NATIONAL LANGUAGE SERVICE

The mandate of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) is to promote and develop all eleven official languages of the Republic of South Africa through its National Language Service unit. The unit consists of four (4) directorates, namely: Human Language Technologies; Language Planning and Development; Terminology Development and Translation and Editing.

 

Human Language Technologies

Through the Human Language Technologies directorate, the Department provides financial support towards the development of language applications, software and systems that use all official languages.

In order to make an application for funding for a multi-year HLT project, interested applicants are requested to submit project proposals as soon as an open Call for Proposals has been issued.

Proposals should address some of the following:

  • Projects that are complementary to the Use of Official Languages Act (Act 12 of 2012).
  • Projects to develop applications with the potential to make a considerable impact, e.g., in a government context.
  • Projects that develop resources that contribute to the Basic Language Resource Kits (BLaRKs) for South African languages.
  • Proposals should clearly state the approach that will be taken, and the following should be highlighted:
  1. Tasks to be undertaken;
  2. Milestones and deliverables;
  3. Licensing: details of outputs that will be released to the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) to be distributed under an open-source licence;
  4. Costing and budget;
  5. Management and governance; and
  6. Evaluation criteria and evaluation procedure.

 

Factors that will be considered when evaluating the proposals include the following:

  • The scientific and/or development track record of the applicant(s);
  • The practical importance and potential impact of the proposed project in terms of its support of the implementation of the Use of Official Languages Act of 2012;
  • The potential contribution of the proposed project to the development of HLTs for all the official languages of South Africa;
  • The extent to which the project commits to releasing at least the basic resources (e.g., language resources and core technologies) developed as part of the project under an open-source licence to SADiLaR (https://www.sadilar.org/).
  • The alignment of the project to the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act No. 51 of 2008 (“IPR Act”), in terms of the applicant’s intentions to commercialise and/or utilise the project’s outputs to the benefit of the citizens of South Africa.
  • The incorporation of international standards and best practices in the project.
  • The project schedule must provide for evaluation of the project outputs by an independent party to ensure quality and adherence to international best practices. Recommendations for improvement or corrections following such evaluation must be completed before the project can be considered completed.
  • Value for money. Where overheads, indirect costs or hourly rates are considered to be excessive, the Department may opt to offer only partial financial assistance. 

 

How to make a request for a training workshop

HLT conducts workshops to train translators and students on the use of computer-aided translation (CAT) tools. The tools are open source, so they are downloadable at no cost to translators, and translators don’t have to pay for the training offered by HLT.

Autshumato Integrated Translation Environment (ITE) is a free computer aided translation application. It provides a single translation environment that contains translation memory, machine translation and a glossary to facilitate the translation process. The Autshumato ITE is a derived work of the popular OmegaT CAT tool; customised for the South-African environment.

To find more information on how to apply for funding and/or make a request for a training workshop, please contact the HLT Director, Mr Tshikani Mabasa @ TshikaniM@Dsac.gov.za.   

 

LANGUAGE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Through Language Planning and Development, the department offers bursaries to students who wants to study languages?

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) is making an enormous impact in developing official languages and promoting of South Africa Sign Language (SASL) through language bursary project. The Department award language bursaries to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the language field to develop a pool of suitably qualified language practitioners who can be employed in government departments, entities, and enterprises, and in the private sector. The language bursary is administered by universities on behalf of the Department. 

What is the information required when applying for the Department Language Bursary?      

The Department advertises the language bursary for universities to apply. They go through a selection process. Depending on the budget available, the Department selects a certain number of universities that are eligible to receive bursaries and then award them to students. This means that students receive a language bursary when they are attached to the university that is participating during that cycle. The cycle takes a period of three years, and universities are encourage to apply again to be considered for the new cycle. The Department does not directly communicate with students.

What is required from a successful university?

DSAC requires institutions to have approved appropriate language programmes.  Which are accredited by SAQA. The criteria for selection also appears on the advert that universities respond to. For the university to be considered, it should offer not less than three of the following modules:

  • Translation and Editing
  • Interpreting 
  • Lexicography
  • Terminology Development and Management
  • Language Planning
  • Human Language Technologies 
  • Document design and Editing
  • Linguistic Theory
  • Any of the previously marginalised indigenous languages
  • South African Sign Language (SASL)

 

The new cycle for the language bursary commenced in 2024/25 financial year and end in 2026/27 financial year.

 

TERMINOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

The department develops terminology in all official languages of South Africa. The department also provides technical support to government departments and other institutions to enable them to develop terminologies relevant to their sectors and institutions.

Purpose       To develop terminology in all official languages to empower these languages to be functional in technical domains.

DSAC empowers official languages to be functional in technical domains by:

  • Documenting existing terminologies and facilitating the development of new concepts, and
  • Developing and managing the National Terminology Register
  • Developing and implementing the National Terminology Policy
  • Developing and managing the National Termbank
  • Offering free training on Principles and Methodology of Terminology Management

 

DSAC’s strategic partners in terminology development:

 

Terminology projects are implemented in collaboration with the following strategic partners:

  • Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) – Verifies and authenticate completed terminology projects.
  • Linguists - Participate in working and consultative meetings/ some linguists also participate as specialists due to their field of specialisation.
  • Provincial Sport, Arts and Culture departments – Participate in working and consultative meetings.
  • National government departments – Participate in working and consultative meetings.
  • National Public Enterprises – Participate in working and consultative meetings.
  • National Public Entities - Participate in working and consultative meetings.
  • Parliament and Provincial legislatures – Participate in working and consultative meetings.
  • Municipalities - Participate in working and consultative meetings.
  • Subject field specialists – Assist with verification of source text(s) and participate in working, consultative & verification meetings.

 

Why the National Terminology Register?

 

The Department established the National Terminology Register (NTR): https://dsacevents.dsac.gov.za/NLTS/index.php, to:

  • Facilitate and coordinate terminology development projects.
  • Compile a database of projects and stakeholders.
  • Avoid duplication of projects, and
  • Foster effective collaboration amongst stakeholders.

 

Accessing published Terminology lists:

  • DSAC’s published terminology lists can be accessed through the Departmental website and through the following link: https://artsculturesa.wordpress.com
  • Hardcopies and electronic copies can also be made available to the general public upon request.

For more details about terminology training workshops please contact the Director: Terminology Coordination, Dr Hatu Machaba @ HatuM@Dsac.gov.za

 

TRANSLATION AND EDITING

The Department through the Translation and Editing Unit offers translation and editing and services in all the official South African languages and foreign languages. Furthermore, checking of foreign languages translations is also done.

Who can make use of this service?

The service is available to all national government departments that do not have their own language units, including public entities, constitutional bodies, the Presidency and Parliament.

What are the requirements for documents to be sent for editing, translation and/or checking?

  • Only documents intended for official purposes will be accepted for translation, editing and/or checking.
  • Documents must be submitted in electronic format (the original MS Word document – not a conversion) along with a fully completed translation and editing (TE) request form.
  • Documents that are amendments (e.g. Bills, regulations, manuals) must be accompanied by copies of the original texts and clearly indicate all subsequent amendments in all the relevant languages.
  • All documents submitted must be the final text that will be published or distributed by the client.

When and how can someone apply for this service?

  • The services of the Translation and Editing Directorate are available throughout the year.
  • The TE request from, which must be completed when requesting translation, editing and/or checking services, can be obtained from–