Litnet

"Finally, there is only one viable and long-term solution, namely the creation of a fully fledged English academy and a fully fledged Afrikaans academy on the same campus, with the ideal of having, one day, also a fully fledged Xhosa or Zulu academy."

"[L]anguage is more than just a means of communication; it influences our culture and even our thought processes."

"Come, let us create space for Afrikaans as well as the other indigenous languages – English is a world language, it is the greatest common factor among us and will remain standing without special assistance."

"Vir baie was die einde van apartheid ’n rampspoedige verlies, aan albei kante van die kwessie."

Die hormoonfabriek is geïnspireer deur historiese feite oor die eerste Nederlandse vleisfabriek wat begin het om op kommersiële vlak hormone uit die afvalprodukte te vervaardig. 

"Op 'n lentedag in 1978 het Swiegelaar, bloot omdat sy aandete nie betyds gereed was nie, sy vrou se klere ter waarde van R50 fyn en flenters gesny."

"Afrikaans is ʼn taal, is ʼn mens. Jy praat hom en/of hou van hom of nie. Ek hou van hom. Eintlik is die taal vir my ʼn 'haar'. Sy sit gemaklik in my mond, ek worstel graag om haar kinkels my denke uit, sweet graag om haar kurwes my doene uit."

"Met de dood van Joost Zwagerman heeft Nederland een bijzondere schrijver verloren."

"... om ‘n baie lang storie kort te maak, sal ek sê my mission in die lewe is om alle inheemse musiekinstrumente te beskerm en bewaar."

"So was Joost Zwagerman. Hy en sy begeesterde belangstellings kon niemand wat met hom in aanraking kom, koud laat nie. Hy sou jou anders laat kyk en anders laat dink, en terselfdertyd laat voel of jy self plotseling bars van energie."

"Mev Joyce Waring (1914–2003), eggenote van 'n voormalige kabinetsminister, Frank Waring, was gedurende die sestiger- en sewentigerjare bekend vir haar soms erg omstrede uitsprake – veral in artikels (meestal met 'n politieke strekking) wat gereeld uit haar pen in die Engelse pers verskyn het."

"Hoekom is dit dan dat die meeste universiteite in Suid-Afrika dan net Engels as onderrigmedium gebruik? Waar is ons ander tale? Watter waarde heg ons aan ons tale – of hou ons nog vas aan die mite dat eentaligheid die norm is?"

"Imagine if centres and schools were started at the university to actively boost research, tuition and translation services in Xhosa so that students from Khayelitsha and the Transkei were no longer stuck with the choice of studying in either their second or their third language. Imagine if lecturers engaged one another in their respective first languages and broadened one another’s horizons?"    

"How do you get someone out of the township? The answer to this question of transformation is simple: educate them in their own language!"

"Afrikaans has never been the enemy; the use of the language to exclude people from conversation is the problem. Not the language!"

"The youth are actively participating. Expect them to indicate the pace at which we move forward."

"Afrikaans should be seen and accepted by non-Afrikaans students as a language spoken by the majority of people in the Western Cape. There are more Afrikaans-medium schools in the Western Cape than in the rest of the country combined. Surely this is a fact that cannot simply be ignored. Those students, the majority of whom are coloured/black Afrikaans mother-tongue speakers, have a right to be taught in the language of their choice – Afrikaans. The abandonment of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at universities will have an effect on the entire Afrikaans community in South Africa."

"Once again, I find myself perplexed by your intentions, OS. You need to jump off this taaldebat train, because it’s clear your demands for transformation go so much further than language – and rightly so."

" ...the only way forward for Afrikaans is for its proponents to stop privileging it above other indigenous South African languages and actively and practically support the development of all South African languages."

"Jammer: daar is geen geld en roem in blogging nie."