The BAQONDE Workshop was held at the North-West University's Potchefstroom Campus from May 1 to May 5, 2023. The BAQONDE project provides an effective response to one of South Africa's national priorities: the advancement of African languages in higher education. The BAQONDE project has built an inter-institutional network of African Language Development Units (ALDUs) that, among other things, optimizes training tactics, coordinates material creation, and harmonizes teaching standards for multilingual teaching in higher education.
Academics from diverse backgrounds participated in this week-long workshop. Academics and language practitioners attended the workshop from a number of institutions, including NWU (Potchefstroom, Mahikeng, and Vanderbijlpark campuses), Rhodes University, the University of the Western Cape, the University of KwaZulu Natal, Groningen University (Netherlands), the University of Salamanca (Spain), and Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).
Prof. Mantoa Motinyane, the director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS), who also teaches linguistics at the university, and Ms. Khanyiso Mwanda-Jonas, a linguistics lecturer at UWC and PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University, served as representatives for the University of the Western Cape (UWC). These two outstanding scholars Prof Motinyane and Ms Mwanda-Jonas presented a paper titled, "Language is not a barrier. Training Multilingual health practitioners in South Africa.”
Prof. Mantoa Motinyane explained that the presentation addressed the idea of viewing multilingualism as a barrier rather than a resource in South African (and global) healthcare. She went on to explain that it highlighted some of the barriers, such as medical terminology's long history with Greek and Latin and how the field's continual changes create a challenge for medical linguistics. Prof.Motinyane noted that they utilized the head lymph nodes to demonstrate how lecturers could rely on students' linguistic repertoires to deconstruct and recreate terminology to facilitate learning while simultaneously creating terminology in the various languages.
Participation in the BAQONDE workshop provided an opportunity for CASAS to market itself as a publishing company and research hub, as well as the diverse spectrum of knowledge and culture possessed by the scholars who call CASAS home. This opportunity has also given CASAS the ability to expand its network of scholars while also cultivating existing partnerships.
Academics from diverse backgrounds participated in this week-long workshop. Academics and language practitioners attended the workshop from a number of institutions, including NWU (Potchefstroom, Mahikeng, and Vanderbijlpark campuses), Rhodes University, the University of the Western Cape, the University of KwaZulu Natal, Groningen University (Netherlands), the University of Salamanca (Spain), and Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).
Prof. Mantoa Motinyane, the director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS), who also teaches linguistics at the university, and Ms. Khanyiso Mwanda-Jonas, a linguistics lecturer at UWC and PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University, served as representatives for the University of the Western Cape (UWC). These two outstanding scholars Prof Motinyane and Ms Mwanda-Jonas presented a paper titled, "Language is not a barrier. Training Multilingual health practitioners in South Africa.”
Prof. Mantoa Motinyane explained that the presentation addressed the idea of viewing multilingualism as a barrier rather than a resource in South African (and global) healthcare. She went on to explain that it highlighted some of the barriers, such as medical terminology's long history with Greek and Latin and how the field's continual changes create a challenge for medical linguistics. Prof.Motinyane noted that they utilized the head lymph nodes to demonstrate how lecturers could rely on students' linguistic repertoires to deconstruct and recreate terminology to facilitate learning while simultaneously creating terminology in the various languages.
Participation in the BAQONDE workshop provided an opportunity for CASAS to market itself as a publishing company and research hub, as well as the diverse spectrum of knowledge and culture possessed by the scholars who call CASAS home. This opportunity has also given CASAS the ability to expand its network of scholars while also cultivating existing partnerships.
