{"id":50288,"date":"2023-07-31T17:56:29","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T17:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status"},"modified":"2023-07-31T18:10:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T18:10:40","slug":"calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status","title":{"rendered":"Calls mount to give sign language official status"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paheja Siririka
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians have applauded the move, urging swift action for Namibia to follow suit.<\/p>\n

Executive director of the Namibian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) Linekela Nanyeni described the step as a grand milestone, adding that the human rights and dignity of the hearing-impaired South Africans have been fully attained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are imploring President Hage Geingob to initiate a constitutional review to accord Namibian Sign Language (NSL) an official language status under section 3 of Chapter 1 of the Namibian Constitution,\u201d said Nanyeni.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThere seems to be some misunderstanding about the official status. This does not call to overrule the Constitution\u2019s status of the Namibian official language. This is a call for the Namibian Constitution or other documents to equally recognise NSL as the language of the deaf Namibians\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nanyeni said NSL is used in schools for the hearing impaired as a medium of instruction and as a subject; however, this subject is still not made optional for anyone wishing to take up sign language in mainstream schools, and this tends to show how discriminatory the process is.<\/p>\n

\u201cNNAD is currently putting together resources to develop an online NSL app that will house an NSL dictionary. This project will be implemented over two years and will continue to grow as many signs are developed. This version will have live videos, which will make learning easy and at one\u2019s comfort,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

There are no concrete figures regarding the number of hearing-impaired Namibians, although Nanyeni\u2019s estimates stood at more than 41 000. Disability affairs minister Alexia Manombe-Ncube told this publication the National Assembly is very much aware of the request for recognition of sign language in Namibia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 22 September 2022, I made a parliamentary statement, mentioning the importance of recognising Namibian Sign Language as an official language, including all the benefits it will have for the deaf community once NSL is recognised as an official language and concerning the right to education in their mother tongue,\u201d said Manombe-Ncube.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThis is a journey, as certain elements must be in place for government to achieve this realisation. Therefore, with the current political will and commitment, Namibia will also follow suit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manombe -Ncube plans to bring a motion to Parliament once it resumes in September 2023. South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on 19 July 2023 signed into law the South African Sign Language Bill during a ceremony at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.<\/p>\n

During the signing ceremony, he said South African Sign Language has served as an essential communication tool for citizens with such disabilities, and this step will further empower the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy making sign language official, we aim to advance their rights to substantive equality, dignity and also their social inclusion. To empower people to use their language is to affirm their humanity,\u201d stated Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n

He said this official recognition of sign language follows an intensive and extensive public consultation process, as a substantial number of submissions were made and considered very carefully to ensure all issues were appropriately ventilated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving sign language recognised as an official language will address access to education, economic and other social opportunities as well as public participation. People with hearing impairments will be able to also access more services, public information and a host of other opportunities,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa said the official recognition is just the beginning, and much more work still needs to be done to support this language. \u201cIt has to be standardised to collapse various geographical dialects into one standard official version, which is the remit of the Pan South African Language Board. The fact that the first comprehensive electronic sign language dictionary has already been developed demonstrates the enthusiasm<\/p>\n

to develop this language,\u201d he noted. South Africa becomes the fourth African state to recognise sign language as an official means of communication after Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

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

Paheja Siririka Africa-Press – Namibia. Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians have applauded the move, urging swift action for Namibia to follow suit. Executive director of the Namibian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) Linekela Nanyeni described the step as a grand milestone, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":50286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-50288","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-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nCalls mount to give sign language official status - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians h ...\" \/>\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\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calls mount to give sign language official status\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians h ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-31T17:56:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-31T18:10:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"476\" \/>\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\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Calls mount to give sign language official status\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-31T17:56:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-31T18:10:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\"},\"wordCount\":673,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\",\"name\":\"Calls mount to give sign language official status - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-31T17:56:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-31T18:10:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians h ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":476,\"caption\":\"Calls mount to give sign language official status\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Calls mount to give sign language official status\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?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\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/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":"Calls mount to give sign language official status - Namibia","description":"Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians h ...","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\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Calls mount to give sign language official status","og_description":"Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians h ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-07-31T17:56:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-31T18:10:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":476,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.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\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Calls mount to give sign language official status","datePublished":"2023-07-31T17:56:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-31T18:10:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status"},"wordCount":673,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status","name":"Calls mount to give sign language official status - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-31T17:56:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-31T18:10:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Following the recognition of sign language as the 12th official language in South Africa earlier this month, Namibians h ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/07\/sm_1690814364.21382.jpg","width":720,"height":476,"caption":"Calls mount to give sign language official status"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/calls-mount-to-give-sign-language-official-status#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Calls mount to give sign language official status"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?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\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/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\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}