Training for African language advertising extended

This week saw the launch of SABC/Vega Ulimi Lwami (my language centre) in Cape Town and Durban, born out of a need to start creating advertising that has been conceptualised in African languages and based in a true South African cultural context - advertising that rings true with the target audience, is not simply a direct translation from English, and doesn't perpetuate stereotypes or patronise its audience.

10 May 2006

Gab Mampone, group executive designate, and Inez Maubane, national navigator: Vega

Ulimi Lwami will become a training partner for SABC Commercial Enterprises and sensitise students and the broader industry to the socio-cultural aspect of language use and learning, ultimately becoming a copy and script resource for the SABC and RAP studio.

SABC will also afford a number of Vega students intern opportunities within the marketing environment of the SABC. The Ulimi Lwami centres will work very closely with Ukhozi FM and Lotus FM in Durban, as well as Good Hope FM and Umhlobo Wenene by means of the Cape Town Centre.

Says Mark Jakins, outgoing CE of Commercial Enterprises SABC, "Advertising is the domain of all South Africans, irrespective of their language or culture. Ulimi Lwami is close to the heart and soul of what the SABC represents, so it's appropriate that we support and highlight the importance of language marketing in South Africa.

To create true advertising magic, the ad needs to be created in the language in which it will be broadcast and not translated. To reach consumers, you need to talk to them in their own language and not in a second or third language."

Gordon Cook, Vega School navigator, adds, "It is long overdue that our persuasive communications industry has the capability to communicate in the appropriate language of the audience. But to achieve this is more than language. It's the history of the audience, the culture of the audience, the visual coding of the audience."

Ulimi Lwami Johannesburg was launched in September 2004 with second and third year copywriting students receiving isiZulu instruction through Zulu software in a language lab. The instruction included cultural sensitivity workshops, conducted by a tutor. Corporate workshops presented by Gcina Mhlope and Dorian Haarhoff were hugely successful.