Is Afrikaans a dying language?
About the Afrikaans Language. The Afrikaans language is one of South Africa’s official languages and a large proportion of the local population uses it as their first or second language. Some believe that Afrikaans is a dying language, however, it remains spoken all over the country and respected for its origins.
How long Afrikaans exist?
Afrikaners (Afrikaans: [afriˈkɑːnərs]) are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries. They traditionally dominated South Africa’s politics and commercial agricultural sector prior to 1994.
What is the least spoken language in South Africa?
IsiNdebele
IsiNdebele is the least spoken of South Africa’s 11 official languages, and confined mainly to Mpumalanga and Gauteng. It is an Nguni language, like isiZulu, isiXhosa and siSwati.
How did the Afrikaans language evolve over a period of time?
Afrikaans is a creole language that evolved during the 19th century under colonialism in southern Africa. This simplified, creolised language had its roots mainly in Dutch, mixed with seafarer variants of Malay, Portuguese, Indonesian and the indigenous Khoekhoe and San languages.
How close is Afrikaans to Dutch?
90 to 95\%
As an estimated 90 to 95\% of Afrikaans vocabulary is ultimately of Dutch origin, there are few lexical differences between the two languages; however, Afrikaans has a considerably more regular morphology, grammar, and spelling.
Is Afrikaans a beautiful language?
“Afrikaans is helluva nice language,” he says. “It is so expressive and flows so beautifully. You can’t say lekker my bru in any other way.
Does everyone in South Africa speak Afrikaans?
Afrikaans is home language of 2.7-million white South Africans, or about six in every 10 (60.8\%) white people. Next up is English, the first language of 1.6-million white South Africans. Three or four (35.9\%) of every 10 white South Africans speak English at home.
Do Dutch speakers understand Afrikaans?
Although Afrikaans is a daughter of Dutch, Dutch speakers might take some time to understand the language but they can understand Afrikaans. One of the major differences between the two languages lies in grammar and morphology of Afrikaans. The spelling is also different from the Dutch standard.
Can German speakers understand Afrikaans?
No. Germanic languages are not as mutually intelligible with each other in the way that Romance and Slavic languages are. So no, Germans will struggle to understand Afrikaans. Afrikaans is closer to English and Dutch than it is to German.
How do you say my love in South Africa?
Valentine’s Day: How to say “I love you” in all 11 official languages of South Africa:
- Afrikaans: Ek is lief vir jou or ek het jou lief.
- English: I love you (for those who were struggling).
- Ndebele: Niyakutanda.
- Sepedi: Ke a go rata.
- Sesotho: Ke a go rata.
- Siswati: Ngiyakutsandza.
- Tshonga: Ndzakurhandza.
What happened to Afrikaans in South Africa?
Despite attempts to keep the language as one of only two official languages after 1994, the Constitutional Assembly in the newly-democratised South African republic chose to downgrade Afrikaans to only one of eleven official languages, its protected status a thing of the past.
How much do you know about Afrikaans?
While there are about more than 7000 languages spoken worldwide, Afrikaans is recognized as the 140th largest language in the world. This is quite astonishing given that it is a young language. 3. It is part of the reason why South Africa has 11 official languages. 4. Afrikaans is considered as the 3rd largest language in South Africa.
What is the future of the Afrikaans language?
The future of Afrikaans is tied to the future of the Afrikaner ethnic group. We are a strong-willed, proud people. After almost four hundred years we continue to thrive under the harshest of circumstances.
Is Afrikaans a language or a dialect?
4. Afrikaans is considered as the 3rd largest language in South Africa. This places right after the top two languages spoken in South Africa, Xhosa and Zulu. 5. It is one of the 5 languages that are used as the official language of instruction at the school level. This was established in 1914 and continues to hold until now.