The teaching of KiSwahili will open up South Africa to new business opportunities and investments, said Rhodes University post-doctoral fellow in African Languages, Dr Peter Mose, in a radio interview on CapeTalk on 9 October 2018.
Dr Mose was responding to an announcement by the Education Department that in 2020 Kiswahili will be taught in school as an optional language.
Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the move is meant to promote unity and “social cohesion with fellow Africans.”
Dr Mose added that KiSwahili will not be difficult to learn as it shares quite a lot with the eleven South African languages.
Most of the eleven languages in South Africa have descended from a common language and they share a lot with KiSwahili. “You really can't compare the learning of KiSwahili with the learning of French which is foreign to South Africa,” said Dr Mose.
Dr Mose said the African Union has made KiSwahili one of its official languages and if people want to invest in Africa they should make use of the language.
“It will be easier for South Africans to teach and learn KiSwahili and use it in other countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe and in DRC,” Dr Mose added.
To hear the full interview with Dr Peter Mose, click here.