Tasks: South African English

How much do you actually know about South Africa? Go through this quiz to find out. You will find some of the answers in the text, but not all of them ...

1. The South African Constitution of 1996 recognises a total of eleven official languages, all on an equal footing and without affording English or Afrikaans any special status. Why do you think this was included in the constitution at the time?

2. What would have been the consequences if only English and Afrikaans had been made official languages?
   What are the positive and the negative sides to the multilingual policy?

3. There is an ongoing debate in South Africa about what should be the preferred language in education – the native language of each pupil, English, Afrikaans or a combination of several languages. What is your view on this?

4. During Apartheid, languages became an important part of the political conflict of the country by reinforcing the importance of some languages at the expense of others. Do you know of any other places in the world where languages have been used as a way to gain power or to reduce the power of groups of people?

There are many words that are unique to SAE, and even if you have never heard the words skrik and lekker in English, you can perhaps guess what they mean without looking at the definitions?

Pick one of the tasks below. Find out more about the apartheid period in South Africa. Present your research in a group or in class.

1. Stephen Bantu Biko and his struggle against apartheid

2. Nelson Mandela and his struggle against apartheid

3. Desmond Tutu and his struggle against apartheid

4. How did apartheid segregate people, and what was life like for the different groups in South Africa?

5. The cause and consequences of the Soweto uprising