IsiZulu and Zimbabwean Ndebele controversy

The use of isiZulu in Matabeleland as a language of both evangelization and education dates back to the earliest works of missionaries under the London Missionary Society in the 1850s. The approach has had both bad and good results.

The Good Results
1. It has tended to minimise the deterioration rate of the Ndebele language into a hotch potch far detached from its Zulu prototype. Those who know South African Ndebele will easily understand the dangers of failing to regulate a langauge's mandate in borrowing  from other languages; it quickly becomes a stranger to its own relatives.
2. Zulu as a much more developed language of teaching has easily provided linguistic templates which have made isiNdebele a competitive language of diverse functions and purposes.
3. The use of Zulu literature has not only expanded the Ndebele worldview but also broadened their experiential horizons beyond Zimbabwe. For instance Ndebele students get to appreciate South African social dynamics without having to move to that country which makes them anthropologically richer.
4. It has helped to cement certain Nguni cultural practices which would have easily been forgotten or discarded.
5. It has demistified Zuluness making it easy for Ndebeles not only to identify closely with Zulus but also to beat Zulus in their own game. Mthwakazi maskadi and imbube artists compete with their Zulu counterparts neck to neck.

The Bad Ones
1. The use of Zulu as an alternative to Ndebele has tended to make Ndebele artists and writers less creative as they adopt Zulu products as their own.
2. IsiZulu has tended to overshadow isiNdebele making it less urgent to produce true Ndebele  editions of some universal products such as the Bible, Hymn books, Dictionaries etc.
3. The quality of Ndebele products is usually based on how close it is to the Zulu versions. For instance most music products in Zimbabwe are generally poor but those sung in non-Nguni languages are subjected to  less harsh judgment because that's all there is those languages. However, a Ndebele who has been exposed to high quality Zulu music from South Africa may find it difficult to fully appreciate their own Ndebele music from Zimbabwe in comparison to SA music. The Soul Brothers are arguably still the most popular musical group in Bulawayo today at the expense of local singers some of whom have been forced to hang up the guitar.
4. The use of IsiZulu has also tended to induce academic laziness among Ndebeles as they over depend on Zulu linguistic templates. For instance isiNdebele adopted IsiZulu orthography hook, line and sinker as they never suggest or initiate any evolutionary changes to it. While this has its obvious benefits a more involved role by isiNdebele language experts should be encouraged in the Zulu or even Nguni orthorgraphic development.
5. Zulu has moved fast in modernising and embracing technological functions. They have since developed and continue to develop new science and technology based vocabulary. Ndebele too had been doing well till recently but the language has since surrendered the lexical coinage role to IsiZulu language experts. For example the following terms were developed independently and creatively by isiNdebele speakers without relying on isiZulu:

1. Politics.....umbangazwe
2. Kettle........igedlela
3. Candle......ikhandlela
4. Soap.........isepa
5. Dictator....uNtamokayitshileki
6. Machine Gun...isigwagwagwa
7. Revolver...........ivolovolo
8. Weather...isimo somkhathi/umkhathi

However of late isiNdebele has not only stopped creating new terms for new phenomena but is attempting to discard even its own creative products in favour of the Zulu ones. For instance "umbangazwe" for politics is being replaced with "umbusazwe" which is commonly used in Zulu. 'Isikhwicamfundo' for Professor is being replaced with 'uSolwazi' which is Zulu.  'Isepa' for soap is being replaced with 'insipho' which is Zulu. Even 'umphokoqo' (mealie pap) is being replaced with 'uphuthu' which is not necessary given the fact that both "isepa" and "umphokoqo" are used in another Nguni language (isiXhosa) in the same way as used in Ndebele.

Examples of over dependency on isiZulu are as follows:
1. AIDS............Ingculazi
2. HIV..............Isandulelangculazi
3. Cellphone...umakhalekhukhwini
4. TV...............umabonakude
5. Fridge........isiqandisi

Please note that I am not against the use of IsiZulu terms per se; I'm against the needless discarding of authentic Ndebele terms in favour of Zulu-generated ones. Like USA English to British English isiNdebele should be exporting back to its parent language (IsiZulu) new words and terms instead of running back to the 'mother' for solving new terminology problems. Ndebele language experts  should be part of the coining of new terms together with their Zulu counterpars or even other languages in the Nguni cluster so as to give the Nguni family of languages a competitive advantage over other regional languages in Africa such as Swahili and Arabic in the fast globalising world. They need to adopt a shorter numbering system common to all the five members of the cluster to make Nguni a science and technology user-friendly language.