Empowering Your Voice – Language, Identity, and Academic Success with the SU Language Centre

Loading player...
In this episode of our 2026 Registration Roadshow, recorded live at the Coetzenburg Centre, we explore the heart of the Matie experience: language. Jacolette Kloppers sits down with Sanet de Jager, Senior Interpreter and Marketing Liaison for the Stellenbosch University Language Centre, to discuss how mastering your self-expression is the ultimate key to academic success.

Language is more than just a tool for communication; it is a vehicle for our stories, our cultures, and our identities. Sanet provides an essential guide for the #ClassOf2026 on how to navigate a multilingual campus and where to find the support needed to thrive.

In this episode, we dive into:

- The Power of Multilingualism: Why being able to express yourself properly is vital for both personal growth and academic achievement.
- Essential Student Services: A deep dive into the Writing Lab and Reading Lab, and how these resources can transform your approach to university assignments.
- Stories and Culture: The value of embracing your identity through language within the diverse Stellenbosch community.
- First-Year Advice: Practical tips from the Language Centre on how to hit the ground running and where to reach out for help.

Whether you need help refining an essay or want to improve your reading speed, this conversation highlights the services available to help every student find their voice in Matieland.

Your Maties journey starts here. Once a Matie, always a Matie. MFM 92.6 – celebrating the start of your story.
4 Feb English South Africa News · Society & Culture

Other recent episodes

Whose Home Was Safe? | Prof Amanda Gouws on Women, Lockdown and COVID Diaries

August was Women's Month, with its annual invitation to reflect on equality, care, work, safety and belonging. On SiyakhulaLive, that reflection turns backwards – to a time not so long ago when COVID-19 turned everything upside down, and to the question of what that moment looked like through the eyes…
7 Sep 25 min

Success for Whom? | Making Sure Every Student Belongs

SU Student Success Initiative Series: Episode Seven. Recorded on Thursday 3 September 2026. Two students can sit in the same lecture hall, hand in the same assignment, and walk out with completely different senses of whether they belong there. This conversation asks whose definition of student success the university is…
7 Sep 51 min

From Silos to Synergy | How Stellenbosch University's Integrated Support Model Works

SU Student Success Initiative Series: Episode Three. Recorded on Friday 28 August 2026. Counsellors, academic advisers, faculty support coordinators, the CSCD, the Student Success Initiative. Students hear the names but rarely know who does what, or who to approach first. This conversation answers that — and argues you should not…
4 Sep 40 min