You're reading it here first.
I can be first to reveal that the local preschool TV channel Koowee (DStv 307) is now also available in Zulu as a language option.
Koowee that started out on DStv in April 2009 as an Afrikaans language channel and from the outset aimed to become available in other language options as well, now gives viewers the option of a Zulu sound track since the beginning of June. Viewers can press LANGUAGE on the DStv remote when on the Koowee channel, and can now choose between an Afrikaans or Zulu sound track.
''When Koowee started last year, we decided that it would be important to support the channel in the local languages in South Africa,'' Yolisa Phahle, M-Net channel director: special interests, tells me. ''You can now choose to either watch a programme in Afrikaans or Zulu. We're hoping that it will take off in Zulu because then we'll also consider other languages - not just for South Africa but also - because we're a continental broadcaster, also maybe Swahili speaking people for example.''
''Most mothers are keen for their children to receive an education in and to be able to communicate in their mother tongue – especially babies, because if they're not English speaking first language, you're going to be speaking to your child in either Afrikaans or Zulu or whatever language,'' says Yolisa Phahle. ''That is where we saw the need. We launched Koowee last year, primarily in Afrikaans, and it was very popular with the parents and grandparents. At the time we already decided that we would be following it up with other languages so from June 1 you now have a language option of Afrikaans and Zulu.''
