The Institutional Language Unit at Fundani CHED recently celebrated International Translation Day to reinforce and recognise the imperative effort made by language experts of different languages in different organisations, private as well as government.

The event's purpose was to highlight the universities' ongoing work in promoting indigenous African languages through translation and interpretation services. It was also an opportunity to share insights and collaborate on how universities can further enhance these efforts to foster multilingualism in the Western Cape and beyond.

Various speakers on the platform elaborated on the importance of translations and their challenges. In his opening address, Dr Ignatius Ticha, Faculty of Applied Sciences Language Coordinator said: “Today, we celebrate not only the invaluable work of translators and interpreters worldwide but also the critical role that translation plays in promoting multilingualism and preserving the diverse linguistic heritage of our institutions.”

Ticha, a CPUT Language Group member, welcomed guests from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Stellenbosch University (SU), the University of the Western Cape (UWC), and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB)).

“Your presence here signals our shared commitment to advancing the use of indigenous African languages in higher education and society at large.

He commended PanSALB for always being at the forefront of the movement to promote and “preserve the richness of South Africa’s languages, particularly Indigenous African languages”.

Delegates from each institution present were given an opportunity to present the work done by their respective institutions to promote African languages through translation services, interpreting, and terminology development in fostering multilingualism.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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Dr Monwabisi Ralarala, Institutional Language Co-ordinator, has been appointed by the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) as a Commissioner to sit on the Linguistic Human Rights Tribunal.

The tribunal has authority to adjudicate over claims or disputes concerning matters of alleged language rights’ violations. As a commissioner, Ralarala’s role is, inter alia, to adjudicate over any alleged language rights violations, claims or disputes that are brought before the tribunal and make recommendations.

As the tribunal is a brand new institution in South Africa it has to devise detailed plans and clear systems that will guide its operations before officially releasing its vision for the future.“I suppose I’m filled with excitement and honour to be part of a group of people entrusted with this high official duty and responsibility to seriously consider matters of language rights in the country,” says the language expert.“From the point of view of community engagement, the benefits are huge as my appointment will put the institution, which is hard at work in terms of implementing its language policy, on the map.”Ralarala’s academic interests include issues relating to language development, multilingualism, implementation and research.Since taking the post of Institutional Language Co-ordinator last year, under the auspices of the Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development, he has been instrumental in developing CPUT’s recently approved Language Implementation Plan.

Written by Kwanele Butana

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The second CPUT Language Indaba this year brought together academics as well as Language Rights and Translation practitioners to interrogate the university’s language policy.

Held on the Bellville Campus yesterday, the indaba was organized by the Language Working Group in collaboration with Fundani’s Language Unit under the title, The Language Question at CPUT: Marginalisation or Empowerment?

Prof Ken Barris from the Engineering Department, discussed the process followed to develop the university’s Language Policy, what its implementation has achieved and the road map of what has yet to happen.  

Delivering the keynote address, Prof Pamela Maseko from the Rhodes University’s School of African Languages, said the language problem affects all those living in South Africa.

“While there have been some institutions that have pioneered with teaching, learning and research practices that embrace African Languages others continue to ignore their relevance in higher education,” said Maseko.

She argued that monolingualism at national universities flies in the face of statutory language policies which recognize the importance of both individual and societal multilingualism.

Dr Nina Du Toit, former Head of CPUT’s Disability Unit, discussed how lecturers can support students with disabilities concerning learning, language and speech so that they perform at their optimal best.

Dr Nomfundo Mali, Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) provincial manager, discussed pieces of legislation that guarantee language rights to individuals and the government’s role in developing those languages.

Dr Sebolelo Mokapela from Parliament’s Language Services Section, Western Cape Language Services’ Xolisa Tshongolo and CPUT’s Thembinkosi Mtonjeni (Student Learning Unit) reflected on the translation practices in their institutions.  

The Indaba, which was supported by PanSALB, was attended by language specialists, curriculum officers, students and academics.  

