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19 May 1995
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE/S
I write in answer to your open
invitation to comment upon the present arrangement which provides for ELEVEN
official languages.
The issue should not be decided on a majority vote
but in practice it is unlikely that this could happen as no one language would
gain an absolute majority over the other ten! Regard must be given to the
international situation and the easiest manner in which
our country can keep in
touch with other nations.
Other countries must have encountered a similar
problem but I do not have much information thereon. India with its huge
population
may give guidance although it is really comparable to Europe because
it is also home for different nations with their own languages.
Both
India and the European Union appear to have adopted 'English' as a communication
medium. Recently an Indian cricket team toured
South Africa. Its members came
from different areas and few could understand what the other members were
saying. So the language
of communication in the team was
English.
English has international recognition as a medium of
communication and it does happen to be one of the languages at present afforded
official recognition in our country.
Already there is large de facto
acceptance of English in South Africa.
I do not suggest one can only
choose English and ignore recognition in defined areas of other tongues e.g.
Northern Kwa-Zulu and other
rural areas. Afrikaans cannot be overlooked and it
is spoken by others apart from 'Afrikaners'.
The strain on people and
Government and the expense of having to maintain ELEVEN languages is
impractical.
Any decision will have to be a compromise. Perhaps the
following can be
considered:
- make English the 'official' medium of
communication
- but allow for at least one alternative at all times
e.g.
Afrikaans ( as there is no Afrikaner homeland area
- OR one of the other 9
current languages, depending upon the area concerned e.g. Kwa-Zulu, Venda
etc.
In this way no language spoken by any significant number of people
will be overlooked.
It is not practicable to select only one alternative
language per province e.g. what would be the choice for Gauteng ?
L.
STARFIELD
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