30 September 2005

Programme Director
International guests - Professor Budin, Dr Kockaert, Dr Antia and Dr Sauberer
National government representatives
Provincial representatives
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

The month of September is Heritage Month in South Africa, and this year's theme is:
Our indigenous food, our knowledge, our heritage;
Dijo tsa rona tsa tlholego, kitso ya rona, ngwao ya rona (Setswana);
Kudla kwetfu kwendzabuko, lwati lwetfu, emagugu etfu (SiSwati);
Dijo tša rena tša tlhago, tsebo ya rena, bohwa bja rena (Sepedi);
Swakudya swa hina swa xintu, vutivi bya hina, ndzhaka ya hina (Xitsonga);
Ukudla komdabu, ulwazi lwethu, amafa ethu (isiZulu);
Zwiliwa zwa Mvelele, Ndivho yashu, vhufa hashu (Tshivenda);
Dijo tsa naha ya rona, tsebo ya rona, lefa la rona (Sesotho);
Ukutya kwethu kwemveli, ulwazi lwethu, ilifa lethu (isiXhosa);
Ons tradisionele kos, ons kennis, ons erfenis (Afrikaans);
 Ukudla kwethu kwendabuko, ilwazi lethu, ilifa lethu (isiNdebele).

It is, therefore, very fitting that Heritage Month should culminate today with us celebrating International Translation Day, with the theme "Translation and Human Rights".  It is not only a very relevant theme for South Africans, whose Constitution proclaims the importance of healing the divisions of the past and the creation of a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights, but it dovetails very well with the Heritage Month theme, which places the emphasis on our knowledge and our heritage, two very important human rights that find expression through our culture and our language.
Let us consider what a long way we have come in the promotion of translation and multilingualism.  There is an Italian proverb that says:  "Translator, traitor".  This dates from many centuries ago, when a person who could speak more than one language was not trusted, because  that person could communicate with the enemy. 

Today, multilingualism is a growing phenomenon worldwide, and people who can speak, read or write more than one language are much in demand as translators, interpreters and general facilitators of communication and interaction between groups with different languages and cultures.
International organisations such as UNESCO actively promote linguistic and cultural diversity, and using one's mother tongue has come to be regarded as a universal human right.  The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, states that "all persons have the right to express themselves and to create and disseminate their work in the language of their choice, and particularly in their mother tongue" (article 5); and that "freedom of expression, media pluralism, multilingualism, equal access to art and to scientific and technological knowledge, including in digital form, and the possibility for all cultures to have access to the means of expression and dissemination are the guarantees of cultural diversity" (article 6). 

Another of UNESCO's programmes is International Mother Language Day, which we in South Africa also celebrate on 21 February every year.  The aim of this programme is to "promote and safeguard endangered languages and linguistic diversity as an essential part of the living heritage of humanity".  On the occasion of International Mother Language Day in 2005, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, stated that "teaching a mother language and multilingualism are the cardinal points of a sustainable development that safeguards each individual's attachment to his or her native culture while ensuring that everyone can open up to others and reap the benefits of an increasingly interactive world". 

South Africa has also in recent years become a player in the global arena.  Think of our participation in the SADC, the African Union and the rest of the world.  Hundreds of conferences have been held in South Africa, and agreements have been signed with our new international partners. 
The translation of our model constitution and of information for and about South Africa has played a significant role in putting our young democracy on the world map.

In Africa, too, much is and has been done to promote multilingualism and the indigenous languages of our Continent.
In the case of South Africa, the issue of the use of the Afrikaans language, which was enforced by the oppressive apartheid regime as a medium of instruction in so-called black schools, came to a head in June 1976 with the student protests.
According to some political analysts, this was a new and revolutionary consciousness among the students which was strongly influenced by the Black Consciousness Movement at the time.

Dr Jean Benjamin (now Deputy Minister for Social Development), in her article entitled “Language and the struggle for racial equality in the development of a non-racial Southern African nation” (African Languages, Development and the State – edited by Richard Fardon and Graham Furniss 1994) explains: “Apartheid language policy and planning functioned to exclude African languages from official status within South Africa. Language played a major role in the division of the society into racial and tribal groupings. Further, the low status afforded African languages and the unavailability of these as school subjects in White, Coloured and Indian schools severely affected the motivation of these groups to learn African languages. “She goes on to say that: “Mother tongue education ensured that English- and Afrikaans-speaking Whites would be equipped to participate in the national system; it served the opposite purpose for Africans. Whites benefited directly from this Anglo-European national culture, while it supplemented Apartheid legislation to prevent the integration of the Black population into the South African nation. The Afrikaner nationalists further appropriated Afrikaans and used it to promote their own national identity; thus Afrikaans became stigmatized as the language of the oppressor amongst Africans.”

