The Language Working Group, together with the Institutional Language Unit, will be launching the first ever multilingual touchscreen directory on the Bellville Campus.

The directory was designed and developed by iPoint, a company which specialises in developing touchscreen directories for shopping malls across South Africa.
“The touchscreen earmarked for the engineering building appears to have the same features as those one would find in malls but offers much more than just directions,” says Theodore Rodrigues, the Acting Institutional Language Co-ordinator at CPUT.

This device promotes multilingualism by allowing end-users to engage with the device in their home language from its welcome screen.

Rodrigues adds that after the end-user decided on a preferred language, they are now enabled to continue their search in that language. In addition, the device also acts as a ‘language teacher’ by providing users with equivalents of certain words in various languages.  This intelligent device currently provides service in the following languages: Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa, isiZulu and Sesotho.

“To fully embrace the concept of inclusivity within a multilingual context other languages are also considered for the future,” says Rodrigues.
“The possibilities of such an innovation are endless, and its launch should be celebrated as a step in the right direction to promote the human linguistic rights of all South Africans.”

The procurement of the directory is part of a multilingual signage project which aims to have signage on all of the university’s campuses translated into the province’s official languages. This launch will take place from 12h00 on the 29th of September.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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First-year Marketing students put their classroom skills to test to make a difference in the lives of The Big Issue street vendors.

Students used word of mouth, flyers and social media to advertise the magazine and hit the city streets to sell the magazine alongside vendors.

A group of students were assigned to one vendor and they then had to use all their marketing savvy to boost sales.

The project is a collaboration between the Marketing Department, the Language Unit in the Faculty of Business and the Service Learning Unit.

The Big Issue is a non-profit organisation that assists unemployed adults to earn a living through a developmental employment programme.

The project’s brief was to integrate community engagement into the language curriculum.

Yesterday students showcased their work and reflected on their experiences.

In the feedback session, students said they learnt a lot more from the project than in the classroom as they were challenged to use skills some did not even think they had such as dealing with nasty rejection from motorists as they were selling the magazine.

The vendors were also given gifts and certificates during the round-up session.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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The Language Unit and the Department of Biotechnology and Consumer Science hosted a hybrid heritage celebration at the Bellville campus.

The aim of this collaborative successful event was to convey a message to the CPUT community about the importance of preserving South Africa’s diverse heritage. The event’s theme was: Celebrating our richly cross-pollination cultural heritage: languages, food, music and much more.

Applied Sciences Faculty Language Coordinator , Dr Ignatius Ticha said: “In doing so, we aimed to demonstrate as a faculty community, an institution, a nation and a human race we are much closer than we think we are in our practices, beliefs and way of life.” The event was a great success in terms of attendance and YouTube viewership which was over 300 and in the richness of the presentations and engagements.

Consumer Science Food: Nutrition staff and students entertained the audience with food demonstrations that gave audience members a taste of the richly diverse but linked South African cuisine. There was also a panel discussion in which staff joined students to engage on important subjects including what it means to decolonise higher education, whether they experienced CPUT as an African university or a university in Africa and how one strikes a balance between scientific fact and some African beliefs that some may qualify as superstitious, among other subjects.

Dmitri Jegels a keynote speaker reflected on: “Semiotic and socio-cultural cross pollination: we are closer than we think we are”. The address showed synergies and borrowings in South African languages, food and music. There was also entertaining musical renditions by Chandre Matthee. One of the coordinators and ECP Lecturer, Theloshni Govender said: “Our goal was to enlighten our CPUT community of the oneness of our heritage. [It was about] showcasing South African diversity in rich culture and cuisine which allows an opportunity to celebrate food and language.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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To recognise and raise awareness on International Language Day celebrations, The Language Unit will be taking their campaign to social media, featuring the hashtag: Teach Me To Say.

Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in November 1999. With the aim of preserving linguistic diversity and promoting mother tongue-based multilingual education worldwide, UNESCO has been celebrating it on 21 February for the last 23 years.

Language Specialist in Afrikaans at Language Unit, who is also the campaign’s coordinator, Alexa Nicole Anthonie, says the campaign is to encourage the CPUT community to turn to anyone they know and ask to be taught something in another language. “Although the day is called International Mother Language Day, but it can be any language that our communities teach us. So, International Mother Language Day is just the name, but it’s about celebrating, remembering and teaching others our heritage languages. This year’s theme is: education.

#TeachMetoSay is set to trend on Tik Tok. Members of the CPUT community can go onto the app to find what videos have been uploaded by students. By searching for #TeachMetoSay on the app, you’ll find various videos featuring students and CPUT staff members doing language challenges.

The campaign will also offer students an opportunity to win prizes. Interested students in participating only need to search for #TeachMetoSay on TiK Tok and they stand a chance to win prizes.

Third year students in the ECP programme for Biomedical Sciences, Refilwe Nyoni, Thobelani Sibisi and Phindokuhle Mthembu are at the forefront of driving this campaign. “We are hoping to attract the attention of the entire CPUT community especially first-year students, so this is an attempt to make them feel welcomed,” says Anthonie.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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