Junie - Julie 2006
6 Junie 2005
Dit is met diepe leedwese dat ek hierdie nuusflits aan u stuur.
Wyle George Weideman, bekende Afrikaanse skrywer en digter, is Donderdagoggend om 03:30 in die Louis Leipoldt-hospitaal in Bellville oorlede. George was een van Taaloord se lojale vriende wie se woorde soos: "Dankie dat jy my aan Taaloord bekend gestel het!", "’n Klinkklare ja vir Taaloord se opbouende, positiewe en kreatiewe benadering" en "’n Dawerende ja vir die dankie aan Johann Rupert" my aangemoedig het om met ywer voort te gaan.
Saam met almal op die lys wat hom persoonlik of op afstand geken het, groet ons hom by monde van sy goeie vriend, Braam de Vries. Ons innige simpatie met Celién, Melita en Siobhan.
jy stap uit by die dakluik
op die sterbesaaide balkon
met woorde in jou Tuiskom-tas
om rustig te verwerk in die Son
ek stap uit by die swaaideur
op die so bekende straat
met woorde in my huistoe-tas
tot diep aardse dank in staat
2 Julie 1947 – 28 Augustus 2008
Huldeblyk deur Abraham H. de Vries
Die Afrikaanse letterkunde verloor met die heengaan van George Weideman een van sy mees geliefde, een van sy kleurrykste en een van sy veelsydigste skrywers. Hy het sewe digbundels, twee romans, vier bundels kortverhale, sewe jeugboeke, verhoogdramas waarvan net een gepubliseer is en drie ongepubliseerde radiodramas geskryf. In byna al die genres het hy van die belangrikste pryse verower.
George was bowendien ’n alom gerespekteerde akademikus, ’n innemende, hulpvaardige kollega en ’n dosent sonder weerga. Selfs na sy uittrede by die Technikon Skiereiland in 1997 om gesondheidsredes het hy as navorsingsvennoot belangrike publikasies gelewer aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat.
Sy “vulletjiedae” (sy woord) in ’n uitsonderlike familie en boonop in die Noordweste wat lewenslank sy geliefde, onvolprese hartland sou bly, verklaar nie die verskeidenheid en hoë gehalte van sy werk nie, maar dit vertel van die prikkels en invloede vir ’n lewenshouding wat in al sy werk voorkom. Hy is op 2 Julie 1947 op Cradock gebore as die laatlam in ’n onderwysgesin.
Van sy ma het George ’n warsheid van voorskrifte en sisteme geërf, ’n onwrikbare afsku in sosiale onreg en in die misbruik van mag. Hy was dan ook lid van die eerste Namibiese afvaardiging wat met Sam Njoma in Stockholm gaan praat het. Van hoe sy afkeure soms vir hom probleme veroorsaak het, is ek getuie. Maar sy ma was ook inspirerend op speelse wyse: sy het onder andere weggooi-lepels versamel! Sy ouers was albei ook musikante en natuurlike storievertellers.
Sy pa, Floris was ’n onderwyser, maar ook kulkunstenaar, houtwerker, maker van sy eie musiekinstrumente en met sterk wisselende welslae selfs ’n boer. Albei ouers was kreatief, die makers van dinge (en pret) uit niks. Dis sy pa wat “Saai die waatlemoen” en “Die Kat kom terug” opgeteken en so behoue laat bly het. Ouma Baai, sy ouma aan moederskant, het by vele ander doenighede fortuin vertel en teen een van haar huismure was ’n hele “ensiklopedie” van die blomme, voëls, diere en natuurtonele op toentertydse sigaretkaartjies. George het opgegroei in ’n Noordwesterse “sigeuner”-familie, pragtige gedigte is deurtrek daarvan en hy het dit ook in sy doen en late al sy jare behou.
Hy het dikwels vertel hoe sy pa van kleinsbeen af vir hom gewys het dat as ’n mens ’n klip optel, sien jy dit lyk onder heeltemal anders as bo op. En selfs in die bloedige hitte van die wêreld weerskante van die Oranjerivier is daar soms ’n onverwagte koel wind. Hierdie “paralelle wêrelde” is die onderwerp van “Die wispelturige uur”, die openingsgedig van ’n Staning onder sterre:
Daar’s ’n uur anderkant die etmaal
en buite die ratwerk van die tyd;
wat rond is word ovaal,
wat hoekig is, verslyt.
Dis die raaiselagtige van hierdie “land van elders” wat aan die woord sy magiese krag gee. En dis sy toewyding aan die toorkrag van die woord wat George, toe hy al baie siek was, nog ’n radiovervolgverhaal en gedigte laat skryf het. Hy het ’n ruk gelede “oor ek dit wil gebruik in ’n gedig” een aand uit die hospitaal vir my gebel om te vra of dit ’n Dürer-illustrasie is op die buiteblad van Elsa se Dansmaat. (Nee, dis ’n Norman O’Flynn.) Sy laaste twee gedigte, twee kwatryne, moes sy vrou, Celién vir hom neerskryf, hy kon nie meer die pen vashou nie.
Dis nie toevallig nie dat die ontwikkeling in George se digbundels op sigself ’n storie vertel. Die Noordweste is waar alles speels en klankvol begin in Hondegaloppie en As die son kliplangs spring. Wranger van toon en bewuster van grense word Klein manifes van ’n reisiger, maar in Hoera hoera die ysman is juis die satiriese aanslag bevrydend. Isolasie, marginalisering en ’n sterk stroom-op sosiale bewussyn (“Herinneringe van ’n teruggekeerde soldaat”), maar ook die wonder van die liefde (“En nou het alles winter geword”) spreek in Uit hierdie grys verblyf. In “Homo Faber”, wat hy opdra aan sy “monnik-pa”, vind die skeppende mens sy plek. Maar dis veral in die onderskatte ’n Staning onder sterre wat fyn besinnings en waarnemings van die aardse “ dwaalligte en sterre” verstegnies so geslyp is dat hy die vroegste aardsheid onverwags en speels kon vernuwe in Verskombuis.
Vaarwel, ou troebadoer; vaarwel, ou strydros. Dankie vir al jou doepas teen die droeftes. Jy het die kantelende reis op ons ou skedonk genaamd aarde met eer afgelê. Jy laat Afrikaans baie ryker agter en ons staning vir die wyle wat dit duur ’n bewoonbaarder plek. Rus in vrede by jou Skepper.
Huldeblyk deur prof. Braam de Vries, Eatonweg 9, Tuine, Kaapstad 8001
Verskyn in Die Burger op 28 Augustus 2008.
Die TEPC-transkriberingsprojek het ’n tweede maal die afgelope paar maande groot blydskap beleef! En ons deel ook graag hierdie vreugde met u.
Die Van Ewijck Stigting (VES) (http://www.ewijckfoundation.co.za) se Prestasietoekenning vir 2007 is toegewys aan die VOC-dokumente-transkripsiegroep (Kaapstad).
Die toekenningsgeleentheid het plaasgevind op Donderdagaand, 28 Februarie 2008 by die Huis der Nederlanden (http://www.hdn.co.za) in Pinelands, Kaapstad. Na ’n kort inleidende toespraak deur die voorsitter van die Stigting, mnr. Piet Westra, het hy die koevert met die prystjek oorhandig aan die uwe wat dit namens die TANAP- en TEPC-transkripsieprojek ontvang het. Nadat onderstaande bedanking deur haar gedoen is, het die gasspreker by die geleentheid, prof. Nigel Worden van die Universiteit van Kaapstad, ’n boeiende voordrag gelewer oor "New directions in VOC research in South Africa". Na afloop van die seremonie het die ongeveer sestig genooide gaste gesellig verkeer terwyl hulle Kaapse wyn en heerlike versnaperings geniet het.
U word ook vriendelik genooi om die Taaloord-webblad te besoek, aangesien daar sedert Januarie vanjaar twee nuwe onderafdelings bygevoeg is, naamlik Ragna-oord ('Koningsoord') en Sterre-oord. Geniet die kuier.
Bedankingwoorde namens die TANAP- en TEPC-transkripsieprojek
by ontvangs van die VES-prestasietoekenning vir 2007
Geagte Meneer die Voorsitter en ander lede van die Raad van Trustees van die Van Ewijck Stigting
Ten eerste, baie hartlik dankie vir die groot eer wat u ons aangedoen het deurdat u op hierdie besondere wyse erkenning verleen aan die TEPC-transkripsieprojek, wat voorafgegaan is deur die ewe belangrike TANAP-projek.
Ten tweede, baie hartlik dankie vir die uiters welkome, ruim bedrag wat verantwoordelik en verantwoordbaar gebruik word uitsluitlik vir die digitale beskikbaarmaking van verdere dokumente van besondere belang, soos u aanstons sal hoor.
