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The Afrikaanses of the world | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5325 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes  Speaks: German*, English | Message 9 of 28 06 October 2011 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
What about this relatively well-known interview between Charlize Theron and a Belgian reporter? Theron doesn't seem to have too many problems handling the Dutch questions, which admittedly weren't too hard. Also, what about well known South African thriller novelist Deon Meyer, who writes in Afrikaans. Have his books been translated into Dutch or do people in the Netherlands read his books (and books by other Afrikaans writers) in English or Afrikaans? Edited by Doitsujin on 06 October 2011 at 4:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Remster Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4810 days ago 120 posts - 134 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, French | Message 10 of 28 07 October 2011 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
Of course it's not a definite rule. It's not like native Afrikaans speakers understand absolutely nothing. As you said yourself, the reporter asked some easy questions, easy questions can be understood and with a small bit of Dutch knowledge you can get a lot further. The reporter also articulated quite clearly and didn't speak that fast. The fact remains though, that Afrikaans is really simplified Dutch, in my opinion those claiming otherwise have a reason in doing so. Afrikaans scrapped certain parts of the Dutch grammer. A Dutch person will probably understand what you mean when you say: ''wij is''. But I'm not sure an Afrikaans speaker can always understand ''ben, bent en zijn''. I'm not sure whether books get ''translated'' here. Maybe they do, but I have also read books that weren't. Anyway, I can read Afrikaans with no trouble whatsoever. It's a bit like badly spelled Dutch. I can read it just as fast as any other Dutch text. My uncle however was able to read a Dutch book, but he had to slow down considerably and look up several things. But I do think the main barrier is the spoken part. Reading often looks alike due to Dutch being a mother language to Afrikaans. When you speak though, I noticed my uncle had a difficult time following me, while I could follow him with no trouble. Edited by Remster on 07 October 2011 at 9:18pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5929 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 11 of 28 08 October 2011 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
I began learning Afrikaans in either 2006 or 2007. I was curious to get another perspective of South African history and saw that Afrikaans is somewhat similar to English and Zulu or Xhosa are very, very different from English. I also found that, while none of the three languages has a glut of materials available for language learners, Afrikaans does have more resources than most of the other South African languages. My interest in South African history didn't last, but I do still like the language.
Ek is Jy is Hy/Sy/Dit is Ons is Julle is Hulle is As I wrote above, I think these are small mistakes. In case anyone else reads this Dutch uses "ij" a lot, but Afrikaans only uses it in proper names; otherwise Afrikaans spelling usually uses "y". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Remster Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4810 days ago 120 posts - 134 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, French | Message 12 of 28 09 October 2011 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes you're right the ''IJ'' has been changed to the ''Y'' in Afrikaans and ''ik'' is indeed ''ek''. My apologies, I will correct this and give you the credits.
I guess it's easy to fall into those mistakes, because I'm Dutch. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lex3000 Diglot Newbie United Kingdom afrikaanslond&# Joined 5255 days ago 6 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English*, Afrikaans Studies: Esperanto | Message 13 of 28 10 October 2011 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
If you're interested in this I can recommend The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims by Achmat Davids. I got a copy this weekend and it's very interesting and adds to the debate and competing theories around the origins of Afrikaans, which is one of the things that makes it such a fascinating language to learn. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Remster Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4810 days ago 120 posts - 134 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, French | Message 14 of 28 11 October 2011 at 10:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't mean to downgrade Afrikaans, but I think it's more of a dialect than a language really. I know it's current status, but my opinion is that it's too similar.
Some spelling changes and simplifications doesn't make it a complete different language. Though it certainly sounds funny to my Dutch ears. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5991 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 15 of 28 11 October 2011 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
Dialect+flag+military=language 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Remster Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4810 days ago 120 posts - 134 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, French | Message 16 of 28 12 October 2011 at 9:21am | IP Logged | |||||
I think I understand what you're trying to say here. That certainly is true. I think that a language should be recognized as one on a linguistic scale, not on a political one. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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