Languages
In South Africa we have 11 official languages namely:
· isiXhosa
· isiZulu
· Sesotho
· Setswana
· isiNdebele
· English
· Afrikaans
· Sesotho sa Leboa
· Xitsonga
· Siswati
· Xhivenda
In Cape Town we predominately use 4 languages namely: English, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and German.
Even though Afrikaans is
the most commonly used language in Cape Town, English is still the most widely
understood language.
There are other indigenous languages in Cape Town as well like Arab & Hebrew.
isiTalk
isiTalk is a program that started at Oude Molen in April 2013. It focuses on the three main languages in Cape Town, in addition to English- Afrikaans, Xhosa and Soweto. IsiTalk is a fun national event where people teach another person their own home language starting with, “hello, how are you”. IsiTalk is very fun for people because they might say something wrong and it sounds funny to other people around them. The program is being introduced to school learners so they can better understand those around them.
The program is pretty simple- like the belt system in karate, you have a master black belt and a learner white belt. In isiTalk, your home language would be equivalent to a master black belt, and any other language you want to learn you would be considered a white belt learner. To show what level you are, students (and teachers!) wear badges that identify their master language, and what language they want to learn…it’s isi!
