The following item from the South African government news service BuaNews was seen on AllAfrica.com at http://allafrica.com/stories/200502230180.html (it was also posted on ILAT) DZO
Use Your Mother Tongues - Zuma Urges Nation BuaNews (Pretoria) http://www.gcis.gov.za/ February 23, 2005 Posted to the web February 23, 2005 Matome Sebelebele Pretoria Government will not use language as a tool to discriminate against other communities - instead it will encourage the nation to speak in their mother tongues, says Deputy President Jacob Zuma. He however called for the promotion and growth of all the eleven languages and the Khoi, Nama and San languages, rather than develop English and Afrikaans alone. The two still dominate in the country. However, numerous efforts have been implemented to highlight the need to promote the other nine languages as well. Some experts have also called for the use of the indigenous languages as media of instructions in schools, government publications, in business and scientific work to enable African communities to access opportunities as well as engage with the authorities. "We must emphasise that we do not seek to reverse the gains of English and Afrikaans, but we have a duty, all of us, including the speakers of English and Afrikaans as mother tongues, to develop the other nine official languages which have remained historically marginalised," said Mr Zuma. He was addressing a function to celebrate international mother tongue day in Pretoria, last night. Language, he elaborated, was crucial in asserting one's cultural identity and opening possibilities as witnessed with the award-winning Yesterday (a Zulu film) and in isiXhosa uCarmen eKhayelitsha. Challenges however remain as more African children grow up in cosmopolitan cities, where there is pressure to be "cool" by expressing themselves in English. This, Mr Zuma argued, could be resolved by encouraging children to learn more than two local languages including their mother tongue. "The ideal situation is that our children should be conversant in all 11 languages! If we cannot achieve that feat, we should at least achieve fluency and proficiency in the mother languages." Citing examples of Ilanga, Isolezwe and Umafrika - the commercial newspaper published in Zulu - he said these publications vindicated a view that products in mother tongue were profitable and sustainable. "The success of these publications indicate that people are actually keen to read in their mother tongue," he said. -- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/pkgkPB/SOnJAA/Zx0JAA/TpIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