Dankie vir u begrip dat ek ter wille van lede in die gehoor wat nie Afrikaans magtig is nie, nou oorgaan na Engels.
Dear colleagues and friends, a warm and most sincere welcome to all of you.
This is a very special evening for us who were practically involved in one way or another in the TANAP and TEPC transcription projects, be it as a principal, project manager, transcriber, editor, indexer, photographer or technical support.
We want to thank the Van Ewijck Foundation most sincerely for bestowing this special award on us. It is indeed a great honour, realising that our work did not go unnoticed. We are also very grateful for the prize money. It is used in a responsible way with the sole purpose of making more old documents available to the public. In this sense, the value of the digitised volumes will actually exceed its monetary value in the long run. The more than welcome amount of money serves as a first incentive to us to acquire more funding, that we may continue with the work we cherish and the mission we want to fulfil.
It is sometimes difficult to find the right words to express one’s innermost feelings. When I refer from a personal point of view to the two transcription projects, namely TANAP and TEPC, I know that it really touched me in a number of ways. I also know from experience that all of us who were so intimately involved in these projects share my feelings in this regard.
We were taught by the great Teacher of Time about people – those who came from the West, those who came from the East and those who were here already. We brought to life, so to speak, thousands of people from all over the early Cape community, who otherwise never would have been given an identity and a name.
Our work brought us into written contact with our forebears, the way they lived and died, their happiness and their sorrow, their hardships and their better days. Some were rich, more were poor. No matter what their circumstances, they all lived their lives right here, in this part of our vast and beautiful country. In this way we could pay tribute to our ancestors. We also realised that we are in fact the living memory of our past.
Nearly all the stories were written in the VOC language of that period, namely 17th and 18th century Dutch, which developed into Afrikaans – a language with very special qualities of being modern, but at the same time retaining archaic words and even ancient traits from our deep past.
If I may compare this experience in a different sense and on another level of thought, I may say that if I was not privileged enough to be Touched by an Angel, I was indeed Touched by our Transcriptions.
Both the TANAP and the TEPC projects were funded by the Dutch government, for which we were extremely grateful. During the TANAP project from 2001 to 2003, the VOC Resolutions of the Council of Policy of the Cape of Good Hope were digitised and put on the Internet in 2004. During the TEPC project from 2004 to January 2008, household inventories, auction lists, and lists of exiles and convicts were digitised. Whereas the Resolutions are often referred to as the flagship of the VOC, the other documents, including those of the TEPC project, may be regarded as the accompanying vessels of the royal fleet.
We also decided to transcribe the Verbatim Copies of the VOC employees at the Cape between 1656 and 1789, which are vested in the Cape Archives (CAR VC39 vol. 2 to VC48). Presumably these copies were made in the late 19th century (approximately 1881) by a team of copyists in the Rijksarchief in The Hague and then sent over to Cape Town shortly afterwards. These are copies of the original Cape documents that are still vested in the Nationaal Archief, previously called the Rijksarchief, in The Hague. The motivation then for acquiring these copies was the fact that the original documents were vested in the Rijksarchief, with no evidence of their existence in Cape Town.
Now, more than a century later, while transcribing CAR’s ‘complete’ VC series regarding the VOC employees, we realised that not all the years were covered by the copyists in 1881. This implied that somewhere in the Nationaal Archief in The Hague there might still be some lists of VOC employees contained in the original Cape documents, the contents of which could be of great importance to our local institution. Apart from the VOC lists there were also missing years in VCs that covered the Free Burgher lists (VC49 to VC55).
It was therefore decided that TEPC contracted a photographer from a private enterprise to act as a representative of the project. It was his task to capture digital images of as many lacking years as possible within two weeks, in order to minimise the existing gap of information at the Cape Town Archives Repository. The Nationaal Archief welcomed this opportunity and the personnel gave their utmost support and assistance. As a result, the following volumes contained in the VOC Chamber of Zeeland were photographed:
As a team, we decided to complete the above VOC transcriptions after hours in January and February 2008 and be remunerated from the prize money for our work. These transcriptions and photographs will be part of our 2008 CD.
Apart from the photographed volumes of VOC employees already transcribed, there are still 17 photographed volumes containing lists of Free Burghers waiting to be digitised. We will do our best to acquire funding to complete the transcription and editing of at least these volumes from the Nationaal Archief.
We want to present the digitised versions of these 26 volumes together with the photographed originals to the Cape Archives Repository. In this way the already precious and invaluable VOC collection of documents of the Cape of Good Hope will be slightly enlarged.
It is hard and tedious work that requires special skills and much devotion. But we as a team loved what we did and could reap the benefits of an excellent team spirit. And above all, we were looked upon by the Great Spirit who guided us every day all the way.
Die VOC-rol met die vroegste datum, wat gefotografeer en gedigitaliseer is.
Nationaal Archief, verw. 12653
Copia: monsterrolle van ’t generaale guarnisoen d’ anno 1699/1700 voor Zeeland. N:o 43
Die eerste inskrywing is dié van Willem Adriaan van der Stel, "Raad Extroordinaris van Nederlands India en Gouverneur".
As hoof van die "Comp: dinaaren" beloop sy salaris 200 gulden.
Die VOC-rol met die laatste datum, wat gefotografeer en gedigitaliseer is.
Nationaal Archief, verw. 12602
Monster roll van all de Militairen het Guarnisoen houdende Bataillon onder ult: Junij 1790 uitmakende voor de Camer Zeeland
Militaire Roll d’ a: 1790
Die eerste inskrywing is dié van Robbert Jacob Gordon, geboortedorp Doesburg, kolonel en hoof van die Militie, salaris 200 gulden en ouderdom 49 jaar.
Vyf reëls laer is die inskrywing van sy seuntjie, Robbert Gordon, gebore aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, vaandrig, salaris 40 gulden en ouderdom 9 jaar.
Ons deel graag ons groot vreugde met julle:
Op Vrydagaand, 23 November het ons TEPC-span ’n besoek aan die Kasteel de Goede Hoop in Kaapstad gebring.
Ons het die Wes-Kaapse Kuns, Kultuur en Erfenis-toekenningseremonie 2007 bygewoon as een van die ontvangers van ’n pragtige toekenning vir ’n spesiale diens wat tot en met 2006 gelewer is en deur die Departement van Kultuursake en Sport gepas vereer is.
Die TEPC-transkriberingsprojek het die toekenning ontvang vir die beste instelling wat die Kaapse Argiefdiens bevorder deur middel van gepubliseerde artikels (benewens produkte en openbare optrede) asook besoeke wat belangstellendes aan die projek en gevolglik aan die Argiefbewaarplek gebring het.
Ons projek sluit aan die einde van Januarie af, waarna ons ons laaste en mees omvattende CD bekend gaan stel. Al die Taaloord-e-vriende sal hieroor ingelig word.
WESTERN CAPE ARTS, CULTURE & HERITAGE AWARDS CEREMONY
WES-KAAPSE KUNS, KULTUUR EN ERFENIS-TOEKENNINGSEREMONIE
CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE – KASTEEL DE GOEDE HOOP
Best Individual/Institution that
Promotes the Archive Service
through Published Articles or
TEPC: TRANSCRIPTION OF ESTATE PAPERS OF
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE PROJECT
The TEPC transcription project has played a major
role in making documentation about the heritage
of the Cape available to researchers and the wider
general public. Fragile and valuable archival
documents from UNESCO Heritage VOC archives
have been transcribed from complex and often almost
illegible early modern Dutch into easily readable
format. These are now available in databases.
THE 2007 AWARD SCULPTURE
Red Hot Glass designer Liz Lacey designed the trophy and with the team of glass blowers the sculpture was formed, encompassing all the symbolism and individuality that needed to be captured.
Glass inherently is a symbol of light and life, and was chosen as the best medium to use to express all the aspects needed to convey in the trophy.
The bright red dot in the middle represents the individuality, a glowing form, complete and unthreatened. This forms the core. The orange spiral around the bright red dot represents the mysterious, energetic power of conversation and transformation. Orange represents life, the sun, power and happiness, whilst the clear glass denotes spirituality, change and grace. These colours are all chosen to symbolize a home for all the people in the Western Cape.
The left arm of the glass trophy represents unity. The right arm of the trophy connects with the left arm to strengthen the unity, securing a home for all whereby individuals can excel in what they are doing, i.e. achievements in the arts and culture, libraries, museums, language and heritage.
I believed that the colours used and the
movement created within the trophy significantly contribute to its lively energy and its potential to enchant and captivate. - Liz Lacey
Liefdesbrief aan ’n stad
Opgedra aan Pretoria, Oktober 2007
My geboortegrond, my geo-moeder, my eie anima; al sterker word my emosies rondom jou vermenslik, ver-innig, groei sentripetaal binne toe, kernsoekend soos liefde maak.
