Setswana Education at Business School of Excellence Namibia
What is Setswana Education?
Setswana is an African language spoken in South Africa, Botswana, and parts of Namibia. It is the national language of Botswana, and one of the eleven official languages in South Africa. The language is sometimes referred to as Tswana.
Overview
Studying Setswana enables students to thoroughly approach linguistic and literary topics from a scientific and scholarly perspective. The history of literature is explored, while literary theories are applied for purposes of finding new and relevant interpretations of poems, novels and plays.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tswana culture?
Tswana culture is often distinguished for its complex legal system, involving a hierarchy of courts and mediators, and harsh punishments for those found guilty of crimes. Like many neighboring Nguni peoples, the Sotho traditionally relied on a combination of livestock raising and crop cultivation for subsistence.
Is Tswana hard to learn?
I was quite good at languages at school, but Setswana is a very difficult language to understand and speak. When you hear people talking in Setswana, it’s spoken very quickly, so it’s hard to pick up. Even Batswana can struggle, as there are different interpretations of how to construct a sentence in Setswana.
What is the difference between Tswana and Setswana?
Although Setswana, generally known as Tswana, is the national language of Botswana, a large number of Tswana speakers are located in South Africa, with the Northern Cape being predominantly Afrikaans and Setswana. Hence Setswana is one of South Africa’s eleven official languages.
Where is Tswana from?
Tswana, also called Motswana (singular) or Batswana (plural), formerly spelled Bechuana, westerly division of the Sotho, a Bantu-speaking people of South Africa and Botswana.
What are Tswana beliefs?
The official religion of most Tswana groups is now Christianity. Although the public rituals of the indigenous religion are seldom encountered, the more private and individualized practices of witchcraft, sorcery, and traditional healing persist strongly, even among Christians.
What makes Setswana unique?
It is one of the most dominant tribes in this nation and is well known for its unique characteristics. Perhaps the unique feature of this culture is the Setswana food and cuisine. The food is tantalizing and will leave you yearning for more traditional foods and drinks.
What is the most useful language to learn in South Africa?
Zulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa and it is used as a lingua franca (a common language used by speakers of different languages) throughout southern Africa.
Which is the best South African language to learn?
If you’re a world traveler, and you’re interested in visiting South Africa one day, then you will benefit from learning Afrikaans. Although a number of languages are spoken in the area, including Zulu and Xhosa, you’re most likely to find people speaking English or Afrikaans in tourist areas.
Which South African language is the easiest to learn?
Swahili is said to be the easiest African language for an English speaker to learn. It is heavily influenced by Arabic and Indo-European languages such as Portuguese, German, English, and French. It’s one of the few sub-Saharan African languages that have no lexical tone, just as in English.
How do you show respect in Tswana culture?
Always show respect towards anyone who’s older than you. By the same token, Setswana culture recognises and promotes the importance of elders respecting the young in order to enjoy the same respect. This also applies to a boss and his subordinates scenario.
What are Tswana traditional clothes called?
We use beautiful soft cotton ‘Shweshwe’ for our Beabond clothing, the fabric has many cultural and historical values (as well as many names) across southern Africa; in Botswana the fabric is called ‘leteitse’ and forms part of the Tswana traditional dress.
How do Tswana celebrate heritage?
The SeTswana cultural group epitomizes culture preservation. Each year on Heritage Day, South Africans dig deep into their wardrobes and fish out their traditional attire to celebrate their unity in diversity.
How important is the baby in Tswana culture?
Botswana is no exception because motherhood is viewed as one of the most important stages in life. Therefore, welcoming and celebrating a new born baby is nothing new. Batswana used to have the traditional baby celebrations called mantsho a ngwana, which literally means “taking the baby out” of the house.
What do Tswana culture eat?
The cuisine of Botswana is unique but shares some characteristics with other cuisines of Southern Africa. Examples of Setswana food include pap, samp, vetkoek, bogobe and mophane worms. A food unique to Botswana is seswaa, salted mashed-up meat.
How do people dress in Botswana?
Today traditional Tswana outfit is a mix of Western-style or Victorian Era dresses with the pieces of clothing that are pure Tswana (for example, kaross – traditional blanket made from animal skins). Some costumes of ethnic minorities in Botswana also deserve special attention.