Precious Bikitsha and Tessa Dowling
Jump to English translation: How would Afrikaans-speaking students feel if they were taught in the medium of Xhosa?
IsiNgesi silulwimi lwam lwenkobe kodwa sikwalulwimi lwabantu abaninzi abahlala apha eMzantsi abakhetha ukusithetha njengolwimi lwesibini. Mhlawumbi abazikhetheli, bekunyanzelekile ukuba bathethe isiNgesi. Ngenxa yokuba banyanzelwa, abantu abaninzi bakhula ekusithandeni isiNgesi, njengomfazi onyanzelwa emtshatweni aze akhule ekuthandeni umyeni.
Kutheni abantu abamhlophe bengathethi iilwimi zesiNtu? Inyani emsulwa yeyokuba abanyanzelekanga. Kodwa ukuze iilwimi zethu zikwazi ukukhula, zidinga abantu bazifunde, futhi bazithethe zide zisetyenziswe kuzo zonke iinkalo zobomi.
Kodwa into ekufuneka sizibuze yona yeyokuba singayenza njani into yokwamkwela futhi nokukhuthaza abantu bonke babonise umdla ekufundeni iilwimi zesiNtu? Siyazikhuthaza nyhani na iilwimi zethu ukuze zifane nesiNgesi neAfrikaans sikwazi ukuzisebenzisa nasezikolweni nasemisebenzini naseyunivesithi njalo njalo? Okanye ikhona into efuna ukuzibambezela zihlale zithethwa emakhaya kuphela zingandi?
Nanku umakhulu obukela umabonakude – akakwazi ukuthetha nokusifunda isiNgesi, kodwa iinkqubo azibukelayo uninzi lwazo luxuba iilwimi zesiNtu futhi zisebenzise ii-subtitles ezibhalwa ngesiNgesi ukubonakalisa le nto ithethwayo kule nkqubo. Owona mbuzo ngowokuba ukwazi njani ugogo ukuyiqonda into eqhubekayo nangona engakwazi ukufunda isiNgesi, futhi engazazi zonke iilwimi ezisetyenziswayo kuGenerations, umzekelo? Le nto ibonakalisa ukuba isiNgesi sixatysiwe futhi sibonakalisa ukuba kuzo zonke izinto esizenzayo naxa singaqapheli isiNgesi lolona lwimi oluphambili. Kutheni singakwazi ukubhala ii-subtitles ngezethu iilwimi ukuze abantu baqonde into eyenzekayo futhi bafunde iilwimi naxa bebukela umabonakude? Asifuni na ukuba abantu bafunde iilwimi zesiNtu okanye sifuna ukuzigcina kuthi na?
AmaNgesi alindele ukuba wonke umntu akwazi ukuthetha isiNgesi kodwa loo nto ayenziwa ngeelwimi zesiNtu; sizame yonke into ukuze sifunde isiNgesi ngokuba yiyo yodwa indlela esinokwazi ukwabelana nabantu abamhlophe sikwazi ukufumana imfundo enexabiso ngokuba iilwimi zethu azixatyiswanga ngabantu abamhlophe: nathi kungenjalo. Umahluko neAfrikaans ngowokuba bayaluxabisa ulwimi lwabo futhi benza kangangoko ukuba baluphuhlise balusebenzise kuzo zonke iinkalo zobomi. Ingxaki ayilolwimi leAfrikaans qha ingxaki yeyokuba abafundi baseStellenbosch bayanyanzeliswa ukuba bafundiswa ngolu lwimi. Abafundi abathetha iAfrikaans bangaziva njani ukuba bona bangafundiswa mhlawumbi ngesiXhosa? Abantu abaninzi basokola ngesiNgesi ngoku xa beza kunyanzelwa ukuba bafunda ngeAfrikaans inzima kakhulu loo nto.
Zama ukwenza umfanekiso engqondweni: ungumfundi omnyama uya eStellenbosch uyo kufumana imfundo, sowuqhele into yokuba awuzufundiswa ngolwimi lwakho kodwa ngesiNgesi, kodwa udibane nenye ingxaki yokufundiswa ngeAfrikaans. Uzawude uyifumane njani le mfundo nempucuko xa ujongene nesithintelo esiyiAfrikaans? Ungayithathi kakubi – ndicinga ukuba wonke umntu makayifunde iAfrikaans njengokuba ndicinga ukuba wonke umntu makazifunde iilwimi zesiNtu. Into ebalulekileyo yeyokuba sihlangabezane singaxabisi olunye ulwimi phezu kolunye. Ngoku niza kundiphikisa ngokuthi isiNgesi sixatyiswe kakhulu – andali, kodwa masiyamkele into yokuba isiNgesi siyafikeleleka kumntu wonke nangaphesheya.