Want omgekeerd word die klein ‘ek’ sentrifugaal uitbreidend groot, groter, tot ’n oortreffende groepsidentiteit later; die groots, grootser, grootsste ‘ons’ van homogeniteit wat een gemeen-skaplike mater familias in ’n woonstad, werkstad, speelstad, bidstad het, en haar daarom liefhet met elke moontlike menslike krag.
Wanneer die straatbelyning Oktobermaande pers kostuums uit die garderobe leen vir jou straattoneel, is die krag gemoedelike liefde. Jaloerse beskutting van jou identiteit word dit egter as dieselfde strate se bewakers hul laat winter in goudbrokaat aanklee en stil in gelid staan met opgehoue asem oor vermoedens van ’n veranderende wind wat nie die natuur se Augustuswinde is nie. Maar woede – beheersde woede – word dit as onheilspellende skreeuers jou aartsmoederlike eer wil skend en strate swart van argwaan maak soos ’n Walpurgisnag waar die tinte en skakerings van seisoenskostuums onsigbaar is.
Waarom het ek jou met ’n selfsug lief? Waarom nie toelaat dat indringers soos koekoekkuikens jou wese en jou roepseine aggressief verander om ook ’n aandeel in jou voortreflikhede te kan kry nie? Waarom weier tot hulle oorweldigende geledere sluit en tot die radikale oorgaan? Waarom nie deel nie? Is hierdie selfsug geregverdig?
En onomwonde sê ek ja, die uitgebreide ek – ‘ons’ dus – ja! Want dis nie net déél in hierdie stad wat ons genebron sonder roof of benadeling gebou het, wat die skreeuers wil hê nie; dis meer as die fisieke geheel; dis jou moeder-innerlike wat hulle haat omdat jy aan ons geboorte gegee het, jou matriks wat hulle deur tegnieke, vergelykbaar met geslagsomskakelingsjirurgie wil verander na die wese van ’n onbekende man uit primitiewe tye.
Wie het hierdie stad op hierdie plek gebou sonder slag of stoot? Was dit hierdie skim, vir die hede ingevoer uit ’n misplaasde verlede, of sy gene? Ons moederlike stad wat oglokrate redeloos wil verander soos ’n transvestiet! Kan hulle – kon hulle – ooit meer doen as slegs so aanstoot gee, onverdraagsaamheid deur arglis en geestelike odium aanblaas tot dit later manifesteer as haat? Kon hulle elders self ’n stad bou waar beskawing onder kerstening kon leef?
Nee, lief matropolis van ons, u eer – tans – en die aanloop deur die sukkelgang van anderhalwe eeu sal ons verdedig en beskut teen roof – onder mooi dekmantels van eenwees en saam bou – wat ons wil ontheem, van u vervreem en u onteer – goeie geo-moeder van my wesentlikheid, vergestalt in u fassade, u gesig, u roepseine; die bindsel in die homogeniteit van ’n voorvaderlike nakroos wat self nooit hul verontregters probeer ontken het as ’n waarheid nie.
Hoe hernoem mens die waarheid? Waarom? Wat word die omgekeerde waarheid metonimies? Is die aanslag bo-menslik, gemik op meer as net ’n groep se identiteit? Is dit diabolies – ’n opmars teen die Weg, die Waarheid en die Lewe? Besef almal wat u as teiken in hulle visier sien, dit?
Vir u sal ons bid, want nou is ons bede vir meer as bloot die behoud van ’n stadskultuur, ’n eie heraldiek; dit is die opdra van heilige bloedwaarheid onder beleg. Dankie goeie geo-moeder, vir die beeld van geordende beskawing wat u as kruiswaarheid simboliseer. Ons het u lief.
Ons het u lief.
Pretoria in Oktober – getooi in miljoene ligpers lanferbloeisels op die vooraand van haar gedwonge/waarskynlike naamsverandering
NEDERLAND SE GUNS,
SUID-AFRIKA SE WINS
Wil u graag vertrek op ’n avontuurlike reis waartydens u eksotiese plekke besoek, honderde mense ontmoet en boeiende ervarings beleef?
Bring dan gerus teen die minste koste en moeite besoek aan TANAP waar die tyd stilstaan terwyl u u al lesend verdiep in die aanvangshoofstukke van Suid-Afrika se geskiedenis, wat tot in die fynste besonderhede aangeteken is.
Maak op die TANAP-webblad onder andere kennis met die getranskribeerde inhoud van die volgende twee reekse waarvan die oorspronklike dokumente in die Kaapstadse Argiefbewaarplek gehuisves word:
die Resolusies van die Politieke Raad van die Kaap die Goeie Hoop (1651-1795), vlagskip van die plaaslike VOC-erfenis, asook
die eerste 40 bande van die inventarisse van intestate boedels (1673-1834) van die Weeskamer van die Kaap die Goeie Hoop, waarvan die oorblywende 35 bande tans in voorbereiding is.
Danksy die besonderse samewerking tussen Nederland en Suid-Afrika bied hierdie Internet-produkte toegang tot inligting wat andersins vir belangstellendes wêreldwyd onbereikbaar, ontoeganklik en geslote sou bly.
AFRIKAANSE PEN - AANHOUER WEN !
Dr. Dan Roodt, sameroeper en persoon by wie die gedagte ontstaan het om ’n Afrikaanse afdeling van PEN in Suid-Afrika te vestig, het hom die afgelope twee jaar beywer om hierdie ideaal te bereik. Sy en ander Afrikaanse PEN-lede se volgehoue pogings het nou goeie vrugte afgewerp. Ons skrywers, digters en woordmense verkry op hierdie wyse ’n Afrikaanse stem wat nou op internasionale vlak gehoor kan word.
As een van die stigterslede van die Afrikaanse PEN in 2004 doen dit my genoeë om die volgende lansbreek-nuus met u te deel.
MEDIAVERKLARING DEUR DIE PRETORIA- AFRIKAANSE PEN OP SONDAG, 28 MEI 2006
Die skryfster Nadine Gordimer, wat Afrikaanse skrywers daarvan wou weerhou om as 'n onafhanklike sentrum by die Internasionale PEN-organisasie aan te sluit, het misluk. By die pas afgelope kongres in Berlyn is die lidmaatskap van die Pretoria- Afrikaanse PEN met 'n oorweldigende meerderheid van 40 teen 8 stemme aanvaar, met 10 PEN-sentra wat buite stemming gebly het. Hiermee het nog 'n bastion geval sover dit die kulturele isolasie van Afrikaans betref, en kan Afrikaanse skrywers nou op gelyke voet met hul eweknieë in ander lande assosieer.
Die Afrikaanse sentrum poog al drie jaar lank om toelating tot die Internasionale PEN te verkry. In 2004 het Nadine Gordimer 'n brief aan die voorsitter gerig waarin sy haar teenkanting teen die aansluiting van Afrikaanse skrywers uitgespreek het omdat die Afrikaanse letterkunde kwansuis sedert 1994 oor geen outonomie of eie samehang sou beskik nie. Verlede jaar het die Afrikaanse digter Fanie Olivier al die pad van Pole na Bled in Slowenië gereis om die Afrikaanse aansoek te verdedig, maar die teenstanders van die aansoek het daarin geslaag om die kwessie nie tot stemming te laat bring nie.
PEN is 'n internasionale skrywersorganisasie met meer as 10 000 lede wat hulle vir die bevordering van letterkunde, vryheid van spraak en taalregte beywer. "Afrikaanse skrywers kan veral baat by internasionale skakeling oor dié kwessies, aangesien Afrikaans vandag misken word en grotendeels van sy amptelike status beroof is," het dr. Dan Roodt, sameroeper van die Pretoria- Afrikaanse PEN gesê. "PEN het reeds 'n universele verklaring van taalregte opgestel en dié dokument kan vir die Afrikaanse taalstryd baie nuttig wees. Vryheid van spraak is insgelyks 'n netelige kwessie in Suider-Afrika, veral in Zimbabwe, en ons sou in samewerking met ander PEN-sentra spraakvryheid in ons streek wou bevorder."
Die woord "Pretoria" is by die naam van die Afrikaanse PEN gevoeg om dit geografies van die Engelstalige PEN in Kaapstad te onderskei, maar ook om sekere Britse lede van PEN tegemoet te kom wat die woord "Afrikaanse" as te nasionalisties gesien het.
Die toelating van 'n Afrikaanse PEN-sentrum kom net betyds vir afgevaardigdes om aanstaande jaar se kongres in Dakar, Senegal, by te woon. "Dié kongres gaan spesifiek op die situasie van Afrika-letterkundes fokus, wat dit vir ons relevant maak, aangesien Afrikaans waarskynlik die belangrikste letterkunde in Afrika verteenwoordig," het dr. Roodt bygevoeg.
