The writing's on the wall if rampant illiteracy persists
February 1 commemorated two important dates, Exclusive Books’s GM for marketing, Ben Williams, told a crowd in Rosebank that evening. It was the first day of the Language Activism campaign, a month-long initiative established by the Pan-South African Language Board to "elevate the status of indigenous languages". It was also Harry Potter Book Night, when children descended on bookstores globally dressed as their favourite character from the best-selling novel series. The Harry Potter books have sold more than 500-million copies worldwide and have been translated into about 80 languages, including Ancient Greek. Although Africa is home to more than 1,500 languages, the series had been translated into only one of them, said Williams: Afrikaans. "This is the size of the problem we must address. We cannot sell what does not exist," he added. World Read Aloud Day is on February 16. "[This] is the best intervention you can have for your children," Williams said. "It develops cognitive cap...
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