Keeping language alive

An expert in African languages has warned that government policies are often not conducive to promoting indigenous languages.Speaking at the Nama Cultural Festival held in Keetmanshoop recently, Andy Chebanne, a professor in languages and linguistics in the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Botswana, argued illiteracy is caused by state policies and that principals and teachers should appreciate languages.Chebanne advised the gathering, which included Nama from Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, that when you start teaching and learning a language, start with small things. For instance, with the names of the calendar months and days practiced in your indigenous tongue. This makes learners value their language and the values and spirituality of their people.“That is how you make a language literate,” he emphasised.He said people should know that before modern spirituality, their forefathers also had values and morality.“We have to be careful of some of the little things we are taking for granted in the language learning process,” Chebanne admonished.Touching on the common ancestry of Khoen and Nama, he said the Nama language developed as a distinct language from the Khoen.He explained that Nama, Hai//om and Damara each speak their brogue or accent, but that it all derived from the Khoekhoe.Dickson Kasote, an information and communication expert in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) office in Windhoek, described culture as the way of life.He said cultural diversity is made visible not only through the various ways in which the cultural heritage of humanity is expressed and the improved transmission of cultural expression, but also through various modes of artistic creation, production, dissemination, distribution and employment.“Cultural diversity is one the roots of development, not only in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence,” he said.He explained diversity often refers to co-existence with those who differ in behaviour, traditions and customs - in short a diversity of culture.Kaseto said a Unesco general conference adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001, which elevates cultural diversity to the rank of common heritage of humanity ,and that another domain which is of strategic importance is linguistic diversity and multilingualism.“Cultural diversity can be protected and promoted, only if human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom to express, information and communication are guaranteed,” Kaseto argued.He warned that no one may invoke the provisions of the Unesco Convention in order to infringe upon the human rights and fundamental freedoms as enshrined in the Unesco Declaration of Human Rights.“The protection and promotion of cultural expressions pre-supposes the recognition of equal dignity of and respect for all cultures, including the culture of persons belonging to minority and indigenous peoples,” Kaseto emphasised.Education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa said the Nama Cultural Festival exceeded expectations and that it was phenomenal and historical.“It had direct involvement of citizens. Young volunteers without involvement of the government found it fit to come together and created a platform where different Nama groups came together and discovered and found purpose for their existence,” she said.She added that without unity there is no way peace and development and that integration is a pre-requisite for peace and development.“Continue to work and encourage each other to strengthen the Nama culture,” she said, while calling on all Nama to stand together and rediscover themselves as valuable citizens of Namibia.Denver Plaatjies, representing indigenous groups in South Africa during the discussions on land and language lost, maintained that in his country the education system has been set up to fail.“The only people who will push for our language is us. As Nama in South Africa we support you. You need to set the language free so, we can breathe,” Plaatjies said.He added the Nama in South Africa want to get a sense of the history of the language.According to him spoken indigenous languages are either dead or dying and there is not a single university in his country that researches lost languages.“When a community losses a language they do not only lose the words, they have lost their values. It is sad that people do not research lost languages. Ancestral voices lives within languages,” he said.Secondary school Nama language teacher Zach Dirkse emphasised that Namibians should push for the rebirth of the language in South Africa and for South Africans to provide the resources. Dirkse further explained the evolution of Namagowab and said around 300 AD, the Nama, who lived much further to the north from the other Nama Khoekhoe tribes, also developed their own language from the original Khoekhoe.According to historical records available, Khoekhoegowab and Namagowab became distinctively separate languages. For example, when a Dutch explorer met the ?Aonin Nama at the !Khuiseb Delta, the Nama Khoe, whom he brought along from the Cape Peninsula to translate, could not communicate fluently with the ?Aonin. Dirkse said Captain Amraal Lambert of the Kai/khauan Nama near Gobabis never learned to speak Namagowab.Sandra Beukes, African National Congress (ANC) member of the Northern Cape parliament, who is also the former mayor of Pella in the province, highlighted Nama resistance to German colonialism.She said expressed pride about the fact that the Nama had two legendary kapteins, Hendrik Witbooi and Simon Kooper.Beukes said when she visited Cuba, she saw that every child knows about the former president, Fidel Castro, but today in Pella none of the children know about Witbooi or Kooper.“We must create a cultural route between Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. We must network and we must have resources. We must be workers able to bring about change,” Beukes added.FRED GOEIEMAN

Keeping language alive

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-02

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Keeping language alive

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-02

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