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21 February 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Jennifer Östlings and Elin Stengvist,
Jennifer Östlings and Elin Stenqvist, two of our international students from Sweden also celebrated #WorldMotherTongueDay.

Back in 2000, UNESCO declared 21 February as World Mother Tongue Day. It is an effort to raise the importance of multilingualism across the world. Every year, the day is commemorated through various projects and campaigns all over the world.

At the University of the Free State (UFS), we pride ourselves in the diverse languages spoken by our staff and students across the three campuses.  Read below what some of our language academics at the UFS wrote on #WorldMotherTongueDay.

#WorldMotherTongueDay: Keteka puo ya hao ya Mme

UNESCO e ile ya phatlalatsa letsatsi la la 21 Hlakola jwalo ka letsatsi la lefatshe la puo ya Mme morao kwana ka 2000. Ke boikgathatso bo boholo ho hlahisa poaneng bohlokwa ba dipuo tse ngata tse fapaneng ho parola le lefatshe. Selemo se seng le se seng letsatsi lena le ketekwa ka diprojeke tse fapaneng le ka matsholo lefatsheng ho pota.

Mona Yunivesithing ya Freistata (UFS) re motlotlo ka hore re na le dipuo tse fapaneng tse sebediswang ke moifo wa rona le baithuti ho parola le dikhamphase tse tharo.  Bala hore na ke eng e boletsweng ke diakhamemiki tse ding tsa puo mona UFS ho #WorldMotherTongueDay.

#Wêreldmoedertaaldag: Vier jou moedertaal

UNESCO het in 2000 reeds 21 Februarie as Wêreldmoedertaaldag verklaar. Dit is ’n poging om die belangrikheid van veeltaligheid oor die wêreld heen te beklemtoon. Hierdie dag word elke jaar wêreldwyd deur middel van verskeie projekte en veldtogte herdenk.

By die Universiteit van die Vrystaat (UV) is ons trots op die verskillende tale wat ons personeel en studente op die drie kampusse praat.  Lees hieronder wat sommige taalakademici aan die UV oor #Wêreldmoedertaaldag geskryf het.


English is a blend of different lexicons ( Dr Susan Brokensha, Department of English)

Celebrating My Mother Tongue (Menzi Thango, Department of African Languages)

Meertaalighied skep ruimte vir diversiteit(Prof Angeqliue van Niekerk, Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French)


 


News Archive

First-year students welcomed into Kovsie Family
2013-01-23

 

New first-year students and their parents and guardians are welcomed on the Qwaqwa and Bloemfontein campuses.
Photo: Sonia Small
23 January 2013



   YouTube Video

They came from near and far. Some hail from Bloemfontein, others from as far away as Botswana but they all have one thing in common. They were here to start their first year as Kovsie students. Thousands of first-year students, along with parents and guardians, attended the first year welcoming on the Qwaqwa and Bloemfontein campuses on 18 and 19 January 2013 respectively.

“I do not care whether you come from the Free State or Zimbabwe or whether you are from Gauteng or Lesotho. I do not care if you speak Sesotho, Setswana or Afrikaans. What I care about is that you must understand that you are smarter than you think.”

This was the message from Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), when he officially welcomed first year students to the Qwaqwa Campus. “At the UFS, we put emphasis on two very important projects - the academic and human projects”, said Prof Jansen.

“The academic project is about you excelling academically as a student. It is about being the best you can be in your chosen field of study. All of you should strive to be like Zandile, a young girl from Umlazi who, despite her poverty and challenging conditions at home, went on to attain seven distinctions in her 2012 matric results”, said Prof Jansen. He was referring to Zandile who he tracked down via Facebook to offer her a full bursary to study at the UFS. Zandile had appeared on SABC TV news, expressing her frustration at the lack of funds to continue her studies, despite her performance.

“The human project is about you loving those who are different from you, thus becoming better human beings,” Prof Jansen said.

Prof. Jansen echoed the same message on the Bloemfontein Campus the following day when he welcomed thousands of new students. These students, their parents and guardians packed the huge tent that was erected in the CR Swart parking area of the campus. Prof. Jansen welcomed students from the different faculties during four sessions. He told parents and students that the class of 2013 was the smartest class the university had had in its 109-year history.

Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Students, informed them about the many opportunities that awaited them at Kovsies. These include programmes like the Leadership for Change Programme for first year students and the Stanford Sophomore College Program for second year students.

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