Being a first-language English speaker can be like living in a monolingual cultural bubble. Hagen Engler bursts out of his in a new book.
Marchers have demanded Heidelberg Hoër Volkskool relooks its decision to phase out English classes, claiming it to be racist and unconstitutional.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal wants to introduce undergraduate courses in isiZulu but students are concerned technical words don’t translate well.
Françoise Lionnet, an authority on languages and literature in the Indian Ocean islands, about her work on creolisation, globalisation and culture.
It’s not, like, acceptable that the language is being mangled for the sake of expediency. But whatever.
As in tsotsitaal, the youth play with language – and in so doing help create a common culture, writes Ellen Hurst.
It is vital for Southa African teachers to be able to use more than one language in their classrooms.
Every thinking white South African must have toyed with the idea of learning an African language. Few, however, have tried, writes Brent Meersman.
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/ 2 November 2011
Dona Aida de Jesus is 96 years old and is one of the last custodians of a dying language on Macau, a small island off the coast of Hong Kong.
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/ 22 October 2010
A new isiZulu/Engish dictionary helps South Africans talk to one another, writes <b>Megan Hall</b>.
Attorney wins the first round of his battle to force the government to honour its constitutional duty towards South Africa’s official languages.
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/ 13 November 2009
The problem with South African education is less about mother-tongue tuition than the quality of teaching.
A tool, a hurdle, a weapon. An inescapable part of our lives. Language is all that and more. It is also part of our identity as distinct human beings.
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/ 29 January 2009
Sukasha Singh: Once my mum sent me an SMS at work asking if I wanted ”brockley” for dinner — and I growled.
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/ 10 October 2008
Being forced to speak Afrikaans for years didn’t help Namibians with English language proficiency, writes Moses Magadza.
Language guru David Crystal tells John Crace that txt spk is not responsible for bad spelling or moral decay.
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/ 20 September 2008
The internet got smarter this week with the release of a semantic map that teaches computers the meanings behind words.
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/ 4 September 2008
A Council for Higher Education report highlights the ‘unforseen negative’ influence of the parallel-medium policy.
How do you measure suffering? And if you were to find that you have suffered the most, how do you get compensated for that?
Certain languages are considered to be prestigious but community languages are often dismissed as irrelevant or second rate. Rowenna Davis reports.