykstus, lecturer and coordinator at the SU Language Centre with more than 20 years of experience, had launched the Afrikaans language…
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Language, a human right: Human Rights Day 2025
On Friday March 21, we celebrate Human Rights Day in South Africa – six decades after the events at Sharpeville on the same day in 1960 ensured that this date…
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Languages matter! International Mother Language Day 2025
Languages carry the traditions, histories and identities of the people who speak them. When a language disappears, a unique way of thinking, storytelling and understanding the world is lost forever. Friday 21 February marks the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day (IMLD), a worldwide annual commemoration to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and advance multilingualism. Do you know what happened on 21 February 1952 when Bengali students in, at the time, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) rallied for the recognition of Bengali as an official language?
Languages Week 2025 at SU, with something for all students and staff
This year, SU joins the EUTOPIA Alliance Languages Week from 3 to 7 March 2025 to celebrate languages, culture and diversity across the world.
Wellness loves company
It’s that time of year again when our diaries start filling up with end-of-year gatherings and events. If just looking at your calendar triggers an onset of prospective socialisation fatigue, we have some advice!