Tot dusver is geen kommentaar van Nadine Gordimer ontvang nie. Vir dié Engelstalige skryfster wat in haar outobiografiese opstelle dikwels bewondering vir die SA Kommunistiese Party uitgespreek het, moet dit 'n bitter pil wees om te sluk ná sy alles in haar vermoë gedoen het om 'n kulturele boikot teen Afrikaanse skrywers in stand te hou.
Die Pretoria- Afrikaanse PEN verteenwoordig tans ongeveer veertig skrywers, waaronder vele bekende name. 'n Jaarvergadering word vir later vanjaar beplan en daar gaan gepoog word om dit 'n belangwekkende gebeurtenis soortgelyk aan vergaderings van die vorige Afrikaanse Skrywersgilde in die sewentiger- en tagtigerjare te maak.
Afrikaanse skrywers by PEN
Rapport, 28 Mei 2006
Nie eens die verbete teenkanting van 'n Nobepryswenner kon Afrikaanse skrywers langer uit die geledere van PEN, die skrywers se gesogte internasionale vereniging, nou nie.
Twee jaar lank het die skrywer Nadine Gordimer verbete - en suksesvol - teen die toelating van die Afrikaanse skrywers geveg, maar Vrydag moes sy die aftog blaas. Op die PEN-konferensie in Berlyn is die Afrikaanse PEN-sentrum in Pretoria met veertig stemme teen agt tot die internasionale geledere toegelaat, naas die Engelssprekende Suid-Afrikaanse PEN in Kaapstad. Tien lede het buite stemming gebly. Die saak vir die Afrikaanse sentrum is in Berlyn gestel deur die Engelssprekende mnr. Raymond Louw, oudredakteur van die heengegane Rand Daily Mail en deesdae prominente lid van die Freedom of Expression Institute.
Hy het kortliks sy spanningsverhouding met die vorige bewind en die Afrikaners wat dit gesteun het aan die konferensiegangers geskets.
"Maar," het hy gesê, "ek steun die aansoek van die Afrikaanse skrywers want die taal was nie die verdrukker nie, die mense was. Afrikaners wat teen apartheid geveg het, het ook die taal gebruik."
Mnr. Anthony Fleischer, president van die Suid-Afrikaanse PEN-sentrum in Kaapstad, het die besluit verwelkom.
"Ons gebruik dalk hoofstroomtale in ons ons ekonomiese lewe, maar vir ons literêre lewe sal ons eie tale en gemeenskap al hoe belangriker word. Meer literêre materiaal word in Afrikaans in Suid-Afrika gepubliseer as in enige ander taal - insluitend Engels.
"In Suid-Afrika is taal nie noodwendig verdelend nie. Mits al elf taalgemeenskappe hou by die beginsels van ons Grondwet sal ons in 'n diverse en opwindende gemeenskap bly ontwikkel."
Hy sê hy het gehoor die kwessie van Afrikaans as taal van onderdrukking is die afgelope week in Berlyn bespreek, maar hy wonder wat gesê moet word van koloniale en ander tale wat deur verdrukkers gepraat is, soos Engels, Nederlands, Frans, Duits, Italiaans en Portugees. "En wat van die tale van kommunisme, soos Mandaryns en Russies?"
Fleischer wys in 'n vroeëre verklaring daarop dat toe mnr. Terry Carlborn, die toenmalige internasionale sekretaris van PEN, die Kaapstadse sentrum in 'n stadium besoek het, hy en sy reisgenoot mnr. Vincent Mgombe ook by Gordimer in Johannesburg 'n draai gemaak het.
Sy was negatief en "taamlik krities" oor 'n Afrikaanssprekende PEN-sentrum. Terselfdertyd het sy vir hulle ontmoetings gereël met mense wat ten gunste was van 'n PEN-sentrum vir swart mense in Johannesburg.
"Nadine se standpunt was nie aanvaarbaar nie: die Suid-Afrikaanse PEN was nog altyd nie-rassig," sê Fleischer. Die internasionale PEN bestaan al byna 'n eeu lank, met 141 sentrums in 99 lande. Dis 'n vereniging van skrywers wat hom vir vriendskap en intellektuele samewerking, vryheid van uitdrukking en die verteenwoordiging van gewete in die wêreldletterkunde beywer. Twintig Afrikaanse skrywers het die Pretoriase sentrum in 2004 gestig en dadelik aan al die voorwaardes van die internasionale PEN voldoen. Onder aanvoering van Gordimer is hul toetrede tot die internasionale PEN in die jaar en in 2005 vewerp.
Wat word van Suid-Afrika se inheemse tale?
by RW Johnson, the author of "South Africa:
The First Man, The Last Nation" (Orion)
The South African constitution guarantees "parity of esteem" to no less than 11 languages. But English, despite being the mother tongue of only 9 per cent of the population,
will soon crowd out the rest.
Race has clearly been the dominant factor in South Africa's difficult history, but language comes a close second. Generations of Afrikaners bristled with anger at the story of how, in Alfred Milner's South Africa, immediately after the Boer war, a child who spoke Afrikaans was made to sit facing the wall wearing a dunce's hat. More than 60 years later, as the tide of linguistic nationalism trampled over Anglo sensibilities, the South African post office was still stamping every letter with the slogan "Die Wonder van Afrikaans." And while the apartheid government was able to jail Mandela in 1962 and intimidate his supporters into silence, it went a step too far in 1976 by trying to insist on Afrikaans tuition in black township schools. The resulting explosion inaugurated an era of popular protest which never really stopped until apartheid was toppled and majority rule ushered in.
When, however, the new constitution was drafted in 1996, African nationalist indignation at the centuries of white dominance mingled fatally with linguistic correctness to produce a perfectly mad language policy: there were to be 11 official languages as well as special measures to promote and expand the almost dead languages of Khoi and San. The 11—isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sepedi, English, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga and isiNdebele—had to enjoy "parity of esteem and must be treated equitably." In addition, the Pan South African Language Board was
set up to create "conditions for the development and use of all official languages."
The French, when weighing the question of British entry to the EEC, worried that "three languages mean one." That is, while French-German bilingualism was a viable mix, once English was admitted, any gathering of three nationalities would quickly lapse into English because it was the one international language almost everyone knew. And so it has proved: today English is the EU's dominant language by far. But if just three languages mean one, then 11 do even more certainly. The ANC elite, many of whom spent decades in exile in London, invariably speak English. The space occupied by Afrikaans in the broadcast media has shrunk to a fraction of what it once was and manufacturers have quietly removed Afrikaans instructions from their products. You can use any language you like in parliament but 90 per cent of the proceedings are in English, and Hansard gives only an English translation of the other ten languages. English is reinforced at every turn, not only by the familiar forces of the anglosphere but also by the arrival of satellite television, English football, the internet and South Africa's re-entry to the Commonwealth. Even next-door Namibia and Mozambique, Commonwealth members both, are striving to become English-speakers. Since 1994, South Africa has rapidly and irreversibly moved towards becoming an English-speaking country.
Yet the oddity is that according to the 1996 census, English is only the country's fifth language: 22.9 per cent have isiZulu as their mother tongue, 17.9 per cent isiXhosa, 14.4 per cent Afrikaans, 9.2 per cent Sepedi and only 8.6 per cent English. And, theoretically, not only must the ten other languages enjoy "parity of esteem" with English, but the country is supposed to be moving towards "the use of all official languages," including their use as languages of science and research at university level. This doctrine is so ludicrously at odds with reality that it asks for trouble.
Thus far the main problem lies with Afrikaans, whose 20th-century achievements were undeniably remarkable. From being the lingua franca of downtrodden ex-slaves (the coloureds) and of the beaten, broken and divided Boer nation in 1902, the language progressed to a point where, well before 1994, a huge volume of literature had been translated into Afrikaans, which had also generated its own impressive corpus of poetry, novels, history and biography (see "Rainbow Afrikaans" by Rachel Holmes, Prospect May 2004). Afrikaans press, television and radio thrived, and there were five Afrikaans-language universities (Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Potchefstroom, Free State and Rand Afrikaans) and another bilingual one (Port Elizabeth). Afrikaner nationalism was easily the most successful form of African nationalism the continent had seen, and by the end of apartheid the vast bulk of Afrikaners were modern middle-class people, appalled at their racist past and keen to make peace with their fellow South Africans. They are critical to the success of the new South Africa, for although hundreds of thousands of them are to be found in diaspora in the English-speaking world, they are notably less likely to emigrate (or more likely to return) than their white English-speaking peers. For an English-speaker like myself, it is a real pleasure to find that the old animosities separating Afrikaners from anglophones have disappeared completely. And whereas 40 years ago you often met Afrikaners who couldn't speak English, today no such person exists.
