Multilingualism in a global village: What is the future of a local language (e.g. Northern Sotho) in an increasingly globalized world?

Abstract

South Africa is currently occupying a precarious position within a framework of globalization and internationalization where cultural and linguistic pluralism prevail. There is divergence between South Africa's multilingual language policy on the one hand, and its language practices on the other. Although South Africa is in its 16th year of democracy, people are still grappling with issues such as the financial costs of using more than one official language in commerce and industry. It is argued that it is extremely costly to change letterheads and logos of companies in an attempt to align them with the languages of the country, a notion that does not take into cognisance the reality of South Africa as a multilingual country. The idea expressed is that using some of the 11 official languages and sign language in parallel will be contingent to practicality and expense.