Written by Kwanele Butana
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In an endeavour to implement the University’s policy of multilingualism, the Institutional Language Unit recently hosted a SWiP Project Workshop at Bellville Campus.

The SWiP (SADiLaR-Wikipedia-PanSALB) is a collaborative initiative by the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR); the free encyclopedia (Wikipedia) and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB).

The project was officially launched on 20 September 2023 at the University of South Africa. While the SWiP launch event shone a spotlight specifically on isiNdebele to encourage the Ndebele people to actively participate in contributing content to Wikipedia, the SWiP project is aimed at promoting all South Africa’s indigenous languages online. It does so by bringing together communities of indigenous language users and giving them the skills to create and review content on Wikipedia. In doing so, they collectively increase their respective languages’ digital footprint.

The delegation included representatives from CPUT, Wikipedia and PanSALB.

Dr Kabelo Sebolai, Head: Language Unit, said they were asked by SADiLAR to be the hosts of the workshop and that they were among the 10 universities selected from the 26 to do this. On the first day of the workshop, Wikipedia delegate, Michael Graaf provided a presentation on:

• History of Wikipedia
• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• The Wikimedia Community support and projects

On the second day of the workshop Graaf started with a recap from Day 1 which was followed by training in editing/improving an article, translating an article and article creation. Sebolai said the workshop was a success. He said: “We learned how to use Wikipedia for translations into and editing African languages. As part of language policy implementation, the bulk of the work we do in the language unit involves translation and editing.”

He enthused: “The workshop introduced us to strategies for language and writing development using Wikipedia. The strategies will be useful in our ongoing endeavour to implement the university’s policy of multilingualism”.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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The Language Working Group recently hosted a two-day Pan South African Language Board (Panslab) Multilingual Pedagogies Workshop for CPUT staff and students at the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre.

This workshop served the purpose of this year’s annual institutional Language Indaba. The Institutional Language Coordinator at Fundani CHED, Dr Kabelo Sebolai, who welcomed the guests said the workshop was part of the effort to implement CPUT’s policy of multilingualism. “It was aimed at both students and lecturers who are involved in teaching. The decision to run the workshop was informed by a recognition that content lecturers and student tutors are not experts in using language to teach content in a multilingual context such as that of CPUT,” Sebolai noted.

He said the policy could not be implemented effectively in the learning and teaching space “if this kind of training is not provided”.

In her opening remarks, Dr Xena Cupido, Director: Fundani CHED, said: “As we gather to explore the critical importance of multilingual pedagogies in ensuring access to higher education, I am excited about the enriching discussions ahead. In a country as diverse as South Africa, language is more than a tool for communication – it is a bridge that connects us to knowledge, understanding, and inclusivity. Multilingual pedagogies, therefore, are key to making higher education accessible and equitable for all our students, honouring their cultural and linguistic identities.”

Cupido also welcomed the two guest speakers, who facilitated the workshop. Those were: Tholakele Nkwanyana, a lecturer in Language Education: Multilingual Pedagogies at North-West University (NWU). The PhD candidate’s research focuses on the intellectualisation of African languages in higher education. She is also an isiZulu Commissioner for the African Union: Academy of Languages.

Meanwhile, Prof Rosemary Wildsmith-Cromarty is an Applied Linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Wildsmith-Cromarty is currently coordinating research on multilingual pedagogies at NWU. She has served on provincial and national language bodies for isiZulu and English respectively and is on the Editorial Board for Language Teaching: Surveys and Studies.

The topics that were discussed on day one ranged from Introduction to Language Policy and Planning, Language History and Portraits, Multilingualism and Translanguaging.

Day two started with a recap from day one followed by discussions on Deconstructing Concepts, Building Resources - examples from lecturers, and then Creating tools for multilingual pedagogies by Nkwanyana and Wildsmith-Cromarty.

Sebolai was impressed by the debate resulting from the controversial nature of language policies. “The event was a success indeed. Everybody, including the facilitators, felt that the event was a success. The post-workshop evaluation bears testimony to this.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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