Inevitably, many Afrikaners view the shrinkage of the Afrikaans cultural space with dismay. An ironic and little noticed fact is the way Afrikaners have sought new, urban homelands. Once formerly white high schools became racially integrated, they normally became English-speaking, so Afrikaners wanting their children educated in their mother tongue were forced to quit rural and small town communities and congregate in larger agglomerations still able to support viable Afrikaans schools. If you drive through Limpopo province (the old Northern Transvaal) you see how one small dorp after another has been abandoned by whites, now congregated in a few larger centres like Louis Trichardt, Potgietersrus, Pietersburg and Pretoria—and even these have been renamed, respectively, as Makhado, Mokopane, Polokwane and Tshwane. The result is far fewer Afrikaans high schools than before but more Afrikaans matriculants. To see towns commemorating such trekker heroes as Louis Trichardt and Andries Pretorius lose those names breaks many an Afrikaner heart.
Meanwhile, Rand Afrikaans University has become the University of Johannesburg and has become predominantly English-speaking, like all the other Afrikaans universities, with the sole exception of Stellenbosch, currently the subject of a major cultural struggle. Stellenbosch, the intellectual cradle of Afrikanerdom, is the jewel in the crown: one of the top research universities in the country, it is set in the beautiful and historic town of Stellenbosch amid the Cape winelands. Those concerned about the survival of Afrikaans, led by the great historian of the Afrikaners, Hermann Giliomee—a man victimised under apartheid for his liberal views—argue that it is crucial that at least one Afrikaans university remain. They have done their homework, anxiously researching how some small language groups—the Danes, Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, the Flemish and the French Canadians—survive. The answer is clear. First, all Flemings (for example) must be fluent in a major international language—English, French or German, often all three—so that they are not handicapped through being Flemish-speakers. Second, they must not only be able to send their children to Flemish-language primary and secondary schools but there must be at least one Flemish university. This is critical because the propagation of a culture requires the renewal of an intelligentsia that writes its books and newspapers, translates works from other languages, teaches in its schools, produces its radio and television programmes and so on. And, if tertiary-level education was only available in, say, French or English, this would quickly become an argument for these languages to take over at secondary and primary level too. While it is likely that English and other international language texts will predominate at postgraduate level, it is important that seductive arguments for bilingual language instruction at undergraduate level be resisted, for experience shows that if such arrangements are allowed between a minority language and an international language, they become mere staging posts en route to the complete victory of the stronger international language.
The campaign to preserve Afrikaans recently won an important victory when Giliomee and two of his supporters were elected to the university council at Stellenbosch. The unusually vigorous campaign saw both the university's rector and the chairman of the council oppose the Giliomee slate, which nevertheless won with 79 per cent of the vote. Still, it is far from certain that those who wish to preserve Afrikaans will win in the end. Partly this is because the government continues to exert pressure on Stellenbosch to "broaden access." For although the university is happy to take in Afrikaans-speaking black and coloured students, most blacks and many middle-class coloureds want to be taught in English, and so 72 per cent of Stellenbosch students are white. The only way to change this is for the university to offer more courses in English. With language rights guaranteed by the constitution, the university could hang tough on this if it wanted to, but—and this is the critical factor—a large proportion of Afrikaners, including the rector, Chris Brink, would far rather expand the role of English, despite the slippery slope that means for Afrikaans, than remain outside the new South African mainstream. For Afrikaners are Christian folk, and many are now carrying a great load of Calvinist guilt about having inflicted apartheid on the country, and are uncomfortable about doing anything which carries echoes of apartheid—such as maintaining a mainly white university. Such feelings are powerfully reinforced by a wish to stay on the right side of government. But their anxiety is more existential. For so long and so loudly did the apartheid government make Afrikaans the language of racism and oppression that many Afrikaners are now reluctant to assert their own identity or culture, in much the same way that after 1945 many Germans became uncomfortable with assertions of German identity. Indeed, many Afrikaans families now have children in London or Sydney, and even back home some send their children to English-language schools. When Giliomee and others insist that if the pass is not defended Afrikaans will retreat back from the public realm into merely a kitchen language, they often encounter Afrikaners whose response is a shrug of the shoulders and a Que sera, sera.
But if the future of Afrikaans is now in some doubt, then, a fortiori, all the other African languages must be under far greater threat. None of them, after all, has a fraction of the accumulated literature or institutional support of Afrikaans. When the apartheid government set up separate tribal homelands, the first act of each new homeland government was to adopt English-medium education. And although the apartheid government set up a series of tribal universities—Transkei, Zululand, Venda and so on—not one even considered using anything but English. And even though the then government would doubtless have made money available for it, none of these universities made any serious effort to promote or develop indigenous languages. The irony is that now that the homelands have been scrapped and there is an assertive African nationalist government that views tribalism as reactionary, it has committed itself to promote these indigenous languages in a way apartheid bureaucrats could only have dreamed of. This commitment is, moreover, made in the teeth of market forces. African language departments report dramatic declines in student numbers to the point where keeping them open is mainly a matter of political will. Similarly, although educationalists are unanimous that children do best when allowed to use their mother tongue to learn other subjects, black parents are almost equally unanimous in resisting this option. Although primary education is given in mother tongues, when Limpopo province recently introduced mother tongue education into state secondary schools, many black parents angrily accused school authorities of "academically damaging" their children. They, like their Afrikaans counterparts, have understood that proficiency in English is the key to the job market—and in a country with 40 per cent unemployment, this has an understandable urgency. The workaday reality is that the courts still use just English and Afrikaans (though black judges, who often don't know Afrikaans, are exerting pressure for an English-only system) and each province is required to teach at least two of the official languages in its schools, taking into consideration the dominant languages of the region. What this usually boils down to is that schools continue to offer English and Afrikaans as they always did but now add isiZulu in KwaZulu-Natal, isiXhosa in the Eastern and Western Cape, Sesotho in the Free State and so on. This induces a sense of equity, but at a price. There is a huge shortage of properly qualified African-language teachers. The curriculum has to find space for three languages, of which two will only ever be of any use in South Africa and, quite possibly, only in one province of it. And, since the curriculum is already top-heavy with languages, there is no room for other international languages or even for the other main languages of Africa—French, Swahili and Arabic.
The ministry of education has, nevertheless, asked all universities to submit plans explaining how they are going to promote and develop African languages. Most universities have submitted plans of such vagueness that the ministry has asked them to resubmit, but since doing anything serious would inevitably be expensive and higher education is cash-strapped, it is clear that little will happen. With one thunderous exception: the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the country's second biggest, where the black vice-chancellor, William Makgoba, is a committed Africanist.
Makgoba is a controversial figure who left Wits University in 1995 after a storm in which he stood accused of maladministration, bringing the university into disrepute and falsifying his CV. In his autobiography, where he describes himself as "a first-rate, world acclaimed African scientist," he also happily admits that he consulted witch doctors for special potions with which to scare his enemies. He writes of "my unquestioned brilliance as a scholar and (my) pioneering achievements, with few equals in my field." Certainly, his inauguration was that of a monarch, with massed bands, choirs, operas, recitals and presentations at four different centres, and he swiftly granted himself a salary considerably larger than President Mbeki's. The campus lampposts are now festooned with banners describing UKZN as "the premier university of Africanscholarship." Although a majority of the university's academics are still white males, Makgoba launched a broadside in which he compared white males to displaced senior apes and insisted that they must learn to speak, sing, eat, dance and dress like Africans if they were to find any hope of acceptance. His inaugural address had the promotion of isiZulu as a key theme and UKZN has announced that it is preparing to introduce compulsory isiZulu courses for all students and to make fluency in isiZulu a condition for all academic appointments.
These plans have met with strong resistance. Jean-Philippe Wade, professor of culture, communications and media studies, points to the lack of isiZulu textbooks and journals, and even of many academic concepts in isiZulu. If Makgoba's plans go ahead, he says, they will turn a university of 60,000 students—anglophone since its inception—into "an academic wasteland and a global joke." Even the proponents of such a change find it so difficult to conceive that they have drawn up a 20-year plan for its implementation. And they admit that a mountainous (and expensive) task of translation into isiZulu lies ahead if the plan is to become real. Most academics at the university seem determined to ignore it and hope that it will go away.
Yet the idea deserves some sympathy. Already more than half the university's students are isiZulu-speakers—though many of them insist on speaking English, which is seen as more fashionable and modern. Moreover, isiZulu is the best developed of all the African languages, as well as the most widespread. There are three Zulu newspapers but none in any other African tongue, and Zulu-language radio and television have large audiences. And isiZulu is an Nguni language, so can be understood without too much difficulty by other members of the Nguni group—Swazis, Ndebeles and Xhosas. If you go to Soweto, you find that the language actually used on the street is Tsotsitaal, a strange mixture of isiZulu and Afrikaans, and in other townships you find other such amalgams, though always with an isiZulu base.
