isiZulu

At the beginning of this year we attempted a summary of isiZulu words that had become part of everyday language, and were understood by the vast majority of South Africans. But language is fluid and ever-changing so we thought that we should revisit our list to see if anything needed adding – and in the … Read more

Tomorrow marks Women’s Day in South Africa, and while it should be a day for celebrating the achievements of women in our country, sadly at home, and around the world, there are still too many girls and women dealing with issues of neglect, abuse, and limited economic and social power. In 2017 women are still … Read more

It’s well known that isiZulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, with close to 12 million people listing isiZulu as their mother tongue, but that number jumps dramatically when you include second-language speakers, with a staggering further 15 million people saying that they speak isiZulu as a second-language. One possible reason for such high … Read more

Recently we discussed the Department of Basic Education’s plans to have school textbooks translated from English into isiZulu. Issues with non-English speaking learners struggling to get to grips with learning a second language at the same time as trying to grasp difficult new concepts introduced in class have been identified as a major stumbling block to improving education … Read more

A recent report showed that only 6% of the children’s books published in South Africa between 2000 and 2015 were printed in isiZulu, and if you think about the fact that nearly a quarter of our population are Zulu speakers, the situation is far from ideal. Aside from the sociological and psychological issues associated with … Read more