Hello World!
DUMELANG
Welcome to your one-stop shop for everything Botswana Setswana. Interesting choice of words, but it should be noted that although Setswana is the primary language of communication in Botswana, the majority of its native speakers are in South Africa; and there are some small minorities in other countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Although it is one language, there are instances of significant orthographical and neological differences, particularly between South African and Botswanan conventions. Hence “Botswana Setswana”.
Your host here, Reginald Kgosi, is what one may call a language enthusiast, who is unfortunately only fluent in two languages, but will stop at nothing to master both. I have a very diverse and in-depth bank of knowledge and experience, and have been teaching for over 15 years now, professionally. I have worked as an English-Tswana translator and content editor, but have always struggled to get reference material, particularly regarding my home language, Setswana.
THE WORLD NEEDS SETSWANABWA.COM
It is not just about promoting the language itself, but to assist people who tend to find themselves at a similar loss as myself, when looking for reference material. What is most unfortunate is that children nowadays rely heavily on information technology, and since there is very little Setswana presence online, our kids have become native-level consumers of English, while many cannot string up a decent essay in their own vernacular.
Having myself had to go through a most difficult route to reach my present level of competence in Setswana, I feel it is incumbent upon any who can to try and make the experience more pleasurable for future generations, as well as any other person trying to learn the language: Both my parents were raised in Johannesburg’s Soweto [in South Africa] in the 1950’s and 1960’s, where they were exposed to many languages, but were ultimately not very good at Setswana; plus, during my formative schooling years, Setswana was only to be spoken during its designated 30-minute lesson period, while all other communication was supposed to be in English.
Moreover, noelogisms are very problematic, as there are generally few ‘universally accepted’ terms for a lot of technical terms and new terminology that has come about as a result of the fourth industrial revolution. Dictionary terms are also usually inadequate, as most dictionaries would be created for “school children” and tend to have a ‘politically correct’ or ‘age-appropriate’ inclination.
OUR OBJECTIVES ARE SIMPLY…
1. To get a universal reference point for all things Setswana.
2. To provide both a word-by-word and context translation portal for English-Setswana and Setswana-English.
3. To teach non-Setswana speakers the language (similar to what EFL does with English).
4. To get little children more interested in learning and being proficient in Setswana, through provision of child-learner friendly content.
5. To have a hub for literary works and other forms of language use.
6. To have a forum for debate for acceptability and adoption of universally acceptable neologisms.
7. To explore the linguistic and evolutionary history of what is now known as the Setswana language.
8. To promote the use of a universal “Standard Setswana” in formal communication and public forums, as opposed to native speakers just casually using their dialects in such situations.
If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to leave them below and we will be more than happy to help you out.
All the best,
Reg Kgosi
One thought on “Hello World!”
As a teen who went to English medium, it sucks so bad that lm not one bit fluent it setswana. I only transferred to setswana medium at gr6 and tbh my parents did the right thing bu a little too late😐l can speak it so it’s not too bad the only problem l have is conjugating the words and setswana has to be conjugated in every sentence l speak