| The City Speaks, Praat, Siyathetha | The City Speaks, Praat, Siyathetha | | <img alt="" src="https://resource.capetown.gov.za/cityassets/PublishingImages/B-Zone%20Header.jpg" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | <p>Yesterday, 29 September 2022, the City of Cape Town in partnership with the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) hosted a workshop in the Council Chambers to commemorate International Translation Day. Read more below:<br></p> | <p>The theme for this year is: ‘A world without barriers’.</p><div><br></div><div>The workshop had a dual purpose. On the one hand, it paid tribute to language professionals for their role in facilitating dialogue and understanding through interpreting and translation services. On the other, it acknowledged the City as a leading role-player in the actual language practice of translations and interpreting.<br></div><div><br></div><div><span>
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<img src="https://dummyimage.com/800x500" class="responsive" alt="" /> </figure></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>‘It gives me great pleasure to partner with PanSALB as this collaboration will provide opportunities to develop appropriate service delivery models and employ new technologies and systems while breaking the communication barriers in our city. We are already seeing great success in our engagements with more citizens asking for material in their language of choice and making their voices heard via the appropriate channels. Furthermore, this collaboration adds to the opportunity to undertake research projects that will improve our customer engagements going forward,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services, Alderman Theresa Uys.</div><div><br></div><div>‘This initiative aligns with the City’s vision of inclusivity. We offer services in all three official Western Cape (WC) languages, namely English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, to ensure that our residents feel included. We are committed to excellence in service delivery and this includes engaging customers in their preferred language. It was tat’ uMadiba who said: ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.’ Language is one of the systems we employ to ensure that our residents receive the services they deserve and become active citizens in matters that happen in their communities,’ said Alderman Uys.</div><div><br></div><div>The City’s services include:</div><div><ul><li>Interpreting services at Subcouncil, Portfolio and Council meetings, disciplinary meetings and public participation sessions, and sign language interpreting, when required</li><li>Use of any of the three official languages in the Western Cape in communication with the City, while residents must be responded to in their language of preference</li><li>Publication of City notices and advertisements in all three official languages or in the language predominantly spoken in the specific area in the case of community newspapers</li><li>Identification signs and directions to municipal offices or facilities displayed in all three languages or in pictorials. The three official languages are used equitably on local road signs and direction signs while preference is given to the language predominantly spoken as far as street name suffixes are concerned</li><li>Translation of the subject heading and recommendations of all reports serving before Council into the three official languages<br></li></ul></div><div>‘As a local government, it is important that we speak the language of the residents we serve. Thus, I want to commend the Language Services team for ensuring that we live up to our commitment, your hard work and enthusiasm is remarkable and do not go unnoticed,’ Alderman Uys said.</div><div><br></div><div>Speaker Alderman Felicity Purchase said, ‘International Translation Day is an opportunity to celebrate the work of language professionals from around the world but more specifically in a South African context, we celebrate the work of South African language professionals who interpret and translate eleven official languages and often play an important role in our Country’s dialogue’.</div><div><br><br></div><p><br></p> | 2022-09-29T22:00:00Z | GP0|#1d539e44-7c8c-4646-887d-386dc1d95d70;L0|#01d539e44-7c8c-4646-887d-386dc1d95d70|City news;GTSet|#62efe227-07aa-45e7-944c-ceebacca891d | | | | | GP0|#aa154a75-b00a-4345-b96f-69b85770b5bf;L0|#0aa154a75-b00a-4345-b96f-69b85770b5bf|languages;GTSet|#2e3de6c1-9951-4747-8f53-470629a399bb | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | 0 |