In Kenya and Tanzania, post-independence governments favoured Swahili-based education, with the result that this single lingua franca is now entrenched, not just in east Africa but far beyond. Clearly, this was a route the South African government could have taken. Had it done so, it would have had to choose isiZulu as its vehicle, tried to encourage its broadening into a sort of pan-Nguni language and given large-scale support to it. But even to mention such an idea is to see its political impossibility. For non-Zulus, this would be seen as nothing less than a continuation of Shaka's forcible incorporation of vanquished tribes into the Zulu nation. (Defeated warriors would be killed or enslaved and their women and children forcibly integrated as slaves or concubines, so that within a generation they all spoke only isiZulu.) Xhosas, who predominate in the ANC leadership, would strongly resist, as would the branches of the wider Sotho group (including Sepedi, Sesotho and Setswana-speakers). It would, in a word, reawaken the spectre of tribalism, of which the ANC is terrified. It is clear why the constitution-makers took refuge in the safer solution of 11 official languages.
That constitutional provision seems certain to guarantee the death of most of the languages it claims to protect. Yet everyone is pretending otherwise. At Stellenbosch, those who wish to expand the role of English pretend it will not happen at the expense of Afrikaans, though it certainly will. Tell isiZulu or Sotho-speakers that their languages are under threat and may one day disappear, and they simply do not believe you. Last year I attended the premiere in Durban of the touching film Yesterday, set in the foothills of the Drakensberg where Aids ravages black communities as badly as plague once ravaged London. The producer Anant Singh told a rapturous audience how he had decided to "dump English" and shoot the film in isiZulu with English subtitles. One Zulu luminary after another, including the provincial premier, followed him to the podium to emphasise this triumph of the isiZulu language and the vital importance of promoting Zulu. They were all applauded to the echo—yet every one spoke in English.
Few wish to acknowledge what is going on. Point out that Nigeria has adopted English as its official language, that China is launching whole new universities with English-language instruction, that proficiency in English has been made obligatory at the University of Maputo in next-door Mozambique, and that South Africa cannot escape these trends, and you will be met with a smile and much confident claptrap about our 11 official languages, all of which are supposed to have a rosy future. It would be almost unbearably painful to many South Africans to realise that this is just not so, that a language which is the mother tongue of just 8.6 per cent of the population is taking over completely and will gradually exterminate most or even all the other ten languages. And one really is talking of extermination. The ancestors of South Africa's 1m Indians arrived here 120 years ago speaking only Indian languages. Today the last university department of Indian languages has been closed down and very few Indians can speak a word of Hindi or Gujarati. They are uniformly English-speaking.
The notion that African languages in South Africa are on course to emulate the fate of the Indian languages has not yet struck home. When it does, such an outcome will seem like a final triumph of colonialism over African nationalism.
This article was originally placed on Prospect-magazine
Eleven official languages of South Africa
Afrikaans – Speakers
Around 5 811 547 people use Afrikaans as their home language in South Africa.
The language is also spoken in the Republic of Namibia.
Around 3 457 467 people use English as their home language in South Africa.
English is also widely used in South Africa's neighbouring countries as second
and third language.
IsiNdebele – Speakers
Around 586 961 people use isiNdebele as their home language in South Africa.
Sepedi – Speakers
Around 3 695 846 people in South Africa use Sepedi as their home language.
Sesotho – Speakers
Around 3 104 197 people use Sesotho as their home language in South Africa.
Yet it is also the official language of the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Siswati – Speakers
Around 1 013 193 people in South Africa use Siswati as their home language.
Xitsonga – Speakers
Around 1 756 105 people in South Africa use Xitsonga as their home language.
Setswana – Speakers
Around 3 301 774 people in South Africa use Setswana as their home language.
Tshivenda – Speakers
Around 876 409 people in South Africa use Tshivenda as their home language.
IsiXhosa – Speakers
Around 7 196 118 people in South Africa use isiXhosa as their home language.
IsiZulu – Speakers
Around 9 200 144 people in South Africa use isiZulu as their home language.
Percentage of speakers per language in South Africa (1996 and 2001)
For more relevant information visit: http://www.languages.web.za/
INTERNASIONALE DAG VAN
– 21 FEBRUARIE
Van die 6000 tale in die wêreld word 95% deur slegs 4% van die wêreldbevolking gepraat.
Omdat daar maandeliks na raming twee van die tale uitsterf, het UNESCO 21 Februarie tot Internasionale Dag van die Moedertaal verklaar.
In Afrikaans sing ons:
Jou het ek lief bo alles.1
en in die Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal 2 lees ons oor
1 Taal wat eerste aangeleer word, gewoonlik hoofsaaklik deur die toedoen van die moeder, of taal wat die meeste in die huis gebruik word, waarmee iemand die beste kan identifiseer of wat iemand die beste ken:
* Hoewel hulle (Afrikaanssprekendes rondom 1870) Nederlands nie meer korrek en met gemak kon praat (of skryf) nie, bly hulle dit nog steeds bestempel en aanvaar as hul moedertaal (G.S. Nienaber: Afr. Taalverenigings, s.j., 5).
* Hoe tweetalig of drietalig of tientalig 'n mens ook al mag wees, hy het altyd maar een taal wat werklik sy eie is, sy moedertaal (D.F. Malan in S.W. Pienaar: Volk, 1964, 248).
2 Taal waaruit ander tale ontstaan het:
Dit is 'n begryplike strewe van taalhistorici om in die Afrikaanse woordeskat te onderskei tussen wat uit die moedertaal afkomstig is (die sogenaamde "erfgoed") en wat hier tot ontwikkeling gekom het (die sogenaamde "eiegoed") (J. du P. Scholtz: Wording, 1980, 102).
In november 1999 heeft de Unesco de Internationale dag van de moedertaal uitgeroepen. Sindsdien word die dag elk jaar op 21 februari gevierd. Het voornaamste doel van de Moedertaaldag is aandacht voor kleine en bijzondere talen. Ongeveer de helft van de talen die er op de wereld gesproken worden, wordt met uitsterven bedreigd. Bijzondere talen zijn bijvoorbeeld fluit- en gebarentalen en het brailleschrift is een opmerkelijke taaluiting voor blinden en slechtzienden.
Het Nederlands is geen bedreigde of bijzondere taal. Het wordt in Nederland, Vlaanderen en Suriname door meer dan 22 miljoen mensen gesproken. Verder is er het Afrikaans van afgeleid. Dat word ook door zo’n 17 miljoen mensen gesproken, met name in Zuid-Afrika en in Namibië. Pas sedert 1925 geldt het Afrikaans als een zelfstandige taal – voordien gold het als een soort Nederlands. Nederlandstaligen en Afrikaanstaligen verstaan elkaar overings nog steeds vrijwel moeiteloos.
Voor het Algemeen Dagblad is de Internationale dag van de moedertaal aanleiding om stil te staan bij de verwerving van ons aller moedertaal, het Nederlands. De ontwikkelingspsycholoog Ewald Vervaet, schrijver van het boek Groeienderwijs; psychologie van 0 tot 3, stelde speciaal voor Diagnose vijf doordenkers samen over de verwerving van het Nederlands in de eerste drie levensjaren. Ze heten 'taaltoetsjes' omdat we er u niet alleen mee aan het nadenken willen zetten over het Nederlands als uw moedertaal, maar er ook mee willen toetsen hoe ver u kennis strekt over de wijze waarop u zich als kind uw moedertaal eigen heeft gemaakt. De vijf taaltoetsjes laten slechts vijf van de vele taalstapjes zien WWW.AD.NL Diagnose en Stichtinghistos.
De meeste stapjes in de taalontwikkeling gelden op een of andere manier voor alle talen. Het vijfde taaltoetsje gaat echter over een onderwerp dat in elk geval niet in het Engels, Frans, Italiaans en Spaans speelt en wel in het Nederlands. We staan daar met gepaste eerbied bij stil met een extra doordenker die eerder over taalkunde gaat dan over taalverwerving.
Elke dag is ’n dag ter ere van my Moedertaal – Helena Liebenberg
1 Ons Blêrkas
2 Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal
ONS LAELANDSE VRIENDE HELP
ONS KOSBARE TAAL VERDEDIG
Meer nuus by: Volksblad
Lees die storie by: News 24
Nederlanders en SAUK
Jan 26 2006 06:49:13:370PM
Sedert enkele maande gelede saai die SAUK kindernuusprogramme uit onder die naam “Kids News Network”.
