My friends call me Nokuthula (Zulu for ‘quiet/peaceful one’), Kedibone (Sotho for ‘one who has seen a lot’) and Tariro (Shona for ‘hope’). So, essentially, my name translates to: the quiet one who sees a lot of hope. I was born in KwaZulu Natal, raised in Johannesburg, and currently live in the Western Cape. My family is Afrikaans, we attended English schools, and I immersed myself in urban Zulu practices. My parents often ask: where do you come from? What is this fascination with Johnny Clegg? Why do you drive like a taxi driver? My answer: I am South African. While my friends listened to rap, pop and rock, I listened to Maskandi, Mbaqanga and isicathamiya. When my friends went clubbing and shopping, I went to the migrant hostels and Zulu markets to observe dance events and to buy branded car-tyre shoes. Now my friends have office jobs in finance, law and marketing, and I try to mesh together my passion for South Africa with my training in Anthropology (the study of people, culture and what it means to be human). “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. Language in South Africa has a long and contested history. It is one of conflict, silencing and segregation. Today, South Africans are proud of their range of languages. They share, borrow and adapt words across linguistic boundaries, and so the languages change, develop and transform. Language is a vehicle for connection, communication, change, and cultural transmission. “Language connects you to a way people view and experience what’s going on around them. It’s a bridge-builder, equaliser and door-opener” So, how can we learn a language in a way that we understand so that can speak to one another in a way that connects us? That is the question that this language guide aims to answer.
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