Open Stellenbosch

[Leeward]

Some of you may already be aware of the recent events I'm talking about. If not, the short version is below.

There is a group of malcontents who call themselves "Open Stellenbosch" and they say they want all courses to be available in at least English (as opposed to the current system where some modules are available only in English, some only in Afrikaans, some in both, and some only in a single bilingual class). The university has been in the process of phasing in English everywhere for years now. Soon after that initial claim, they started alleging that the language policy is in place for racist reasons, and that by extension the entire university is racist and out to get them. This produced the "#LUISTER" video. Things got out of hand at Elsenburg when a group of protesters at first blocked students from attending classes, and then started beating them with sjamboks without provocation. They seemed to be targeting white students. The group was identified as members of the EFF, although one particular individual was caught on camera and happens to be one of the interviewees in the #LUISTER video.

Here is a commentary I've been waiting to hear.

http://www.bonfiire.com/stellenbosch/20 ... d-quickly/

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the topic.

[Fluke]

A tl;dr of what I think is basically that it should be offered in English for all courses, and that it's not racist - but people now-a-days will try and make anything a racist matter when they think that it has an inkling of it.

Asked around at my college - none of the black students felt that Afrikaans was a racist language, nor that Apartheid affected them directly. And that they believed it was all drama for the sake of drama. Generally, the loudest and cruelest protesters are the ones who won't personally benefit the most from it - but the ones who genuinely enjoy protesting and doing that sort of thing for the act in of itself and not the 'result' they're hoping for.

[Helios_phi]

Realistically, if you really cared about education. It should be offered in English and Chinese. The two largest and widely spoken world languages. Afrikaans and all other 9 official languages should be left to die.

[Valerion]

Realistically, if you really cared about education. It should be offered in English and Chinese. The two largest and widely spoken world languages. Afrikaans and all other 9 official languages should be left to die.

No. Chinese (Not sure whether you mean Cantonese or Mandarin) is not a homogeneous language. Even for Mandarin speakers in China different regions have different dialects, and sometimes you need a translator even if both groups speak Mandarin. Also, Mandarin is an exceptionally bad language for science and technology, so as a common trade language it won't do well in the modern era.

Chinese businessmen try to use as much English as they can, as that is a much more common for trade and easier to express themselves in.

[Sev]

I still think that it's silly that we have so many official languages. Imagine if courses had to be taught in each one of them.

[KinkInZA]

Agree with Valerion also mandarin has over 8000 pictograms and who on earth between heaven and hell has the time to study them all.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Realistically, if you really cared about education. It should be offered in English and Chinese. The two largest and widely spoken world languages. Afrikaans and all other 9 official languages should be left to die.

People always say that about Chinese but it's extremely misleading. Chinese is the most spoken first language but most people already learn English and it has similarities to other widely spoken languages that Chinese doesn't have. Secondly Chinese is not widely spoken. It's spoken in China and that's it. It's not widely used anywhere else. English is used globally.

[Kangee Gold]

The EFF and the ANC Youth-League before them would make peanut butter a racist matter if it didn't taste right on their sandwiches. Si anything they say and do can be considered nothing more than a bad joke. (if they even had the collective IQ score between all their members to even comprehend what a joke was)

The thing about "Chinese being the most spoken language in the world" it is technically true, but practically, most people who speak Chinese are all in China. English is the better option for a global language since just about everyone on earth, while they might not speak English themselves, will know someone closely that does actually speak fluent English.

[Fluke]

Agree with Valerion also mandarin has over 8000 pictograms and who on earth between heaven and hell has the time to study them all.

You have around 40-50k characters, and you need around 1000 to mostly read a newspaper and a little under 2000 to read 99% of newspapers.

[SnowDragon]

You know what bugs me? That sign.

Why is there no prison sentence and court case brought against that student, along with immediate expulsion?

The fact that it didn't happen tells me alot about the way things are viewed.

[Fluke]

What sign?

[SnowDragon]

"one settler, one bullet"

[Fluke]

Oh, simple: double standards.

[Helios_phi]

Also, Mandarin is an exceptionally bad language for science and technology, so as a common trade language it won't do well in the modern era.

Chinese businessmen try to use as much English as they can, as that is a much more common for trade and easier to express themselves in.

But it is an exceptional language for mathematics.
Businessmen also try to use as much English as possible because they export so much to the west.
I'm not suggesting that everyone be forced to learn mandarin, it's just realistic. Everyone has that argument. No no no. They only speak mandarin in china. It's not the whole world.....
Last time I checked.... China was pretty much half the world.
No one is holding a gun to any heads here. The original point was just that it's much more worldly than afrikaans or xhosa