Mother Language Day 2022: Let’s look beyond our own language
We celebrate International Mother Language Day on 21 February each year. It is appropriate to take time on that day to celebrate that first language; the one that allowed…
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The ripple effect of language
Most of us don’t think much about language in the abstract as we go about our everyday lives. And yet, the language we use in our studies, in work contexts…
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Twenty years’ support for writers to be heard where it counts
This June, the SU Language Centre’s Writing Lab is celebrating its 20th birthday. The Writing Lab prides itself as a welcoming, friendly and safe space where students and academics feel…
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Correct me if I’m wrong
We reckon correctional fluid wouldn’t have been invented if people used language perfectly. Now and again, everyone stumbles linguistically – when talking, writing and, increasingly, when texting. Every so often…
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Language resources for savvy speakers
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.…
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When e- fails
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the whole of South Africa had hoped to see the end of load shedding in December last year. Unfortunately it came back…
Read More ‘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…
Read More Why use a professional translator?
You have a finalised, polished text to share with your readers – and it needs to be available in more than one language. You could ask your bilingual colleague to…
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Capitalisation of titles and proper names in Afrikaans and English: How does it work?
Often people are unsure about the capitalisation of titles in Afrikaans and English. Should it be Prof De Villiers or prof De Villiers? An added headache is the capitalisation of…
Read More “If raw milk does not agree with your baby, boil it.”
Is it just me, or is there something odd about this sentence? One of our most important jobs when we write is to convey our message to our audience as…
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