Litnet

 

"The Use of Official Languages Act 12 of 2012 [...] in short requires of government departments and other authorities such as public enterprises to develop a language policy that will include at least three official languages. Out of the 139 language policies that the Act requires from government departments and related institutions only about 30 were presented. Let them therefore not preach to universities about language when in their own backyard very little is done."

Uit die LitNet-argief: Die oorlewing van die nie-dominante tale van Suid-Afrika (7 April 2001)

 

"Constitutions are about the 'promised land'; ours is certainly not a magic wand that has wiped out our history and made us all equal. To achieve this 'promised land' we need to be pragmatic, generous and human in our approaches to move from where we are, from what we have inherited, to what we would collectively like to be." 

 

Video: Heritage and Belonging – a discussion on multilingualism 

 

"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."  

 

Abafundi abathetha iAfrikaans bangaziva njani ukuba bona bangafundiswa mhlawumbi ngesiXhosa? | How would Afrikaans-speaking students feel if they were taught in the medium of Xhosa?

 

 

 

"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?"    

 

 

"… we believe that tuition in a language of choice is central to a dignified and well-deserved tertiary education. Students should not be compelled to be taught in a language they do not fully understand or do not know at all. However, by simply introducing English as the only language of instruction, the academic development of Afrikaans and isiXhosa is jeopardized. It is regressive and shameful to transformative constitutionalism if a previously neglected language such as isiXhosa loses its developmental status at SU, along with Afrikaans …"

Persverklaring: Geen ruimte vir samboktaktiek in taaldebakel
Die Afrikaanse Taalraad

"Opsies moet oorweeg word waar plooibare veeltaligheid in onderwysinstellings bedink en uitgevoer moet word."

Open Stellenbosch – A Luta Continua?
Bettina Wyngaard

"Die probleem op Stellenbosch is immers nie Afrikaans nie. Die probleem is hoedat die taal gebruik word om uit te sluit en laer te trek."

Afrikaans-in-dialogue, rather than Protection-of-Afrikaans
Bibi Burger

"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."

Open Stellenbosch: “Yeah but you said it” – revisited
Heleen Hofmeyr

"Open Stellenbosch: 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."

Open Stellenbosch and the language debate
Danie van Wyk

"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."

It is time to listen to the youth
Michael le Cordeur

"Language is an emotional matter. The language issue is at the core of the education crisis in our country, because language is the key to conceptualisation, comprehension and learning."

Stellenbosch and the cypher
Adrian "Dif" van Wyk

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

Open Stellenbosch and the importance of mother tongue education
Kamal Kweku Yakubu

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

Is eentaligheid die norm?
Karien Brits

"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?"

Kan ons meertaligheid bekostig? (1) Taal en onderwys
Karien Brits

"Ek wil nie taal en meertaligheid die towerstaffies maak wat al Suid-Afrika se probleme gaan regtoor nie. Tog glo ek ons moet nie die waarde van tale en meertaligheid onderskat nie – veral nie as dit by volhoubare ontwikkeling kom nie."

 

Open Stellenbosch: The elephant in the room
Leon Wessels

"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."

Open Stellenbosch: Academic imperialism at Stellenbosch and in higher education
Tumi Senokoane

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

Afrikaans - an African language
Ernst Kotzé

"From a diachronic viewpoint, Afrikaans has its roots in 17th-century Dutch, and has grown in African soil over a period of 360 years into a new language, distinct from other Western and Northern Germanic languages on all levels of linguistic description (morphological, phonological, syntactic and semantic), with the result that it has developed into an African language, a fact which is also reflected in its name."

Photos and video: Open Stellenbosch's protest march
Naomi Bruwer

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#SUforward
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