The Art of Language

Speech and language are at the heart of communication for humanity. It is what brings us closer together, helps us understand each other’s needs and builds bridges across geographical and cultural divides.

Namibia has around eight of its own indigenous languages, and most of us can speak at least one other language other than our mother tongue due to the diversity and multi-lingual nature of our society.

According to National Geographic’s Disappearing Languages project, of the 7 000 languages spoken around the world, half of them will disappear by 2100.

With a small population like ours, there are men and women working tirelessly to ensure that Namibian languages stand the test of time, and the generations get to carry on our languages.

Namibia Publishing House and Macmillan Education Namibia work hard to preserve our languages and have published dozens of educational books and dictionaries highlighting Namibian languages for Namibian schools – be it Otjiherero, Silozi or Khoekhoegowab, to name a few.

Ambrosius Amunyela has been illustrating children’s books for more than 15 years. He says that it is important for our children to learn their mother languages to preserve and understand their culture. “English is from which country? England. Those countries don’t learn our languages, but we learn theirs. It is fundamental to know where we come from, or you will lose your culture,” he said.

The University of Namibia (Unam) language centre offers Afrikaans, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Khoekhoegowab, Kiswahili, Oshikwanyama, Oshindonga, Otjiherero, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Silozi for both Unam students and the general public.

Classes are N$1 000 per semester (about six months) for the general public, meeting for four hours a week. Classes are subject to availability and need at least 10 people signing up for the programme to take place.

The embassy offers free lessons in beginners Spanish taught by qualified teachers.

Goethe Institut

The Goethe Institut offers standard German classes for adults, for children up to age 16, as well as specialised courses for companies that would like to learn the language.

They also offer Oshiwambo and Afrikaans classes.

With the Namibian and Chinese relationship ever growing, more and more people are becoming interested in learning Chinese. Offered by the Confucius Institute for N$500 for Unam students and N$750 per semester for the public, classes are broken into levels at the Unam main campus, Khomasdal campus and Katima Mulilo and Ongwediva campuses.

Accredited by the HSK, which is the international standardised Chinese proficiency test, when achieving level four, it will make it easier for participants to apply to Chinese universities for those who want to continue their studies there.

The institute currently offers Chinese at five secondary schools in Namibia and the director Sufang Zhang explains that being able to speak both Chinese and English can give Namibians a competitive edge in the job market as with growing business relations, being able to speak both languages can prove to be very useful.

The Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) offers French lessons for children and high school pupils and evening classes for adults. For those who prefer individual lessons, they also offer one-on-one tuition to fit around your busy schedule. Registration for the second term is currently open. Call 061 224 927 for more information.

We begin to start recognising language at around six months old and at 12 months, we start to be able to speak simple words.

Some people develop speech and language problems from a young age, which inhibits their ability to communicate with those around them.

There are roughly 27 000 deaf people living in Namibia, and the head of department Lizette Beukes says “it is important for Namibians to learn sign language in order to help communicate with the deaf who are often marginalised”.

CCDS offers sign language classes for work groups upon request, and also works closely with teachers to help them be able to communicate with deaf pupils.

They also have an online resource called Sign Wiki Namibia which offers videos, photos and explanations of different signs in Namibian sign language, which can be found at na.signwiki.org.