Did you know that from next year South African schools will be offering learners an option to take Mandarin classes as a second language?

“What is Mandarin?” someone might ask.

Mandarin Chinese is a language spoken in China and is the native language of two-thirds of China’s population. I didn’t know this either, I had to Google it. Now, the question is: why must South African’s learn this language? Do Chinese schools also teach South African languages, or any African language for that matter?

The generic answer for the first question, which comes from the government, is that if we know the language it will be easy to make business with China. Wasn’t it Mandela who said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

The answer to the second question is a simple NO! No, China is not interested in teaching its citizens any African language. It’s really funny when you think of it, you know. South African leaders are always making a lot of air about how we should not be ashamed of our diverse cultures.

But, now, the problem is that most of us, the youth, are hardly fluent in indigenous South African languages. So, how does the government expects us to learn Mandarin when most of us are having a hard time learning the language we sucked out of our mother’s breasts? Is it even necessary?

Maybe there is a necessity for it, but I just don’t see it now. I mean, the Pan South African Language Board, which is supposed to promote South African indigenous languages, is underfunded and not doing enough to promote these languages. Even bookshops hardly sell books written in native languages.

So, tell me, why should I celebrate Heritage Month?

If the government wants us to be Proudly South African then they should make South African languages a top priority. How will future generations learn about the rich history they stem from if we don’t document our histories in our own languages?

ZZ xxx

Dish it: Why do you celebrate Heritage Month? Share your heritage with us and teach us something new. You can post pictures also on my Facebook page, would love to get those.