There is a new potential coloniser on South Africa’s linguistic block. From 2016, Mandarin will be taught in schools – and this will see African languages bumped even further down the pecking order.
Harder when you first begin juggling two languages.
calmmindphoto/www.shutterstock.com
Unless young children are totally immersed in a foreign language, they actually learn it better when they’re a bit older.
Amid the debate about what languages should dominate at African schools, we’re missing an important point: why do we learn language in the first place?
From www.shutterstock.com
There are two functions of language: communication and access to knowledge. Each must be pursued as an objective in its own right rather than being lumped together.
Back to the books.
Spanish lesson via Eiko Tsuchiya/www.shutterstock.com
New technology has the habit of making certain professions redundant. Power looms put cotton workers out of job, leading to the rise of the Luddites. Word processors put an end to the typing pool. Now…