Metaglossia: The Translation World

If you visit South Africa, you’ll find that English is now the main language for signage, education and tourism. But South African English, as well as being spoken with a distinctive accent, has adopted many words from the Afrikaans language that still is spoken by the 13% of the population.

However the language debate in South Africa is very delicate. Although English has been adopted as a lingua franca – due to the numerous languages spoken in the country – there are still many controversial issues regarding languages and especially the large use of English in pretty much every field.

Take education, for instance. Most of the courses are taught in both English and Afrikaans, but many are those who claim it is necessary to activate more courses in Afrikaans. It might sound a very nationalist request, but maybe it should be read considering the complexity of South Africa. The need for more Afrikaans courses is not exactly a matter of translation, but a need for keeping the tradition and not letting the language disappear. Because of this goal, at the University of the Free State a full set of parallel-medium courses are offered; at the University of Pretoria 45% of the lectures are in dual medium, 28% in parallel medium and 25% in English medium. At the Potchefstroom campus of North-West University there is instant translation of almost all Afrikaans classes.