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The three official languages of the Western Cape, namely Afrikaans, Xhosa and English, will enjoy special attention during Multilingualism Week (12 - 19 February) following the week's official launch by Provincial Premier, Peter Marais, today (12 February 2002) at the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town.

"You are what you speak. Language is an emotional issue and if we want to build a new patriotism, we must learn to speak each others' languages," said Marais.

Marais urged the Provincial Minister of Cultural Affairs, Sport and Recreation, Mr Patrick McKenzie, to set aside budget to promote multilingualism.

"We should start in the creches, so that the next generation of parliamentarians will be able to understand each other without interpreters or translators," he said.

"The week is aimed at encouraging the residents of the Western Cape to speak their own languages, to respect the languages of others and to learn to speak all three official languages," says Prof Isabel Cilliers, Chairperson of the Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC).

Since its inception three years ago, the WCLC has actively promoted language rights in the region by initiating key research projects to guide policy development and implementation. These include a language audit amongst Western Cape Government officials and language use surveys of local governments and tourism bureaux.

In the run-up to Multilingualism Week, the WCLC presented a successful workshop on interpreting and translation. Parliament's National Assembly is also planning to celebrate International Mother Tongue Language Day on Thursday 21 February.

Various activities have been initiated during Multilingualism Week. These include youth competitions, the distribution of button badges and posters, the promotion of trilingual everyday phrases, newspaper articles, radio interviews with multilingualism champions and workshops by Multilingualism Action Groups.

"All we want is for each resident in the Western Cape to learn just two or three words or phrases in another official language or the equivalent in Sign Language during this Week. This could well provide the impetus to create a groundswell support and mutual respect for each other's language," says Cilliers.

The slogan of Multilingualism Week is "Ek praat jou taal / Nolwakho ndiyaluthetha / I speak your language".

Copies of the Western Cape Languages Act and the Western Cape Language Policy (which has been approved in principle by the Cabinet) are available from the Secretariat at 68 Orange Street, Cape Town, Tel: (021) 424-0410 or Fax: (021) 424-0457.

Inquiries: Prof Isabel Cilliers, WCLC, at (021) 976-3616 or 082-784-7512, Frikkie Odendaal, Afrikom, at (021) 423-7263

Issued by Western Cape Language Committee (WCLC)

12 February 2002