Afrikaans - South Africa's Language Heritage
Afrikaans, one of South Africa's 11 official languages, is spoken by the majority of the population as either a first or second language. A South African born language Afrikaans has a fascinating history and has become wide spread, even being spoken freely in Namibia and partly in Botswana, Zimbabwe and other countries. Though considered by some English speaking South African's as a dying language, it certainly has its place in society and a rich culture backing it up.
The name of Afrikaans is in fact the Dutch word meaning “African”. Essentially, Afrikaans developed in the Cape. Home to a vast number of mixed nationalities, such as Dutch settlers, Khokhoi, West Africans, Madagascans, Indonesians and others, it was vital for such ones living in the Cape to communicate. Thus a new form of simplified Dutch, along with some words from several influences, was developed. This original dialect was referred to as “Cape Dutch”, then later as “Kitchen Dutch” or “African Dutch”. Afrikaans became recognized as a separate language to Dutch during the late 19th century. It became an official language along with English in 1961, booting the Dutch language out of the picture.
The main differences between Dutch and Afrikaans are vocabulary and grammar. Afrikaans has what is considered a more “regular” grammar. This is attributed to influences on the language by Dutch creole languages. A large sum of Afrikaans vocabulary gives evidence of its South Hollandic Dutch origins. It does however also include words from Asian Malay, English, Malagasy, Khoi, San, Xhosa, French and Portuguese, thus many words differ greatly. The Northeastern dialect was the form of Afrikaans from which the written standard developed. Today, Afrikaans is spoken as a first language of around 60% of White South Africans as well as more than 90% of the Colored South Africans. Many of various race groups do speak the language as a second language.
Whilst Afrikaans has received criticism as an “ugly language” it is also becoming a popular language around the world. Universities in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Russia and Austria are now teaching the Afrikaans language. In 1975 the Afrikaans Language Monument was erected on a hill near the town of Paarl in South Africa's Western Cape. This impressive structure was created to commemorates the declaration of Afrikaans as a language all of its own. South Africa's Afrikaans language has certainly made its mark in the world. Why not learn a few phrases when visiting this fascinating country.