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Afrikaans Profile | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Collaborative writing |  | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 9 of 13 13 October 2008 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think BelgoHead and armando have got this off to a good start, but there's some things I would like to add. My revisions are as follows
INTRODUCTION Afrikaans is an Indo-European language which diverged from 17th century Dutch and now has added words from other languages as well. Afrikaans does retain around 80-90% of the same vocabulary as Standaard Nederlands, albeit with altered spelling, and simplified grammar. It is not completely clear how Afrikaans came to be, and learning about the history of Afrikaans is also to briefly learn the history of European settlement in Southern Africa. The development of Afrikaans may have began in 1652 when Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company chose to bring small groups of farmers to the Cape of Good Hope to set up a supply post for Dutch ships en route to the East Indies. This was not originally intended as a permanent settlement, but the farmers stayed and founded what is now Cape Town. Later, French Huguenots, local Khoisan tribes, and slaves from other parts of Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia also settled there also, though their languages did not survive contact with the colloquial Dutch then spoken. This unique mix of ethnic groups is believed to have contributed to the development of a "kombuis taal" or kitchen language that slaves spoke and passed on to the children of the Europeans, and to their own children as well. The kombuis taal is sometimes believed to have been a pidgin or creole, indeed a form of it survives to this day as a colorful form of Afrikaans still spoken by the Coloured (mixed race) people in Cape Town. When the British came to the Cape in the early 1800s, some of the Dutch moved east and north from the Cape of Good Hope, settling what is now the rest of South Africa. Kombuis taal, far from dying out or being completely integrated into English at this time, was reintroduced to Dutch for two reasons; the colloquial kombuis taal was only spoken while most writing was in Dutch and many families only had one book, the Dutch Staten Bijbel. Afrikaans was rarely written until the mid-1800s when Abu Bakr Effendi wrote Bayaan-ud-djyn an instruction manual for Muslims in the Cape originally written using Arabic characters. Meanwhile in what was then Transvaal, the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners was founded and began to press for their language to be written and taught as a separate language from Dutch. During and after the period of the Boer Wars, Afrikaans was developed as a way of rebelling against perceived British cultural oppression. Afrikaans was the favored language of the National Party during the apartheid era, though it had dual status with English as an official language, and this association still leads to the misconception that Afrikaans is merely the language of apartheid. Currently South Africa has 11 official languages, but English is becoming more dominant. Afrikaans is still predominantly found in South Africa and Namibia, with recent immigrantion also leading to many Afrikaans speakers in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands. CHIC FACTOR Fairly Low, though more than one might think given the former association with aparthied. Most Afrikaans speakers also speak Engklish well and will be surprised that a foreigner is interested in their language. The name Afrikaans sounds exotic, and as the language is not wellknown outside of Southern Africa, the Flanders region of Belgium and The Netherlands, your friends may be impressed when you tell them you're learning Afrikaans. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE Very little outside of South Africa and Namibia, though South Africa is the wealthiest country in Africa. VARIATIONS The Cape dialect is the most wellknown variant and it remains mostly a spoken language. Afrikaans is based on what used to be called the Eastern Frontier dialect and is in written form the most like Dutch. I will add more later. Edited by mick33 on 14 October 2008 at 1:11pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5922 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 10 of 13 15 October 2008 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
As promised I will add more of my revisions to the propsed Afrikaans language page in the hopes of reviving this thread. First I will make the following revision to my previous post about variations. VARIATIONS There are at least three variants of Afrikaans. Western Cape Afrikaans, spoken in the Western Cape province, Orange River Afrikaans, spoken mostly in the Northern Cape and possibly retaining some Khoisan influences, finally Eastern Border Afrikaans spoken in the Eastern Cape, the Free State, and Gauteng which forms the basis of the academic form of Afrikaans taught in schools and used in writing. For the culture section I would make only a few addtions CULTURE Afrikaans the language is spoken by diverse population groups in South Africa, and if you are lucky you will be invited to a 'braai' (bbq). There is a distinct Afrikaans speaking culture, the Cape Coloureds, that has its own accent, and unique and distinctive foods, celebrations and way of life. The traditional boer, or Afrikaans speaking farmers and their relations also form a distinct culture with traditional foods, festivals etc. These Afrikaners consider themselves Africans, not Europeans. Perhaps surprisingly, given the relatively small area where Afrikaans is spoken