Levelling the language field

Tigi Tigi. Ahee Papa Penny Ahee. Dumi Hi Phone. Those are just some of the phrases that the public have come to know, thanks to the likes of Sands, Papa Penny and Sho Madjozi.

This is significant, as these artists are elevating languages that have been previously sidelined.

You see, what other races do not always realise is that there are subdivisions among South Africa’s black ethnic groups.

For instance, IsiZulu is seen as the most dominant language, with the IsiXhosa and Sesotho coming in at number two and three. That means their cultures have been in the limelight for decades, resulting in other cultures being forced to even learn the languages of these “supertribes”.

Things got so bad that if someone called you Venda or Tsonga, this was considered as an insult.

Thank goodness we are now at a point in our evolution as a nation that we recognise each other – all of us – as equals. That is why we can all jam to an Afrikaans hit, followed by a Tswana song as well.

Mostly, it no longer matters who is behind a certain production or project, as long as the quality is acceptable.

The next step has been taken by the Pan-South African Languages Board, a body that recently released the first SiSwati-to-English dictionary. Yup, believe it or not, we have never had one before.

Just think of the many SiSwati speakers who have had no formal reference all these years, and they have been expected to speak and write English as if they do.

We live in a country where a person’s grasp of the English language is seen as a measure of intelligence, something that should have never happened.

For instance, I heard a Swati lady the other day say she had a “disease of falling”. What she was of course referring to was epilepsy, but how would she know that, as in SiSwati, that is how the disease is described, as one of its symptoms is fainting.

Well done to the entire team that was involved in putting together the dictionary, but at the same time, they need to be pushed to ensure that all of our 11 official languages, at least, have a dictionary that is translated into English.

I know I am dreaming with this one, but eventually, our South African languages should be on par with the English language. Only then can we say the job is done. Until then, aluta continua.