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Should I learn Afrikaans? - Your Opinion | ||
Tags: Afrikaans | Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5444 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 16 13 April 2010 at 10:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi,
I've always found found this forum and this whole website helpful, and wanted to ask about Afrikaans. I've always had a fascination with Africa, from reading Out of Africa when I was younger to going to Tunisia last year. I want to learn Afrikaans, but it seems quite unpopular. For example, its involvement in the apartheid regime. It used to be compulsory, and now many schools don't teach it. Also, if I want to explore Africa, perhaps French or Arabic would be better to learn? French seems to be more of a second language though and wouldn't allow me to live there. Arabic would be difficult, if not more confined, and I am more interested in South Africa. So is learning this language worthwhile? What are your thoughts. Brian, 18, Ireland 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5352 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 2 of 16 13 April 2010 at 10:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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There are so many languages spoken in Africa, that it really would depend on which country you wanted to live in, as to which language to learn. I have always heard that French is a good lingua-franca when one is traveling in Africa. If it was me, I would choose French over Arabic.
Africans is primarily spoken in parts of Africa which had been settled by the Dutch, i.e. South Africa and Namibia. It is supposed to be a very easy language to learn for an English speaker, as it originally started out as Dutch, but then became gramatically simpler. If you are fairly good with German, then you would already be part of the way to Afrikaans, as there are many shared words between German, Dutch, and Afrikaans. Downfall is the association with apartheid, though if I wasn't learning Dutch, I would learn Afrikaans. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5444 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 16 13 April 2010 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Would people be bemused if they saw a blonde haired Irish boy speaking Afrikaans? Might they think of me as an oppressor (apartheid) and be shocked that anyone would want to learn this dying language, if it it dying?
French sounds quite good, but I would want to learn the native languages too, or primary language. For example, I could go to Japan and get by with Japanese, but I would prefer to learn Japanese. Edited by brian91 on 13 April 2010 at 10:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| chucknorrisman Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5448 days ago 321 posts - 435 votes Speaks: Korean*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Lithuanian, French | Message 4 of 16 13 April 2010 at 11:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
I personally wouldn't be. But then I'm not that great at telling Europeans apart. "Might they think of me as an oppressor (apartheid) and be shocked that anyone would want to learn this dying language, if it it dying?" Although it did lose some support after Apartheid, I think the language is still alive and kicking. And this is not a guarantee, but according to Wikipedia the language is "less and less viewed as 'the language of the oppressor' and this is supported to a large extent by new-generation Afrikaans youths openly supporting change and rejecting the old racial policies." "French sounds quite good, but I would want to learn the native languages too, or primary language. " I think that is always a good idea. Edited by chucknorrisman on 13 April 2010 at 11:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 16 13 April 2010 at 11:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've never heard Afrikaans described as "dying"....
Anyway, in South Africa there's a lot of English spoken, so Afrikaans isn't crucial. If you want to travel, it won't get you far. As Tracker456 says, it's only spoken in two countries. If you could only know three languages and you wanted to travel the length of Africa, you would have to chose French, English and Arabic because although not everyone speaks one, you'll never be far from someone who speaks one in the main urban or tourist areas. French, English, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Swahili are all official languages of the African Union, but Spanish, Portuguese and Swahili are more more geographically restricted than the other three. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5453 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 6 of 16 13 April 2010 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
Aren't many of the Afrikaans speakers blonde? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5339 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 7 of 16 13 April 2010 at 11:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Learn Dutch instead :)
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| brian91 Senior Member Ireland Joined 5444 days ago 335 posts - 437 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 8 of 16 13 April 2010 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, but these are usually the people who were/are seen as the oppressors before 1994 with apartheid, so I don't want to offend anybody. :/ Edited by brian91 on 13 April 2010 at 11:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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