A Traveler’s Guide to Afrikaans

If you are heading to South Africa, you might be wondering what the locals will say when you get there.

With 11 official languages to choose from, the answer is that you will likely encounter many different dialects on your travels, but one of them will likely be Afrikaans.

Here is what you need to know!

History of Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language that began with the arrival of the first Dutch settlers to South Africa in 1652.

As the settlers' native Dutch was transmitted to slaves and migrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa throughout the 18th century, developed unique characteristics, and eventually, it became its own distinctive language.

Although between 90 and 95 percent of Afrikaans words are of Dutch origin, many other languages ​​have contributed to its development, with German and Khoisan being particularly influential.

This has led some linguists to refer to Afrikaans as a form of Creole Dutch, while others have called it "Cooking Dutch", a derogatory term that refers to its more simplistic morphology and grammar.

There are so many similarities between Afrikaans and their mother tongue that it is easy for Dutch and Afrikaans speakers to understand each other.

Afrikaans was first recognized as a distinct language in 1925 when the official languages ​​of Union law included it as a variety of Dutch.

In the 1961 Constitution, Afrikaans replaced Dutch as the official language of South Africa.

During the apartheid era, the government introduced Afrikaans as an official medium of instruction in schools.

This decision led to the Soweto Uprising, which saw some 20,000 students take to the streets in protest on June 16, 1976.

At least 176 protesters were killed by the police, making the uprising one of the most infamous events of the 1919 years. apartheid.

Afrikaans is still viewed by many black Africans as a symbol of white oppression, and in 2015, students violently protested to have it removed as the language of instruction in South African universities.

English has now replaced Afrikaans as the main language and lingua franca of South Africa.

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Where is Afrikaans spoken?

As one of the 11 official languages ​​of South Africa, Afrikaans is the mother tongue of around 13.5% of the population (almost seven million people).

Many other South Africans can speak and understand it as a second or third language, making it the third most widely spoken language in the country.

It is also one of the five languages ​​of the South African national anthem and, of all the official languages, it has the widest geographic and racial distribution.

About 50% of the population speaks Afrikaans in the Northern and Western Cape provinces. Seventy-five percent of Black Cape speakers speak Afrikaans, as do 60% of White South Africans.

It is much less popular with black South Africans, with only 1.5% of the population claiming that it is their first language.

Afrikaans was also an official language of Namibia along with German and English during the period of the South African administration.

Both Afrikaans and German were demoted from official status when Namibia gained independence in 1990, although Afrikaans remains constitutionally recognized as a national language.

However, only three percent of Namibians speak English, the official language, as their mother tongue.

Oshiwambo is the most widely spoken first language, but Afrikaans is the closest the country has to a lingua franca.

It is the mother tongue of 10% of Namibians and 60% of the white community.

A smaller number of Afrikaans speakers can be found in neighboring Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Many South Africans and Namibians who emigrated to other countries in the world speak Afrikaans.

Australia has the largest number of Afrikaans speakers outside of Africa: almost 44,000 people, or 0.61% of the population according to 2016 figures.

In the same year, the United States and Canada had the fourth and fifth largest numbers of speakers.

Afrikaans, with the language spoken by 0.39% and 0.32% of the population, respectively.

English words of Afrikaans origin

Many words that have been adopted into the South African English vocabulary are of Afrikaans origin, which means that even if you do not make a conscious effort to learn the language, you will likely learn a few words during your stay in South Africa.

The most common include bakkie (pickup), braai (barbecue), lekker (amazing), naartjie (tangerine), and babelas (hangover).

Many traditional South African dishes were brought by Dutch settlers from the Cape and are known by their Afrikaan names, regardless of the ethnicity of the speaker.

Go for dinner at a South African friend's house and probably try boerewors (farm sausage) or potjiekos (meat and vegetable stew), perhaps with koeksisters (braided fried dough) for dessert.

Some of the Afrikaans loanwords are used by English speakers around the world.

This includes aardvark, trek, command, spoor, veld, and apartheid.

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