"Respect for the other’s mother tongue goes a long way towards establishing dignified relationships" says
Stuart Haywayd (2002F), from his recent article on the importance of learning other South African Languages.
Stuart wrote:
"The article pertains to an attempt to positively influence South African society towards negating the poison of identity politics- one of the most effective means of doing so is to learn the basics of other languages via greeting and interacting as a mark of respect. In Joburg I have learnt basic isiZulu and the response from the public is amazing, it makes a difference to perceptions- even if only a small difference- the starfish parable principle applies- if my article can change one person's outlook and attitude then it is worth publishing.
I have received an incredible response from the article- notably Brendan Fogarty at the prep read the article to his grade 7 isiXhosa class."
The article has received wide-spread positive attention and Stuart was recently interviewed by Kieno Kammies on Cape Talk - Listen to the Podcast
HERE
To read his full article, click
HERE