{"id":17356,"date":"2022-11-23T12:16:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T12:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better"},"modified":"2022-11-23T13:19:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T13:19:39","slug":"mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better","title":{"rendered":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t mastered the language well enough to be able to express himself competently in it. Midway through his response to President Mokgweetsi Masisi\u2019s state-of-the-nation address (which he had delivered in Tswanglish that was heavier in Setswana) the Selebi Phikwe West MP announced that he wanted to switch back to English in order that he could express himself better.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cMotsamaisa-dipuisanyo tsa Palamente, gore dikgang tse di utwale sente, ke bata gore ke boele ko puong ya seeng so that there is accuracy,\u201d said Keorapetse in Tswanglish that translates as \u201cMr. Speaker, in order that these issues can be properly understood, I want to switch back to English, so that there is accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the bubble of chatter floating around the chamber in apparent reaction to Keorapetse\u2019s statement, one little tag end from Tsogwane was about \u201cSetswana.\u201d The rest of what he said was inaudible but it seems reasonable to assume that he was asking the most obvious question: Couldn\u2019t he express himself as competently in Setswana, his mother tongue? Keorapetse\u2019s response was \u201cEo e buiwa ke wena Your Honour the Vice President\u201d which would translate into something like \u201cThose are your words, not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever Tsogwane had said and whatever the reason for the MP\u2019s decision to switch back to English, it is more than a little odd that a representative whose mother tongue \u2013 as that of most of his constituents, is Setswana doesn\u2019t consider feel he can express himself better in that language. The statement the MP made also raises the question of how he is able to address kgotla meetings in his constituency in a language that he finds limiting.<\/p>\n

As former members of the house like Dr. Kenneth Koma, Ponatshego Kedikilwe and Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi proved, Setswana is rich enough to be competently deployed in the explication of a wide range of national issues. While he has almost similar competence, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Lemogang Kwape, tends to overseason his own Setswana with a hotch-potch of mostly regional idioms and folk sayings.<\/p>\n

In fairness to Keorapetse, English has become the principal conversational language for most western-educated Batswana. Former president and Bangwato kgosikgolo, Ian Khama, has directed that his younger brother, Tshekedi and the latter\u2019s son, Kaedi, should inherit the tribe\u2019s bogosi \u2013 inherited traditional leadership. While some have pointed out that Kaedi doesn\u2019t speak Setswana, the reality is that some (especially young) Bangwato either don\u2019t speak Setswana altogether or like Keorapetse, feel that they can express themselves better in English. At his customary court in Serowe, the future Kgosi Kaedi will be trying cases of defendants who, like him, don\u2019t speak Setswana.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t mastered the language well enough to be able to express himself competently in it. Midway through his response to President Mokgweetsi Masisi\u2019s state-of-the-nation address (which he had delivered in Tswanglish that was heavier in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-17356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nMP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019 - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-23T12:16:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-23T13:19:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-23T12:16:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-23T13:19:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\"},\"wordCount\":485,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\",\"name\":\"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019 - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-23T12:16:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-23T13:19:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":463,\"caption\":\"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019 - Botswana","description":"Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019","og_description":"Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-11-23T12:16:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-23T13:19:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":463,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019","datePublished":"2022-11-23T12:16:58+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-23T13:19:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better"},"wordCount":485,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better","name":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019 - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-23T12:16:58+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-23T13:19:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Either Setswana is deficient in its stock of vocabulary or the Leader of the Opposition, Dithapelo Keorapetse, hasn\u2019t ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/11\/postQueueImg_1669234740.46.jpg","width":696,"height":463,"caption":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/mp-switches-to-english-in-order-to-express-himself-better#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MP switches to English in order to express himself \u2018better\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}