and the fact that South Africa and Namibia have changed their language policies, there are many Afrikaans radio stations; two are Radio Sonder Grense and Radio Uitsaaines and newspapers likeBeeldand Die Burgerand many talented musicians and authors, this almost makes up for the scarcity of Afrikaans resources elsewhere. SCHOOLS Taught at many schools and universities in South Africa. It used to be taught at every school (against many peoples wishes) and the backlash by the current government is to try and eradicate it from all schools and universities. For now some of the formerly Afrikaans only universities survive as dual medium institutions offering courses in either Afrikaans or English or sometimes both languages simultaneously. Outside of South Africa it is taught in a few American and European universities . In South African universities courses in Afrikaans are available up to the doctorate level. LINKS Dr Jacques DuPlessis runs the best website for learning Afrikaans AFRIKAANS.US (NOTE this website's previous address was hacked and it isn't completely back up yet but what is there will get you started.) Easy AfrikaansEasy Afrikaans is basically a small phrasebook posted online, but it will help you to start to learn the Afrikaans language. It is aimed at beginner level language learners and anyone who plans to visit South Africa. Rina Loader at the University of Vienna has an excellent site about Afrikaans Afrikaans in Europa (These pages are mostly in Afrikaans and Dutch) Edited by mick33 on 17 October 2008 at 2:55pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5442 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 11 of 13 13 April 2010 at 4:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Bump. Recently I have become very interested in learning Afrikaans, but am not sure whether or not it will be worth
it. For example, as said before in this thread, it has become unpopular due to apartheid. Also, "It used to be taught at every school (against many peoples wishes) and the backlash by the current government is to try and eradicate it from all schools and universities." So is it worth it, or is Afrikaans a dying language? Would I be hated for speaking it? Are English an other languages taking over? Thanks, Brian, 18 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5337 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 12 of 13 15 April 2010 at 9:23am | IP Logged | ||
Considering that South Africa has 11 languages, I can't fathom Afrikaans dying. Also, I think you should pursue learning it. I plan to learn it a few years from now. Great language :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Taalmeester Bilingual Triglot Newbie South Africa Joined 5284 days ago 23 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English*, Afrikaans*, Japanese Studies: Spanish | Message 13 of 13 05 June 2010 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||
I'd just like to add something here. As I do not no the opinion of Afrikaans outside South Africa, I will not be able to comment on whether you'd be hated by people outside Africa. (If so that would just mean they know nothing about South Africa) Anyway South Africans won't hate you at all for learning it. A lot of black people speak Xhosa/Afrikaans/English to be able to serve in their professions. Some organizations have been formed to encourage Afrikaans among non-whites. (Formed by blacks *(Black and Afrikaans speaking and proud)) People here won't take offense if you learn the language. (Although they'll certainly take offense if you call their mother tongue 'dying';)). Here's the truth. Some (A small percentage) of black people still see Afrikaans as 'only the oppressor's language'. However, and I've encountered some of them, they primarily target ANYTHING European. By simply being British a British person will most likely be called a 'colonialist'(Severely bad connotation in Africa, obviously) or an 'imperialist'. Sometimes just being white is enough to encounter some racist generalization. However I say again racism amongst people is present in all races. However, being white is much more of a factor than the the Afrikaans language. (Surely there's nothing someone can do about that. ) On the education level the schools have been politicized heavily. However, it is not an attack on Afrikaans but an attack on the exclusion that Afrikaans-only medium schools cause. Afrikaans-only schools obviously excludes some black students. However, once a school changes to double medium English + Afrikaans the problem is solved. The black government does not intend to eradicate Afrikaans, instead they recognize it as an African language, bred in Africa and it received an official language status just like Zulu or Xhosa! The following is very important. Afrikaans is used heavily academically. A truly world class University (University of Stellenbosch) is Afrikaans. The engineering faculty is truly excellent and engineers are literally employed immediately after graduation. (Often overseas). Back to topic, although forced by law to instruct in both Afrikaans and English, the professors ignore this law as they care little for politics in the University. Their lectures are almost exclusively in Afrikaans. Anyway, sorry for the long piece but I thought I needed to explain some things behind the 'oppressor's language' fear I've seen more than once now. I don't know where everyone outside South Africa is getting that idea? Anyway I hope that cleared up some of the mystery or lessened some fears. Please ask if any more assistance is needed. ;) Edited by Taalmeester on 05 June 2010 at 11:16pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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