Focus on Khoisan languages

EFFORTS to preserve the indigenous languages of the Northern Cape were intensified yesterday when both church and state launched initiatives aimed at ensuring that a written record of the native languages of the Khoisan people is available for posterity.

Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Enver Surty, yesterday visited the Northern Cape for the launch of a Nama indigenous African language development programme, while work on translating the bible into !Xhun saw residents of Platfontein embark on the arduous process of converting the scripture into their mother tongue.

Speaking at the launch of the language development project at Riemvasmaak Primary School yesterday morning, Premier Sylvia Lucas explained that the Northern Cape and //Kharas Regional Council of Namibia had entered into a twinning agreement in 2000, focusing on areas of mutual interest, such as trade and investment (economic), transport, environment, tourism and conservation, fisheries and aquaculture, basic education, tertiary education, sports, arts and culture, local government and safety and security.

She added that this initiative also formed part of government’s efforts to preserve and celebrate South Africa’s diversity by developing various indigenous languages, including Nama, !xun, !Khwe and others.

“Khoekhoe (also known as Nama) is a Khoisan language spoken by about 250 000 people in parts of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia,” Lucas said yesterday. “It is spoken by three groups of people, the Nama (Khoekhoen), Damar and Hai//om.

“Many Nama-speaking people reside in Upington, Kakamas, Riemvasmaak, Pella, Kuboes, Steinkopf, Augrabies and Marchand. Nama, therefore as a subject, is not foreign to Northern Cape schools. It was once taught in four schools in our Province, including Riemvasmaak, Steinkopf and the Richtersveld - all areas with strong Nama roots.”

Lucas added that while Nama had been taught in schools in these areas for the better part of two decades, the need to develop the curriculum further had been a constant challenge.

“Among the challenges was that the sample drawn was too large hence this time round the project will only be piloted in two schools in the Province.”

Meanwhile, work on the first ever !Xhun translation of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible intensified at Caritas Therapy Centre yesterday, when the Bible Society of South Africa (BSSA) continued its efforts to make the scripture affordable and available to everyone in their mother tongue.

While the project only officially got under way yesterday, head of translation for the BSSA, Masenyane Baloyi, explained that reworking the Bible into this indigenous language was well overdue, especially considering that !Xhun had been spoken by the people of the Northern Cape since well before the Christian religion reached the continent.

However, despite this and more than 150 years after early efforts to do so, the Gospel has never been translated into !Xhun for the benefit of this community.

“Translating the Bible into !Xhun is not a new idea,” Baloyi said yesterday. “In fact, it has actually been an ongoing process, dating back to around 1860, that has never been completed.

“In order to make the Bible available to the people who speak one of the oldest languages in the world, in their mother tongue, we approached various churches and other organisations in Platfontein to assist and we were thrilled with the number of volunteers who offered to help.”

There are approximately 4 000 San who speak !Xhun living in Platfontein and about 10 000 to 15  000 speakers of this language in Angola and Namibia.

Baloyi added that the BSSA was hoping that the first !Xhun translation of the Bible would be available by 2026.