A strategic promotion of language use in multilingual South Africa: information and communication

Abstract

This article presents and discusses strategies for encouraging the use of all official languages in South Africa from a language management perspective. Although the South African language policy has been commended for its multilingual nature, the implementation of the policy is still problematic. Hence, I argue that we should use the most acceptable modern strategies for implementation. The first strategy is making information available in all official languages. The effect of this strategy is the creation of an environment whereby the use of all official languages is accepted as a norm. The second strategy is directly linked to the first strategy and it involves creating the expectations for language use by those who are influential in the public service professional context. The former strategy requires a particular medium, while the latter emphasises communication. The application of these two strategies may contribute to the motivation of people to use their languages.