How To Study Xhosa

Photos: author

Hints for studying the single of South Africas eleven central languages.

My usually knowledge of hold up in the Xhosa village is of the travel with the friendly lady in the Transkei, who took us behind down to the beach, along the thorny, unenlightened thicketed path. We had gotten mislaid upon the attempted hike, as well as were trying to have it behind to the strand hostel, The Kraal, though upon foot shoes.

She walked the complete trail though any boots either, though we didnt see her flinch. This knowledge gave me the surpassing respect for the farming Xhosa lifestyle as well as attitude. After all its the identical upbringing the worshiped Nelson Mandela would have had in the village of Qunu, which is additionally partial of the former Transkei.

Xhosa, or IsiXhosa, is the single of South Africas eleven central languages, as well as is predominantly spoken in the Eastern Cape region, together with the former Transkei as well as Ciskei areas, where Mandela as well as former boss Thabo Mbeki were born. According to South Africa Info 17.6% of the nation speaks Xhosa.

Xhosa enlightenment is typically represented in the farming areas of the Ciskei as well as Transkei, where herds of cattle nap unruffled upon the quiet beaches as well as ladies grind maize upon petrify subsequent to bluish painted rondavels, or thatched huts.

In the farming areas traditional ceremonies have been still practiced, together with the rite of passage into strength by young men, who leave their villages for the sure time as well as bear circumcision. After this rite they wear ochre-coloured clay upon their faces to weigh which they have undergone initiation. Mandela describes his own arising rite in his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom.

However, displaced person labor has additionally lead to an civic illustration of Xhosa culture, which! is most ly characterized by the idiosyncrasies of township life, together with the village spirit as well as amicable gatherings such as chisa nyama (literally hot meat, or barbeque, additionally known as braai), which is eaten together with pap (porridge).

Unfortunately, the nature of South Africas past, as well as the diversity of its population has prevented linguistic assimilation to the large degree. Even people similar to myself, who have outlayed their complete lives in the country, still dont assimilate all the languages spoken around them.

Xhosa, similar to the alternative eleven central South African languages, has been influenced as well as made by hundreds of years of migration, colonialism, apartheid as well as the inequality between farming as well as civic life. As the outcome of prior apartheid legislation, areas similar to the former Ciskei as well as Transkei were spoken independent states in an bid to isolate ethnic groups.

However, this independence additionally created the lack of infrastructure as well as high levels of unemployment, which equates to which many people from these areas have left for cities similar to Cape Town to demeanour for work. More as well as some-more people in South African cities similar to Cape Town verbalise Xhosa, as well as so the need for people to sense the denunciation in these areas has increased.

There have been multiform denunciation schools which specialize in Xhosa instruction, such as Xhosa Fundis in Woodstock, Cape Town, which offers an intensive six-week course- with ample time to practice Xhosas evil clicks.

Apart from classroom instruction, as well as online learning, alternative denunciation schools, such as Ubuntu Bridge suggest what they call Xhosa Culture Tours, as well as Language Immersion Opportunities. These can be the one-night stay in the Xhosa home in the spontaneous settlement of Khayelitsha, or an lengthened stay in traditional Xhosa village in the farming Transkei or Ciskei for up to 10 days.

Bot! h Xhosa Fundis as well as Ubuntu Bridge additionally suggest corporate or group building packages, which support to adult learners in an organizational context. Language schools similar to these additionally have an bid to introduce aspects of Xhosa culture, such as the difference between hold up in the farming areas, or ezilaleni, as well as in the townships, or elokshini.

You can try to investigate via CDs, books as well as classes which will sense we the grammatical nuances, since similar to any alternative denunciation Xhosa is complex. According to the UCLA Language Materials Project there have been additionally multiform dialects of Xhosa, which embody Ngqika, Gcaleka, Mfengu, Thembu, Bomvana as well as Mpomdomise.

Or, as we experienced while trying to sense Spanish with usually the phrasebook in South America, an additional proceed to investigate Xhosa is to take the hands-on approach. One proceed of doing this would be to get concerned in the local village outreach, by volunteering to sense during understaffed schools in the Cape Town area or in the farming areas of the Eastern Cape.

There have been countless proffer organizations which work inside of these areas; however, SHAWCO which is based during the University of Cape Town (UCT), is the single of the better-known ones. The classification is run by students who proffer to support learners in the surrounding township areas, so it offers an preferred event to improve your Xhosa denunciation skills.

Whether we take an educational or immersion approach, we consider guidance Xhosa, as well as any the single of the alternative eleven central languages, is the profitable skill as well as the single which I, as an English-speaking South African, goal to take myself. we feel which growing up in the segregated nation has singular my knowledge of hold up in my own country: something we goal to change.