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A multilingual movement at the UFS

03 January 2023 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Anja Aucamp

Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, the Director: Academy for Multilingualism, is working through various initiatives to ensure that the UFS becomes and remains the South African leader in multilingualism.

The Academy for Multilingualism was established at the beginning of 2021, flowing from the UFS Language Policy (2016) that is currently under review, and which expresses the university’s commitment to multilingualism, with a particular emphasis on Sesotho, Afrikaans, and isiZulu, while English remains the primary medium of instruction for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

The Student Language Preference Survey continues to indicate that many students have difficulty understanding English lectures due to language differences. Multilingual models from places like South America, India and South Africa were considered in order to structure the approach at the UFS.

Promoting indigenous languages

To mitigate the English barrier, the academy is developing multilingual academic glossaries. The multilingual glossaries are also intended to drive the promotion of indigenous languages (Sesotho/Afrikaans/IsiZulu) as academic languages, and to create multilingual learning spaces that embrace diverse languages.

Academic word lists from seven departments are in the process of being translated – in conjunction with the Unit of Lexicography – to create glossaries. The team at South African Sign Languages will add videos to these glossaries to provide unique and inclusive content in the realm of multilingualism.

In 2022, the academy, in collaboration with the Library and Information Services, launched an African Languages Press with the aim of promoting and advancing publications of literature and research books using South African indigenous languages.

The Academy for Multilingualism also promotes multilingualism through the Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN), a programme that encourages students to write short stories in their indigenous home languages. By incorporating student narratives into learning material, students learn about one another, from one another.

The iCAN multilingual booklets are also used to encourage extensive reading among undergraduates and among learners in the surrounding community schools.

Use of translanguaging practices

The academy is also working with the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) A_STEP programme to pilot the use of translanguaging practices in tutor sessions. UFS staff will also be trained on teaching and translanguaging practices. Voice-over translations of English lessons into Afrikaans and Sesotho in the Faculty of Theology and Religion paved the way for the academy to proceed with this practice in other subjects. The Translanguaging Seminar 2022, hosted by the academy and the CTL, was used as a platform for sharing translanguaging knowledge and practices by academics from the UFS and other institutions.

The Kovsies Multilingual Mokete has become a popular annual tradition celebrating different cultural expressions – in visual art, poetry, storytelling, drama, music, and song – by different language groups and in the different languages that are dominant at the UFS (i.e. English, Afrikaans, Sesotho, isiZulu, and Sign Language). This year’s event was held on the South Campus in October.

With its various initiatives, the Academy for Multilingualism will ensure that the UFS becomes and remains the South African leader in multilingualism.

News Archive

Kovsies in top four in Global Business Challenge

2015-05-06

Photo: Mark Steenbok (Bloemfontein Courant)

Christiaan Paulsen (team leader), Sias Conradie, Jannie de Wet and Frikkie Jacobs.

Four Kovsies in the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Sciences are one of the top four teams in the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants’ (CIMA) Global Business Challenge. 178 teams registered to participate in the competition.

Team Bernoulli from the UFS will compete against two teams: one from the University of Pretoria and one from the Chartered Accountant Training Institute in Sandton. The winning team will win a trip to Poland, Europe to represent their university and country at the 2015 global final.

This international business competition is for undergraduates around the world, designed to bring out the best in the young business leaders of tomorrow.

Team leader, Christiaan Paulsen, said: “We are overjoyed to be in the final. However, our true success is in what we learned along the way”.

The team has to present a business case study, showcasing their talent in business management. During this competition, the team has

learned to analyse and solve a real-life business case study;
-obtained first-hand experience of the skills required to be a business leader;
enhanced their team building skills; and
developed their presentation skills.

Students from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Ireland, GCC, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Phillipines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Zambia are taking part in the competition.

This competition is organised by CIMA in conjunction with Barclays.

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