Sedert enkele maande gelede saai die SAUK kindernuusprogramme uit onder die naam “Kids News Network”. Hierdie programme word nou uitsluitlik in die Engelse taal aangebied. Uit betroubare bron het ons verneem dat die volgende lente ook programme aangebied sal word in vier ander Suid-Afrikaanse tale, maar nie in Afrikaans nie.
Dit het in Nederland tot groot verontwaardiging gelei, te meer omdat hierdie programme vir ’n groot deel betaal word uit bydraes van die Nederlandse Postcodeloterij via die organisasie Free Voice. Die woordvoerder vir Free Voice, mnr. Van Veen, het ons meegedeel dat hy al dikwels by die SAUK aangedring het op uitsendings van Kids News in Afrikaans, maar die direksie van die SAUK wil nie.
In Nederland en Vlaandere is daar ’n groeiende besorgdheid oor die Suid-Afrikaanse openbare uitsaaikorporasie se taalbeleid. Veral die agterstelling van Afrikaans word beskou as skandalig. Die Nederlanders en Vlaminge voel dat die Afrikaanse taal en kultuur, waarmee hulle baie verwant voel, nie langer teen gediskrimineer mag word nie. Die ontevredenheid sou daartoe kon lei dat die druk – wat nou alreeds op die Postcodeloterij uitgeoefen word – om nie meer medewerking te verleen aan Kids News Network nie, vergroot word. Dié instelling sou gevolglik ander weë as die SAUK kon soek om die Suid-Afrikaanse kinders van nuus te voorsien.
Ons hoop dat die SAUK gehoor sal gee aan ons versoek om hierdie kinderprogram ook in Afrikaans aan te bied en dat die instansie ook daartoe sal bydra om Suid-Afrika se kulturele verskeidenheid te behou en uit te bou.
Bestuurder, Stichting Taalverdediging, Posbus 71827,
1000EA, Amsterdam: Nederland, AB.NED@hetnet.nl
Die volgende werkbare voorstelle is intussen ontvang:
Ewald Vervaet van Amsterdam, Nederland skryf:
“Al lang heb ik het volgende plan. Ik zou namelijk graag zien dat er één televisiezender zou komen, die over de hele wereld wordt ontvangen. Die zou alleen Dietstalige – dus Nederlandstalige, Afrikaanstalige, Vlaamstalige, Surinaams-Nederlandstalige – uitzendingen doen, bijvoorbeeld nieuwsuitzendingen, documentaires en dergelijke die al eerder op de Nederlandse, Zuidafrikaanse, Vlaamse of Surinaamse televisie zijn geweest. Ik vergelijk zo’n Dietstalige zender een beetje met de Franstalige TV5 die zowel Franse, Waalse, Canadese als Zwitserse programma’s uitzendt.” –
“Ek het lankal die volgende plan. Ek sou naamlik graag wou sien dat daar één televisiesender sou wees wat oor die hele wêreld ontvang word. Sodanige sender sou alleenlik Dietstalige – dus Nederlandstalige, Afrikaanstalige, Vlaamstalige, Surinaams-Nederlandstalige – uitsendings doen, byvoorbeeld nuusuitsendings, dokumentêre opnames en dergelike wat al vroeër op die Nederlandse, Suid-Afrikaanse, Vlaamse of Surinaamse televisie vertoon is. Ek vergelyk so ’n Dietstalige sender in ’n mate met die Franstalige TV5 wat sowel Franse, Waalse, Kanadese as Switserse programme uitsaai.” (HL)
Marcel Bas van Voorschoten, Nederland antwoord hierop:
“Een Dietstalige zender is een uitstekend idee! Eigenlijk is die zender er al, namelijk BVN (het Beste van Vlaanderen en Nederland). Maar die zendt, zoals u weet, alleen in het Noord- en Zuid-Nederlands uit en richt zich dus op de Groot-Nederlandse gemeenschap. Het zou mooi zijn als BVN ook enkele programma’s in het Afrikaans zou uitzenden. Zoals Nuus om Sewe, een serie als Sewende Laan en een ‘vasvrawedstryd’ zoals Noot vir Noot. Op De Roepstem hebben we er al eens voor gepleit. Han van Liempt – ons vorig jaar helaas veel te vroeg ontvallen – beijverde zich ook voor een meer Afrikaans karakter voor BVN. Zie hier:
Het lijkt me het beste voort te gaan op de reeds door BVN ingeslagen weg, en de omroep ertoe te bewegen niet alleen Vlaamse en Nederlandse televisieproducties wereldwijd uit te zenden, maar ook Zuid-Afrikaanse.
Ik ken al heel wat Afrikaners die thuis BVN kunnen ontvangen en zo een veel beter beeld krijgen van het hedendaagse Nederlands en de Belgische en Nederlandse maatschappij. BVN zou een uitstekend medium zijn voor het bekender maken van Afrikaanse programma’s.”
“ ’n Dietstalige sender is ’n uitstekende idee! Eintlik bestaan die sender reeds, naamlik BVN (die Beste van Vlaandere en Nederland). Maar dit saai, soos u weet, slegs in Noord- en Suid-Nederlands uit en is dus op die Groot-Nederlandse gemeenskap gerig. Dit sou goed wees as BVN ook enkele programme in Afrikaans sou uitsaai, soos die Nuus om Sewe, ’n reeks soos Sewende Laan en ’n vasvrawedstryd soos Noot vir Noot. Ons het reeds op Die Roepstem hiervoor gepleit. Han van Liempt wat ons verlede jaar helaas veels te vroeg ontval het, het hom ook vir ’n meer Afrikaanse karakter van BVN beywer. Sien hier:
Dit lyk my die beste sou wees om voort te gaan op die weg wat reeds deur BVN ingeslaan is, en die omroeper daartoe te beweeg om nie alleen Vlaamse en Nederlandse nie, maar ook Afrikaanse televisieproduksies wêreldwyd uit te saai.
Ek ken al heelwat Afrikaners wat tuis BVN kan ontvang en so ’n veel beter begrip sal kry van hedendaagse Nederlands, en van die Belgiese en Nederlandse samelewings. BVN sou ’n uitstekende medium kon wees om Afrikaanse programme meer bekend te stel.” (HL)
Slegs 1 van 73 plaaslike kinderprogramme op TV is ‘slegs Afrikaans’
deur Liesl Pretorius in Die Burger van 8 April 2006
PRETORIA. – ’n Enkele volwaardige Afrikaanse TV-kinderprogram tel onder die 73 plaaslik vervaardigde kinderprogramme wat in dié boekjaar op SABC1, 2 en 3 uitgesaai word.
Vier ander plaaslik vervaardigde programme word in tale waaronder Afrikaanse – die grootste huistaal naas Zoeloe en Xhosa – uitgesaai.
Dit bring mee dat sowat 1% van dié programme Afrikaans is. As programme wat onder meer Afrikaans bevat ingereken word, is dit 7%. Die SAUK kon nie syfers oor kinderprogramme in die ander amptelike landstale verskaf nie.
Me. Lesego Mncwango, waarnemende SAUK-woordvoerder, sê die getal sprekers van ’n taal speel ’n rol in die besluit oor die uitsaaitaal van kinderprogramme.
Volgens die 2001-sensus is Afrikaans die huistaal van 13,3% (bykans 6 miljoen) Suid-Afrikaners.
Mncwango sê altesaam 48 plaaslik vervaardigde kinderprogramme word nou uitgesaai. ’n Verdere 25 word vir dié boekjaar (2006-2007) beplan. Die uitsaaier mik daarna om tot 80% van alle kinderprogramme in Afrikatale, insluitend Afrikaans, uit te saai.
Mncwango sê die SAUK vervaardig selde programme in een taal. “Die benadering is om Afrikaans op ’n natuurlike wyse ooreenkomstig die behoeftes van kykers in te sluit.” Die Afrikaanse program wat vir dié boekjaar vervaardig is, is Woord Wys, ’n speletjiesprogram wat gerig is op die bevordering van geletterdheidsvlakke van leerlinge in gr. 4 tot gr. 6.
Programme wat Afrikaans bevat, is Fundani Nathi, wat lees bevorder, Cat and Dog, insetsels van vyf minute oor padveiligheid. Space Ark, ’n lewensvaardigheidsreeks oor wetenskap en tegnologie, en The Number Crew, ’n reeks wat gerig is op die bevordering van wiskundevaardighede.
Me. Nadia van der Merwe, dosent in die kommunikasiekunde aan die Universiteit van Johannesburg, sê blootstelling aan programme in hul moedertaal hou voordele in vir die ontwikkeling van kinders se konseptuele en taalvaardighede: “Kinders se TV-ervaring, insluitend die opvoedkundige waarde daarvan, kan verhoog word as hulle hul met die aanbieder of karakter identifiseer. Die taal van aanbieding is een van die aspekte wat dit bevorder.”