Mhlawumbi uyazibuza ukuba singayenza njani na le nto yokuphuhlisa iilwimi zesiNtu ukuze zibe kumgangatho ofanayo neAfrikaans?
- Zisebenzise – naphi na, nanini na!
- Zifundise emakhaya, kwizihlobo kumntu wonke odibana naye
- Zibhengeze xa uthengisa into njengonomashishini nabantu abasebenza kwi-media
- Zibhale
- Zifunde – kukho iinoveli namaphephandaba nee-PhDs ezibhalwa ngeelwimi zesiNtu
Masisebenzisane ukuze sifundise iilwimi zethu kubo bonke abazidingayo, sigqwese futhi ngendela esizifundisa ngazo. Asizukwazi ukuzikhulisa ukuba asizithatheli ntweni futhi singabahoyi nabo abafuna ukuzifunda. Akwanelanga xa sizithetha nje iilwimi zethu kodwa masizame ukuzivula kumntu wonke ukuze zikhule zibe namandla zifane nesiNgesi neAfrikaans. Xa sikwazile ukwenza loo nto mhlawumbi le ngxoxo yokusetyenziswa kolwimi oluthile ingakwazi ukutshintsha ingajongi iAfrikaans okanye isiNgesi kuphela.
Ibhalwe nguTessa Dowling noPrecious Bikitsha
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How would Afrikaans-speaking students feel if they were taught in the medium of Xhosa?
English is my mother tongue, but it is also the language of many South Africans who choose to speak it as a second language. Then again, maybe English hasn’t been a choice but a language people have been forced to learn, and have just grown to love, just like a woman who has been forced into a marriage sometimes falls in love with her arranged husband.
Why can’t white people speak African languages? The honest truth is that they are not forced to. But if our languages are to thrive, they need people to learn them, and to speak them until they are used in all spheres of life.
But what we have to ask is, how can we make the study of African languages acceptable and how can we encourage everyone to show interest in them? If we are really so in favour of our languages can we imagine them reaching the same level as English and Afrikaans, able to be used in schools, universities and places of work, or do we want to hold them close to ourselves, stunting their wider appeal, keep them as “domestic appliances”?
Here is “Gogo” watching TV – she can’t read or write English, but the majority of programmes she watches contain a mix of African languages and use English subtitles. Here’s the thing, though: Gogo can’t read English. But English is the dominant language and even when we can’t understand it, we know it has value. Why can’t we produce subtitles in our own languages so that people can know what is going on when they are watching TV? Don’t we want people to read African languages or do we just want to keep them to ourselves?
English speakers expect everyone to be able to speak English, but that is not the same with African languages; we go out of our way to learn English as if it were the only way to meet white people and get a valuable education even though our own languages are not respected by white people – or by ourselves.
Picture the scene: you are a black student going to Stellenbosch to get an education, already resigned to the fact that you will not be educated in your mother tongue but in English, but now you encounter yet another problem – being taught in Afrikaans. How on earth are you going to get this education and “civilisation” with this new obstacle which is Afrikaans? Don’t get me wrong – I think that everyone should learn Afrikaans, just like everyone should learn African languages. The important thing is that we must come together and not value one language over the other. You might argue that English is indeed over-valued – and I don’t dispute that, but let us just accept the fact that English is accessible to everyone, even globally.
Perhaps you are asking yourselves what we could do to improve African languages so that they reach the same level as Afrikaans?
- Use them – wherever, whenever!
- Teach them at home, with friends and to everyone you meet.
- Use them in advertising and marketing campaigns.
- Write them.
- Read them – there are novels and newspapers and PhDs written in African languages.
Let us work together so that we teach our languages to everyone who needs them and let our teaching of them be outstanding. We can’t grow them if we ignore the fact that people want to learn them. It is not enough for us to just speak our languages, we have to open them up to everyone so that they grow and become strong like English and Afrikaans. If we can do that, maybe the discussion about language use could change to include languages other than just English or Afrikaans.
By Tessa Dowling and Precious Bikitsha
The post 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? appeared first on LitNet.