Hello!
My name is Lenelle Foster.
I’m a lecturer at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Afrikaans and Dutch.
And with the aid of this webinar I hope to tell you more about how we can change the
world together.
If you enjoy analysing and solving problems, then this is the department for you.
And yes, I know everyone says that to get you to study with them, but in our case it’s
true.
The field of Afrikaans and Dutch is not the same as Afrikaans in high school.
In high school, they lay the foundations.
But when you get to university, you can start doing exciting things, like analysing poems
yourself, or studying the language in greater depth, or applying a theory from a different
discipline to a text to gain new insights.
Because you’re cleaver, you’re obviously wandering how this is going to help you to
change the world.
How will it help you to solve problems.
What do poems have to do with problem solving?
How are you going to get a job with a knowledge of linguistics?
The answer to these questions will become clear during the course of the webinar.
Basically, we’ll be looking at three things:
Why will it benefit you to study with the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch?
What can you study at undergraduate level?
And what are your options for postgraduate study?
Let’s start by talking about why you should study with the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch.
At university we don’t just want to teach you to understand and memorise the ideas of
other people – be it about a text or about linguistics.
We want you to engage critically with ideas and be able to say why you agree with those
(or not!) and express your own ideas elegantly.
To enable you to achieve this, we will help you to develop and refine your
analytical skills, critical reading, listening and thinking skills and ability to express
your ideas and insights
over the course of the three years you will be spending with us as an undergraduate.
You will develop a better understanding of the structure of language.
If you understand Afrikaans linguistics better, it will not only help you to improve your writing.
It will also help you to think about the structure of language in general and how to us language
to achieve your objective.
Could that objective be to ensure that the conversion of speech to text gets better and
better so that mobile apps or artificial intelligence become more effective?
And you will learn how texts work.
Why do people react to certain texts?
How do writers manage to use ideas and themes in a text and influence the thinking of readers?
Are there fashions in the way people create and read texts?
In other words, how are you going to convince people to buy a product you have made, or
to choose your tender application and not someone else’s?
And how are you going to make sure that what you’re saying remains relevant to your audience?
By understanding how writers create texts, you can apply those principles to your own work.
And remember: You will always have to present your information creatively to keep your audience’s attention.
We are a department with many experts in their field.
And a few prize-winning authors.
Naturally this means that you will learn many interesting things ang gain lots of exposure to new knowledge.
Some people think that you won’t get work if you study a language.
But language is integral to many jobs.
Here you can see a few of the possible careers for which modules in our Department can give
you a leg up.
The actual list is much longer.
But what are your undergraduate options at the Department?
At first-year level you can enrol for one of three subjects.
Your decision depends how competent you are in using Afrikaans.
Your basic choice is between Afrikaans and Dutch and Afrikaans Language Acquisition.
Afrikaans and Dutch is for anyone who is comfortable with Afrikaans at a first or home language level.
We’ll return to that subject in a few minutes.
Let’s focus on Afrikaans Language Acquisition first because Afrikaans is not just for the
people who speak it at home or who look a certain way.
Afrikaans is for everyone.
If you had Afrikaans Second Additional Language in high school or really struggle to understand
spoken or written Afrikaans, then Afrikaans Language Acquisition 178 is the right course for you.
You will develop y our reading, listening, speaking and writing skills in Afrikaans by
expanding your Afrikaans vocabulary and improving your confidence to use the language.
You will also learn ways to improve your strategic reading and listening skills.
Of course, this is very, very important if you want to achieve your full academic potential at university.
But you will also be using these strategic skills throughout your career.
By learning them early and practicing them, you will be giving yourself a tremendous advantage.
If you had Afrikaans First Additional Language in matric and don’t speak Afrikaans at home,
you should enrol for Afrikaans Language Acquisition 188.
You’ll be giving your existing Afrikaans reading, listening, speaking and writing skills
and taking them to the next level.
As with ALA 178, you will expanding your Afrikaans vocabulary and improving your confidence to
use Afrikaans in a number of different settings.
You will also study visual media and film.
Those strategic reading and listening skills are still part of the deal and will help you
inside and outside academia.
The general presentation skills you learn and practice during your Afrikaans presentations
will stand you in good stead when you need to lead a workshop or present your ideas to
an audience once you leave university.
Both these subjects will improve your grasp of Afrikaans in a way that gels with your
level of competence.
Both will also give you access to ALA at second-year level – allowing you to build on what you
learnt during your first year.
It’s always a good thing to learn a language.
It creates new neural pathways and helps you to see the world in a new light.
Why not get better acquainted with of the youngest Germanic languages in the world?
If you want to improve your mastery of Afrikaans, it won’t just be good for your confidence.
It will also help you to communicate with more people in our multilingual country.
Did you know that, according to our last census, Afrikaans speakers are the third largest language
community in the country (after isiZulu and isiXhosa).
And it’s definitely the biggest language in the Western Cape.
Just think how many doors could open for you if you know a little Afrikaans,
If you had Afrikaans Home Language at school, you should be heading to Afrikaans and Dutch 178.
With the aid of this module, you will develop your critical reading and listening skills,
your critical thinking skills, your insight into the structure of language and your insight
into how texts work.
You will learn more about Afrikaans language proficiency, poetry, prose and language studies.
And about the origins and development of Afrikaans or get introduced to Dutch.
This may sound similar to what you did in high school, but the type of texts you’ll
be working with and the level of independent thinking your lecturers will be expecting
of you is very different.
You will have a chance to work with interesting texts and to express and defend your own ideas on them.
If you’re considering one of the following five programmes, you can offer Afrikaans and Dutch as a major at third-year level:
BA (Humanities)
BA (Music)
BA (Law) BA (Sport Science with Afrikaans and Dutch)
and BA (Language and Culture).
But perhaps the programme you want to take isn’t on the list.
What now?
You can always consider an extra subject if you want to refine your skills up to third-year level.
But there are five programmes in which you can take Afrikaans and Dutch into your second year.
And four in which you can get acquainted with Afrikaans and Dutch at first-year level.
If you offer Afrikaans and Dutch as one of your majors at third-year level, it opens
the door to postgraduate studies.
This is the academic equivalent of an advanced driving course.
You know how to drive the car, now let’s see what you can really do with it.
Get started with an honours in Afrikaans and Dutch or Language Practice.
But perhaps that’s not enough.
Consider an MA or PhD with us!
Afrikaans and Dutch, Creative Writing, Lexicography or Translation.
These are all possibilities for advanced postgraduate study.
But you don’t just come to university to learn things, you come to meet people and
to do things together.
And an active student organisation, called VER[r]AS, will help you to meet students in
other years of study and give you a chance to let your hair down.
And if you would like to become a renowned writer yourself, VER[r]AS’s annual publication,
Penseel, might be a good place to start.
Thank you for your time and attention!
We look forward to welcoming you to the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch.
And change the world together.
Enkosi kakhulu! Thank you very much!