Talle juig oor Rupert se stap ná
06/12/2005 01:12 – (SA)
KAAPSTAD. – “Dit was ’n ligte ‘mistykie’.”
Dít was gister die woorde van die sakemagnaat en uitvoerende voorsitter van die internasionale Richemont-groep, mnr. Johann Rupert, oor ’n Britse tydskrif se houding oor Afrikaans.
Die Britse leefstyltydskrif Wallpaper het Afrikaans in ’n artikel as ’n “lelike” taal afgemaak. Rupert het gesê dit is ’n beginselsaak. Richemont het reeds sy advertensies uit die tydskrif se Kersuitgawe onttrek.
Dié groep sluit onder meer in handelsmerke soos Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget en Dunhill. Richemont bestee jaarliks etlike miljoene Britse pond aan advertensies in Britse tydskrifte.
“Die hele gedoente is nie ’n vete nie. Dit is ’n beginselsaak. Ek het die afgelope tyd etlike klagtes per e-pos van Afrikaanse lesers van dié tydskrif ontvang. My kollega mnr. Piet Beyers het op ’n Richemont-briefhoof kapsie gemaak teen die artikel waarin Afrikaans as ’n ‘lelike’ taal afgemaak word. Die tydskrif se bestuur het dié beswaar geïgnoreer.
“Ek vermoed die mense het nie mooi besef watter handelsmerke almal binne die Richemont-groep val nie. Ons het ook nog geen verskoning van die tydskrif ontvang nie en het daarom besluit om ons advertensies te onttrek,” het Rupert gesê.
Volgens hom sal die groep dieselfde optree as ’n ander kultuur- of taalgroep waarby Richemont belang het, aangeval word. “Die tydskrif kan ook nie stappe teen Richemont neem nie. Dit is ons goeie reg om te besluit met wie ons sake doen. As Wallpaper verskoning vra, kan ons toekomstige advertensies in die tydskrif oorweeg,” het Rupert gesê.
Verskeie Afrikaanse taal- en kultuurorganisasies, akademici en skrywers het Rupert se optrede en besluit ondersteun.
Dr. Frits Kok, besturende direkteur van die Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV) het gesê dié organisasie wil Rupert gelukwens met sy standpunt. “Dié besluit is nie net ’n emosionele besluit waarin iemand standpunt inneem oor wat sy eie is nie. Dit maak ook bedryfsin, aangesien Afrikaans ’n kragtige bemarkingstaal is,” het hy gesê.
Mnr. Fanie Bekker van die Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (AHI) in die Wes-Kaap het gesê Rupert se besluit is sy goeie reg en die AHI ondersteun hom ten volle. “Die AHI hoop meer Afrikaanse sakelui en -leiers sal nou standpunt inneem om Afrikaans te beskerm.”
Volgens dr. Karel Stander, nasionale hoofbestuurslid van die Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) en voorsitter van die Wes-Kaapse gebiedskultuurraad, steun die FAK Rupert 100%. “Die FAK het reeds ’n sterk bewoorde brief aan Wallpaper gestuur waarin die organisasie sy misnoeë uitspreek,” het hy gesê.
Die skrywer George Weideman het gesê hy is baie opgewonde oor Rupert se besluit en optrede. Hy het ook reeds talle e-posse waarin mense hul positiewe gevoel oor Rupert se optrede uitspreek, ontvang. “Ek hoop dié besluit is ’n waarskuwing vir ander mense en instansies wat Afrikaans te na kom,” het hy gesê.
Prof. Hennie van Coller, hoof van die departement Afrikaans, Nederlands, Frans en Duits aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat (UV) het gesê Wallpaper se bestuur is “oerdom”.
Me. Paula Cain, direkteur van advertensies in Wallpaper se Londense kantoor, het gister nie op Die Burger se navrae gereageer nie.
The Freedom Front Plus, a parliamentary party, which aims to represent Afrikaans-speakers, has publicly backed South African billionaire businessman Johann Rupert who withdrew millions of rand worth of advertisements from a British magazine.
The magazine, Wallpaper, recently described Afrikaans as “one of the ugliest languages in the world” * and Rupert withdrew Richemont advertisements from the magazine – which focuses on décor matters.
Rupert, who is chairperson of the luxury products group Richemont, was reported in the Afrikaans weekly newspaper, Rapport, on Sunday saying he “could not believe his eyes” when he saw in the September edition of Wallpaper this reference to Afrikaans being ugly under a photograph of the taalmonument (Afrikaans language monument) at Paarl.
Rupert, who is also chairperson of Remgro, said he had “had enough” of his language being belittled and he would not sit still and look on while his language and culture were drawn through the mud.
FF+ leader Pieter Mulder – a veteran member of Parliament – said his party “wholeheartedly supports the actions of Mr Rupert” in withdrawing the advertisements which include the Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Montblanc and Alfred Dunhill ranges.
Mulder said: “Mr Rupert is right when he says that any Englishman or Irishman who is worth his salt would have done the same thing. Any person with self-respect should protect his language in this way and that goes for all languages in South Africa.
“Many Afrikaans-speakers today accept that their language has to be treated badly.
Mr Rupert, through his actions, sets an example to many South African companies who are at present finding all kinds of excuses as to why they want Afrikaans clients’ money but do not respect their language.
“The FF+ calls on Afrikaans-speakers to stand on their constitutional rights and to maintain their language without offending any other language.
“The way in which Afrikaans is maintained will greatly determine whether the language will command respect from other language and cultural groups. Afrikaans should not be a prickly pair in the South African language orchard with long thorns, which nobody wants to touch.
“On the other hand, Mr Rupert has proved that the time has passed for Afrikaans-speakers to have to apologise for everything, including their language.
“The realities of South Africa, such as the buying power of Afrikaans and the fact that Afrikaans is the third strongest language following Zulu and Xhosa, should protect Afrikaans as an official language.
“Yet the opposite occurs. Research shows that Afrikaans is the only language which position has deteriorated since 1994, while English and the other African languages' position have improved.”
Noting the power of Afrikaans in the business environment, Mulder said: “The fact that more than nine million transactions a month take place at Absa ** ATMs in Afrikaans confirms the buying-power reality. Hopefully, more banks will take note of Absa’s success to empower all languages at their ATMs.”
*This contemptuous remark was made by Bronwyn Davies,
a so-called “fashion stylist from Tamboerskloof, a suburb of Cape Town.
** Absa/ABSA: a large South African banking group
Eerste Keltische muntschat
van Nederland gevonden
Nederlandse archeologen van de Vrije Universiteit en de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek hebben op een akker in het Limburgse Echt een Keltische muntschat van zeventien munten gevonden. Deze zijn van zilver, vermengd met koper en wat goud, laat het Archeologisch Centrum van de Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam vrijdag weten.
De ontdekking heeft volgens de archeologen grote wetenschappelijke betekenis en vormt een unicum voor de Nederlandse archeologie: het is de eerste Keltische muntschat die bij onze Noorderburen wordt gevonden.
De vondst bevestigt dat de Nederrijnse regio, en met name de Limburgse Maasvallei, behoort tot de invloedssfeer van de Keltische La T necultuur. Een hele serie andere archeologische vondsten wijst in dezelfde richting. Dat alles duidt erop dat de Later IJzertijdsamenlevingen in Zuid-Nederland complexer waren dan we ons tot voor kort realiseerden. Het gaat hier niet om een wereld van louter losse boerderijen en kleine gehuchten.
Verzonden: vrijdag 3 juni 2005
It is possible that the newly revealed early Neolithic monument phenomenon was the consequence of an increase in the size of – and competition between – emerging Neolithic tribal or pan-tribal groups, arguably Europe's earliest mini-states.
The archaeological investigation into these vast Stone Age temples over the past three years has also revealed several other mysteries. First, each complex was only used for a few generations – perhaps 100 years maximum. Second, the central sacred area was nearly always the same size, about a third of a hectare. Third, each circular enclosure ditch – irrespective of diameter – involved the removal of the same volume of earth. In other words, the builders reduced the depth and/or width of each ditch in inverse proportion to its diameter, so as to always keep volume (and thus time spent) constant.
The multiple bank, ditch and palisade systems "protecting" the inner space seem not to have been built for defensive purposes – and were instead probably designed to prevent ordinary tribes-people from seeing the sacred and presumably secret rituals which were performed in the "inner sanctum".
The people who built the huge circular temples were the descendants of migrants who arrived many centuries earlier from the Danube plain in what is now northern Serbia and Hungary.
The temple-builders were pastoralists, controlling large herds of cattle, sheep and goats as well as pigs. They made tools of stone, bone and wood, and small ceramic statues of humans and animals. They manufactured substantial amounts of geometrically decorated pottery, and they lived in large longhouses in substantial villages.
The Independent – online edition