African Languages

IsiXhosa in South Africadigest10.pdf

IsiXhosa, the African language offered at Rhodes at present, is spoken by almost 18% of the South African population. It is also one of the widely distributed languages in South Africa. Together with isiZulu, which is mutually intelligible with isiXhosa, they are spoken by almost half of the South African population (42%)!

IsiXhosa at Rhodes

IsiXhosa is a three-year major subject which may be studied for degree curricula in the Faculty of Humanities. One, or in some cases more than one course is allowed as a credit for degree\diploma\certificate curricula in the faculties of Commerce, Education, Law and Science.

IsiXhosa at Rhodes is offered as both additional language (L2) and first language (L1). The aim of the L2 courses is to equip students with both linguistic and cultural competence so that they are able to cope in a multilingual and culturally diverse society. Students enrolled in these courses are exposed to themes that are appropriate to foster speaking and understanding of the structure of the language. Further, they also get introduced to various literary discourses, as well as to issues of inter- and cross-cultural communication.