The Department is probably the largest language department in South Africa, offering "service subjects" in ten languages to more than 45 National Diploma and Bachelor of Technology programmes on six geographically dispersed campuses (Pretoria, Soshanguve, Ga-Rankuwa, Witbank, Polokwane & Nelspruit). It offers its own qualifications on two campuses, viz. Pretoria and Soshanguve. This Web site offers information about the Pretoria Campus.
The Department uses the Language Dynamics approach, pioneered by Prof. Joey D. Swanepoel, which aims at combining theory and praxis in a client-oriented approach. Our training is constantly adapted to the current language and communication needs of business, industry and science.
The Centre for Language and Leadership Dynamics complements the work of the Department by providing students and lecturers with opportunities to practise what has been preached in class. The Centre acts as the link between the Department and industry to enhance the pragmatic approach.
Our philosophy
As language and thought are interdependent, we adopt a holistic approach towards developing and refining the linguistic abilities of students in the belief that language skills and personal image are closely associated.Language is the most powerful tool for marketing ideas efficiently. Therefore our courses integrate essential language skills with business communication, managerial skills and entrepreneurship.
The Department strives to extend its international recognition, to collect, verify and apply language data in a scientific manner, and to pursue excellence in the training of its students.
Academic staff
The Department has eleven permanently appointed and two contractual lecturers in Pretoria and five on the satellite campuses (Polokwane, Witbank & Nelspruit). A large number of part-time lecturers augment the Department's capacity.Staff details can be found on a separate page.
Facilities
Our facilities on the Pretoria Campus consist of a state-of-the-art Computer-Assisted Language Teaching (CALT) laboratory with 40 PC work stations, a 30-position Tandberg IS10 Digital Multimedia Laboratory, a Language Resource Centre with 2 PCs and a variety of resource materials, and a Language Dynamics studio. We also use the facilities of departments whose students we train.
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