Spotlight falls on language diversity

CPUT recently held its first International Mother Tongue Day event that celebrated language diversity.  The event was held in honour of the United Nation’s International Mother Language Day, celebrated earlier this month.

This momentous commemoration resulted from the killing of four Bengali-speaking students in Bangladesh, as a result of their campaigning to use their mother tongue for official purposes.

These celebrations have since become a tradition, with activities aimed at acknowledging the importance of language diversity organised across the globe during the month of February.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga described the event, which took place at the Bellville Campus, as a milestone for CPUT.

“This is an important day that marks how the university is beginning to mature, as we’ve battled for so long with issues of multilingualism.”

CLICK TO IT: Guests learn how to make use of the translation devices that were set up, offering translation in Afrikaans and Xhosa, to accommodate multilingualism.

The full-day event was attended by language coordinators and linguistic scholars from our sister institutions, as well as representatives from government agencies and the local community.

Fundani’s Acting Director, Prof Christine Winberg officiated the day’s proceedings, whilst recently appointed Institutional Language Coordinator, Dr Monwabisi Ralarala chaired the first session. Topics of discussion included multilingualism, sign language, mother tongue education and promoting academic literacy.

ALL INCLUSIVE: A sign language interpreter translates what is being said to the hearing impaired guests at the event.

Long-time linguistic scholar, Dr Neville Alexander and acclaimed bilingual author, Dr Sindiwe Magona, delivered riveting talks that left delegates with much food for thought on mother tongue issues. Dr Nomfundo Mali from the Pan South African Language Board highlighted their activities in promoting languages.

Dr Alexander questioned the role of universities on the development of African languages, suggesting that we ‘try to rehabilitate mother tongue based education on our country’.

Dr Magona looked at the benefits of enforcing mother tongue learning, as it inculcates a culture of pride and creates for easier scholarship for second-language English speakers in the South African context.

“There is a misconception that speaking the English language means having knowledge. The children of today should become proud of their mother tongue in order to have a good linguistic grounding to develop from”.

By: Thando J. Moiloa

Photo:  Clive Galant (Fundani CHED)

Written by CPUT News
Email: news@cput.ac.za