BackgroundLanguage barriers between doctors and patients have been shown globally to negatively affect the quality of health care and infringe on basic patient rights. In response to these challenges, the Division of Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) integrated career-oriented Afrikaans and Xhosa communication skills classes into the MBChB degree programme in 2003.AimTo measure students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the language communication skills classes in creating multilingual medical practitioners in the South African context and compare these perceptions between the Afrikaans and Xhosa courses.SettingThe study was conducted on the Health Sciences campus of the University of Cape Town, South Africa.MethodsThe study was a cross-sectional survey. During March 2017, access to an online structured questionnaire was provided to 600 randomly selected medical students from second to sixth year at the UCT.ResultsThe response rate was 43.7%, and students reported a much higher baseline level of Afrikaans compared to Xhosa (99.0% vs. 42.7%). Respondents reported a lack of confidence in the clinical sphere for both languages (Afrikaans 51.5%; Xhosa 60.0%) and a lack of communicative ability (Afrikaans 35.3%; Xhosa 67.2%) as major barriers to patient communication.ConclusionsRespondents overwhelmingly agreed that second language learning is valuable for their future as medical practitioners, but did not feel that they are developing sufficient communicative competence. The courses need to be re-evaluated to account for the lower level of pre-MBChB Xhosa exposure, as compared to Afrikaans. Increased time allocated to languages, increased attention to cultural issues and informal variants, and redesigning assessments to better reflect students’ abilities are all potential recommendations.

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The aim of this research was to conduct a study on the economic feasibility of a mixed cow production project by estimating the expected investment and operational costs of the project, estimating the expected revenues and returns for the project, calculating the project's financial and economic evaluation indicators using discounted and non-discounted measures, and analyzing the project's sensitivity to unfavorable conditions. The financial analysis of the mixed beef production farms, of the first, second and third categories, indicated that the internal rate of return for these projects was estimated at about 18.97%, 17.82% and 18.93%, respectively. The study recommended the encouragement of investors to enter the field of fattening mixed cow calves and working to reduce the imported quantities of both meat and fish. The study also recommended facilitating lending processes for graduates who are interested in desert land reclamation and increased the productivity of meat-producing animals through genetic improvement, improvement of breeding systems, and nutrition and veterinary care. The study also mentioned the role of agricultural cooperatives in providing concentrated feed, and attention to the role of scientific research in fattening livestock to bridge the gap in meat production.