afrikaans

     

Afrikaans is an Ino-European language, derived from Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia and Argentina. Due to emigration and migrant labour, there are possibly over 100,000 Afrikaans speakers in the United Kingdom, with other substantial communities found in Brussels, Amsterdam, Perth, Mount Isa, Toronto and Auckland. It is the primary language used by two related ethnic groups in South Africa: the Afrikaners and the Coloureds or kleurlinge or bruinmense (including Basters, Cape Malays and Griqua).

Trivia about afrikaans

  • This language was originally based on a form of Dutch called Hollands, but has words from Khoi & Zulu
  • In 1976 Soweto, near Johnannesburg, was the site of protests against the forced use of this language
  • This South African language has been called Cape Dutch
  • Words taken from this language include apartheid, trek & meerkat
  • Also called the Taal, this language developed from the 17th century Dutch
  • Trek
  • Also called Cape Dutch, it has constitutional recognition as a national language in Namibia
  • Johan from South Africa speaks English, but on the phone with his mom, he uses this laanguaage related to Dutch

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