South Africa's languages

-
South Africa's 11 official languages:

South Africa has eleven official languages. In alphabetical order they are: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho (now more commonly known as Pedi), Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and isiZulu. 

There are two main groups of the Bantu languages, the Nguni group and the Sotho group. The Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi and Ndebele. The Sotho group includes Sesotho, Northern Sotho (Pedi/Sepedi) and Tswana. 

Here are some greetings in the different languages: (go to www.travelground.com/blog/greetings-11-official-languages

Afrikaans: Hoe gaan dit met jou?
English: How are you?
isiNdebele: Unjani?
Sepedi: Le Kae?
Sesotho: O Kae? 
siSwati: Unjani?
Xitsonga: Ku njhani?
Setswana: O tsogile jang?
Tshivenda: Vho vuwa hani? 
isiXhosa: Unjani?
isiZula: Unjani?

In order for you to know where these languages are spoken in South Africa, here is firstly a map of the provinces in South Africa. Please note that the white part is the Kingdom of Lesotho and therefore not a province of South Africa. (south-africa-political-map.gif)

 th.jpgNow that you are more familiar with the geography of South Africa, here is a map of the eleven official languages spoken in South Africa: (salangs.jpg)







salangs.jpg



Besides official languages there is a popular pidgin called Fanagalo. Fanagalo was established as a lingua franca between speakers of various languages found in South Africa and is mainly used in mines throughout the country.

South Africa has its roots in oral traditions. The first people of the land were the Khoisan and then the Bantu clan. The languages then influenced each other. The only reason we have written records of all eleven languages to date is because missionaries wanted to translate the Bible in all possible languages, which they later succeeded in doing.

Jan van Riebeeck, a Dutch man, arrived in what is now called Cape Town in 1652, and Afrikaans developed from there. Afrikaans and English were the mediums of instruction at school. During the Apartheid era, mother-tongue education was proposed for the foundation phase but in later phases were not taught in their mother tongue but in Afrikaans and English.  

search.jpg

As the pictures reveal, using Afrikaans as a medium of instruction was not accepted. It had been made the official medium of instruction in 1974 and thousands of black students marched on 16 June 1976 (now called 'Youth Day') to protest. Instead of being peaceful as intended, police fired teargas and live ammunition. 

This day was one of the turning points in South African history because it caused an uprising against the government in Soweto that spread throughout South Africa. In 1993 nine African languages were made official during the political transition from apartheid to democracy. 

 English and Afrikaans are still widely spoken and written. South Africa now faces the challenge of promoting the indigenous languages in order for them to survive.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Farmer And His Sons

-
Taken from Headway's Intermediate Student's Book: The Farmer And His Sons There was once an old, dying farmer who had worked hard in his vineyard all his life.  Before he died he wanted to teach his three sons how to be good farmers.  So he called them to his bedside and said, 'My boys, I have an important secret to tell you: there is a great treasure buried in the vineyard.  Promise me that you will look for it when I am dead.' The sons gave their promise and as soon as their father had died they began looking for the treasure.  They worked very hard in the hot sun and while they were working they thought about what their father had said.  They pictured boxes of cold coins, diamond necklaces, and other such things.  Soon they had dug up every inch of the vineyard but they found not a single penny.  They were very upset because they felt that all their hard work had been for nothing.   However, a few months later the grapes started to appear on the vines.  Their grapes ...
Read more

Speech technique No.2 - the Unifying Metaphor

-
The Unifying Metaphor: As opposed to a simile which compares two objects using a specific linguistic form, eg. the man was as brave as a lion, a metaphor compares two objects by equating the one with the other, eg. he was a brave lion.   Literally the man was not a lion, but figuratively he was.   This figure of speech is used in literary works of all kinds, including poems and news articles. The Unifying Metaphor aims to unify people.   An example of an American metaphor is the Camel man.   He is healthy, strong and tanned, and he can survive in the wild bushveld with merely a pocketknife and a piece of string.   He drives a 4x4, and he works hard all day.   This is the image of the Camel man – please correct me if I’m wrong.   The logic and truth behind this image may elude us, but what unifies us is what Elgin (1980: p. 227) calls the consensus perception . As a unity, we have reached consensus about the perception of the Camel man.   The theory reminds of the Jung’s colle...
Read more

Bevor ich geboren bin, bin ich gestorben.

-
Image
Bevor ich geboren bin, bin ich gestorben. Warum bleiben dann Gefühle meines eigenen Gewissens? Warum bleiben die Gedanken und die Träume meines eigenen Lebens, wenn mich doch Gott neu geschaffen hat, mir neues Blut gegeben hat, mich in eine neue Familie hat gebracht? Ich will nicht mehr traurig sein, dass mein Leben mir wie nichts vorkommt, dass ich mir so unglaublich wertlos vorkomme, und stattdessen will ich den Glauben fassen, dass Gott mich tatsächlich in Seinen Händen trägt, und mich wirklich beschützt vom Bösen. Ich will mich vergessen, mich verlieben, und dann für andere leben, für einen Sinn außerhalb meiner Wünsche, eine Gnade und Liebe erfahren, die nicht aus dieser Welt stammt, sondern ganz weit entfernt und doch so nah. Ich freue mich auf keinen Tod, doch meiner ist schon vergangen, und mein neues Leben hat schon begonnen, jedoch sieht es manchmal nicht danach aus, und ich schäme mich, dass ich mich nicht mehr hab vertraut an den Herrn, den lieben ...
Read more