The imposition of the Afrikaans language by the apartheid regime on the Black people of this country touched the very core of their identity, their culture and and their values. Hence, the student protest that started in Soweto in June 1976 spread like wild fire throughout the length and breadth of our country.
In January 2000, the first conference on African languages and literatures was held on African soil, in Asmara, Eritrea.  The participants issued the Asmara Declaration, which stated among other things that "the vitality and equality of African languages must be recognised as a basis for the future empowerment of African peoples", and that "democracy is essential for the equal development of African languages and African languages are vital for the development of democracy based on equality and social justice". 

In 2001, the Republic of Mali made a proposal to the Organisation of African Unity for the establishment of the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN), with the aim of developing African languages and strengthening African integration and unity. 
On 9 July 2002, the African Union was launched in Durban, and its Constitutive Act states that its working languages shall be "African languages, Arabic, English, French and Portuguese" (article 25). 

The significance of this article reflects both black consciousness and black renaissance since, as Ngugi wa Thiongo, in the Fourth Annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture in 2003, decried the fact that the colonisers of Africa also colonised the memory of Africa through the imposition of their languages by renaming the landscape and the people – Namlolwe became Lake Vicotoria, and African people were all but forced to adopt English or French or Portuguese names.  And, most significantly, intellectual production in Africa, like writing and music, is still done mostly in European languages.
Here, in South Africa, the role of language, and our national language policy, cannot be overemphasised in respect of supporting human rights.  If people are denied the right to work, play, socialise, study, worship and so forth in the language of their choice, they will always remain on the periphery of society and never be able to take their rightful place in a democratic society. 

In the past 10 years, we have moved from an oppressive regime where only English and Afrikaans were recognised, to the recognition of 11 official languages in our Constitution, and the establishment of institutions such as PanSALB and the Commission for Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights charged with the protection and promotion of the many other languages spoken in South Africa. 
We have also introduced TISSA, the Telephone Interpreting Service for South Africa, to enable people to communicate in their own languages in times of emergency or urgency, such as when they need to communicate with or at police stations or hospitals.
Before 1994, the majority of our people did not understand or speak the languages used by the government of the day.
Our new democratic Constitution guarantees parity of esteem and equity to all the official languages, and, of course, our Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor, has recently laid emphasis on the importance of mother-tongue education and indicated the steps that will be taken to achieve this. 
For us, every Translation Day is a celebration of multilingualism, and a vital post-apartheid policy which strongly supports human rights. 
To those who say that our policy of 11 languages cannot work or is too costly, we would say, please don’t take us back 30 years. It is going to work if we all commit ourselves to make it a success. 

Just look at what is happening in the European Union.  The European Union started with 11 languages, and will soon be having 21.  It has a full-time staff complement of  over 400 translators, and large number of freelancers, yet translation constitutes only 0,8% of its total budget – that is about 2 or 3 Euros per person per member state.
In keeping with our policy of multilingualism, the translators of the National Language Service have for the past 10 years enabled millions of South Africans to obtain identity documents, marriage certificates and driver's licences. These are but a few examples.  And, in keeping with the Bill of Rights, the people have been able to obtain information on how to gain access to health care services, pensions and social grants – because this information has been translated into all the official languages.

The Constitution gives us the right to express ourselves in our own languages, and translation makes it possible for speakers of other languages to understand the ideas we are imparting.
Translation breaks down linguistic barriers and promotes social cohesion in the new South Africa.  It is a vehicle of communication that brings harmony and establishes trust and understanding among people, enabling us to build a nation that upholds both diversity and equality.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope I have made you think a little about the role translation plays in the promotion of so many human rights, both here in South Africa and all over the world.
I also would like to encourage you to learn as many languages as you can in order to become better communicators, professional translators and interpreters and builders of a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it.
 I thank you for celebrating Translation Day with us.  Ke a leboha.

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