our 11 official languages

[Mrs Jones]

Truth.Co.Za/made man/co-sign

[song-stress]

qhosa

did you do this on purpose?

this is silly actually and upseting!  the other day i asked on my facebook status, why afrikaaners always expect black folk to speak afrikaans but will only ever say 'sawubona" kodwa they are "born" in africa, this is the kinda shit that made mugabe kick these people out! that to me is PURE ignorance and inconsideration from the white man! and i resent it!

[Mad]

some of you guys seem to miss my point here, im not saying all schools should adopt English as their first language and disregard Xhosa or something like that. there is nothing wrong with raising your black kid in Xhosa. my main concern was English as a medium of instruction in the media and in the education sector, not necessarily in schools as a first language.

i was raised in Xhosa, was taught morals and everything in Xhosa. this is a different world we are living in today where teaching your kids everything in their mother tongue is not necessarily an essential thing to do.

[Koli qha]

kelis is gettin excited by sumthing totally off topic! knowing english doesn't make u smarter.. that would insinuate that englishmen are the smartest people in the world.. go back to the beginning and read wat mad wrote to open the debate.

now on to our back and forth kelis... i agree with ur sentiments as i have been trying to show u, except i believe that its goin to be a tall order to be that idealistic in the face of our reality and the role english plays (from a school level). thats how school came into the fold of our debate, it was not supposed to become the debate!

[The KWEDZA HOD]

qhosa

did you do this on purpose?

this is silly actually and upseting!  the other day i asked on my facebook status, why afrikaaners always expect black folk to speak afrikaans but will only ever say 'sawubona" kodwa they are "born" in africa, this is the kinda shit that made mugabe kick these people out! that to me is PURE ignorance and inconsideration from the white man! and i resent it!

I AM SORRY.
Honest mistake

[panga_priest]

I agree that when MP's are addressing the  nation, they should do so in English so that all if not the majority of south africans can understand them. But to say that we should do away with our mother tongue is just unheard of. Yes I agree that subjects should be taught in english but i still want my kids to learn first language Xhosa and not be taught umama umeme usese in bloody std 10 just because they need to learn 1st language english. I want my kids to be able to read and write their home language. It breaks my heart when i see kids that went to coloured or white schools that can't read nor write their own language. I understand that learning their home language will not advance their careers in the future as my friend would argue but still, its their language, come on!!! Imagine, in years to come, Tswana people not able to speak, read or write Tswana properly. The thought alone just gives me goosebumps. Theres people in Angola that can't speak their language but speak portugees fluently, that goes for the DRC and french aaaah am I the only person that finds this picture faulty??

we should create an indigenous african language museum where they'd store recording of people speaking swahili, tswana, pedi etc... since they are about to disappear. my mother is french/angolan my dad is from the drc, between them they speak something like 10 languages...my brain is to small to remember all that spelling, pronounciation, grammar...i will just stick to english and french

[The Angry Hand of God]

we should create an indigenous african language museum where they'd store recording of people speaking swahili, tswana, pedi etc... since they are about to disappear.

Really? Seriously?

You sound like these Afrikaners now who claim their language is being killed because it is not heard everywhere they go.

So you are telling me that Swahili, one of the most commonly spoken languages on the continent is disappearing? My girl and her family speak swahili and none of her relatives in Tanzania can even speak English to them, so I really don't think this is true.

Same goes for a lot of people I know from Botswana and other countries. Simply because a language is no longer considered the main means of communication, doesn't mean it is dying.

I know that some kids refuse to learn their mother tongue, but for every one who doesn't wanna learn, there are 2 or three who feel like you guys. Only once you guys also say "Oh, my language is dying, there is no point. We might as well keep it in a museum. Then it probably will die.

[panga_priest]

we should create an indigenous african language museum where they'd store recording of people speaking swahili, tswana, pedi etc... since they are about to disappear.

Really? Seriously?

You sound like these Afrikaners now who claim their language is being killed because it is not heard everywhere they go.

So you are telling me that Swahili, one of the most commonly spoken languages on the continent is disappearing? My girl and her family speak swahili and none of her relatives in Tanzania can even speak English to them, so I really don't think this is true.

Same goes for a lot of people I know from Botswana and other countries. Simply because a language is no longer considered the main means of communication, doesn't mean it is dying.

I know that some kids refuse to learn their mother tongue, but for every one who doesn't wanna learn, there are 2 or three who feel like you guys. Only once you guys also say "Oh, my language is dying, there is no point. We might as well keep it in a museum. Then it probably will die.

obviously not

[Mad]

we should create an indigenous african language museum where they'd store recording of people speaking swahili, tswana, pedi etc... since they are about to disappear.

Really? Seriously?

You sound like these Afrikaners now who claim their language is being killed because it is not heard everywhere they go.

So you are telling me that Swahili, one of the most commonly spoken languages on the continent is disappearing? My girl and her family speak swahili and none of her relatives in Tanzania can even speak English to them, so I really don't think this is true.

Same goes for a lot of people I know from Botswana and other countries. Simply because a language is no longer considered the main means of communication, doesn't mean it is dying.

I know that some kids refuse to learn their mother tongue, but for every one who doesn't wanna learn, there are 2 or three who feel like you guys. Only once you guys also say "Oh, my language is dying, there is no point. We might as well keep it in a museum. Then it probably will die.

i think i feel you dude, but we should not forget that the language at hand here is englsih, most of you are speaking from a general perspective of languages. im talking English used as a medium of instruction. let us not deviate from the context of the argument. you making good points though!

@hugues- its shocking how you choose to be a simpleton rather than showing you literacy and intellect. im not insulting you, im just giving you a response that i feel is the most utterly suitable for your post.

back to the topic.......i still continue to argue my point firmly, we do not need all these languages in the country. they are causing divergence in our community and the way we communicate with other races. it would've been better if we used them normally on our cultures and try to speak English more often when we talking nationwide. im just saying!

[Mrs Jones]

Oh f*** me sideways!!!! When did I insinuate that speakin english fluently means you're smarter? Koli, please quote me.
@Mad, your first post wasnt very clear, I remember you sayin in there that maybe we should give english as a first language or something and this is what i had a problem with. Im waitin for Koli to quote me so that I can apologise for "gettin excited over something totally off topic"

[The KWEDZA HOD]

f*** you sideways??? LMAO

Anyway, for me I think english should be the first language in schools and every part of the country, that's if we claim to be a "multi racial" community. My real point is that we cannot expect everyone to know all languages, I mean really now, some guy from CPT will not know whatever they speak in JHB, so why should people expect him to express himself in whatever they speak in JHB?

Languages won't die out, don't know what the vibe is about that my mother tongue will vanish, come on now, really??
Yes there are those sandton kids who don't wanna learn their languages, but all the kids in alex cover up for that, come on now people.

Mads point: political leaders must adres da nation in english, very true... Otherwise how the f*** should peter know what stupid malema is saying about is 10% in woodwork?

[Mrs Jones]

Lol! Ayt you and Pyro raised some valid points there. I guess not everyone is gona want to learn their mother tongue and that doesnt mean that it'll die. Apparently I've derailed Mad's thread so Imma keep quiet now.

[Koli qha]

just check made man's post and ur co-sign like that was the point of my argument. follow wat we're talkin about. see wat he's highlighted??? that's the crux of his statement which u so enthusiastically encouraged! as if to say, this is exactly wat i been tryina say Koli(at least thats wat co-signin sum1 else means). now, don't get discouraged either.