Only one language

THE issue of the official languages of South Africa is sometimes raised publicly.

There are 11 official languages in this country. The tension stems from the way that most people only have access linguistically to a few of these languages, such as two or three.

In the Western Cape, for example, people typically speak English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. Afrikaans is prominent, while Xhosa has become almost essential since 1994.

However, other provinces use different languages. An extreme example is Venda, which is only spoken (or understood) by those who reside in that area of the country.

The issue is the mutual intelligibility of the languages. This is caused by the emphasis on diversity since 1994, the attitude that all languages should be used and that it is somehow wrong or undesirable to give some languages a lesser status.

This is an unrealistic approach that causes conflict, tension and impractical administrative requirements.

India is a prime example of what this entails. In India, there are about 800 dialects of several larger language groupings. Yet there is only one official language – English. Indian English is of an international standard and has been used there for a long time, to the extent that some words have taken on meanings that are not intelligible in British English.

My submission is that English should be the only official language in South Africa. The fact that it has been imported from overseas is an advantage, since it is not based historically in this country.

All the other languages are indigenous and should be used according to area. It is not reasonable to expect that all people should speak or at least understand so many languages. Umqwathi Green Oudtshoorn