Afrikaans
Spoken in:	South Africa Namibia Botswana Lesotho Swaziland
Region:	Southern Africa
Total speakers:	est. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South The Kingdom of Swaziland is a country located in Southern Africa centred at approximately 26o49'S 31o38'E Southern Africa is the Southernmost Region of the African Continent, variably defined by Geography or Geopolitics. 6. 44 million (home language) 6. 75 million (second or third language) 12 to 16 million (basic language knowledge) estimation October 2007.
Language family:	Indo-European  Germanic   West Germanic    Low Franconian     Dutch      Afrikaans
Official status
Official language in:	South Africa
Regulated by:	Die Taalkommissie (The Language Commission of the South African Academy for Science and Arts)
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	af
ISO 639-2:	afr
ISO 639-3:	afr
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three traditional branches of the Germanic family of Languages and include languages such as English Low Franconian, or Low Frankish, is a group of several West Germanic Languages spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium ( Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Afrikaans is an Indo-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. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Low Franconian, or Low Frankish, is a group of several West Germanic Languages spoken in the Netherlands, northern Belgium ( The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central The Kingdom of Swaziland is a country located in Southern Africa centred at approximately 26o49'S 31o38'E See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Due to emigration and migrant labour, there are possibly over 100,000 Afrikaans speakers in the United Kingdom^[1], with other substantial communities found in Brussels, Amsterdam, Perth, Mount Isa, Toronto and Auckland. "Emigrant" redirects here For the Butterflies, see Catopsilia. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. Mount Isa is a city in North-West Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because the area holds vast mineral deposits Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country 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). The term Afrikaner people refers to white Afrikaans -speaking people who have been established in Southern Africa since the 17th century and are mainly of northwestern In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense The Basters (also known as Baasters, Rehobothers or Rehoboth Basters) are the descendants of liaisons between the Cape Colony Dutch The Cape Malay community is an Ethnic group or Community in South Africa, taking its name from what is now known as the Western Cape of The Griqua ( Afrikaans Griekwa, sometimes incorrectly called Korana) are a subgroup of South Africa 's heterogeneous and Multiracial

Geographically, the Afrikaans language is the majority language of the western one-third of South Africa (Northern and Western Cape, spoken at home by 69% and 58%, respectively). The Northern Cape is a large sparsely populated province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. It is also the largest first language in the adjacent southern third of Namibia (Hardap and Karas, where it is the first language of 44% and 40%, respectively). Economy The region is a predominantly small stock farming area consisting mostly of animals such as sheep or goats

Afrikaans originated from the 17th century Dutch language. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The dialect became known as 'Cape Dutch'. The term Cape Dutch was used to describe the inhabitants of the Western Cape of South Africa, descended primarily from Dutch and Flemish as well Later, Afrikaans was sometimes also referred to as 'African Dutch' or 'Kitchen Dutch', although these terms were mainly pejorative. Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt Afrikaans was considered a Dutch dialect until the late 19th century, when it began to be recognised as a distinct language, and it gained equal status with Dutch and English as an official language in South Africa in 1925. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Dutch remained an official language until the new 1961 constitution finally stipulated the two official languages in South Africa to be Afrikaans and English (although the 1961 constitution still had a sub-clause stipulating that the word "Afrikaans" was also meant to be referring to the Dutch language). It is the only Indo-European language of significance that underwent distinct development on the African continent. Afrikaans and Dutch are largely mutually intelligible. In Linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between Languages in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand

Contents 1 History 1.1 Dialects 1.2 Standardisation 1.3 The Afrikaans Bible 2 Afrikaans Language 3 Grammar 3.1 Comparison with Dutch, German and English 4 Orthography 4.1 Glyphs in loan words 4.2 Diacritics 4.3 Initial apostrophes 4.4 Table of characters 5 Afrikaans phrases 6 Sample text in Afrikaans 7 Die Stem van Suid Afrika 8 Sociolinguistics 9 Future for Afrikaans 10 Afrikaans Music 11 Traditional Afrikaans Music, or Boeremusiek 12 Afrikaans songs, old and new 13 Afrikaans "Hip-Hop" 14 See also 15 Notes 16 References 17 External links 17.1 General 17.2 Portals and links lists 17.3 Organisations 17.4 Spell checkers 17.5 Dictionaries

History

Afrikaans was originally the dialect that developed among the Dutch speaking Protestant settlers, and the indentured or slave workforce of the Cape area in southwestern South Africa that was established by the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie — VOC, Afrikaans: Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie) between 1652 and 1705. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there often to colonize the area An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 with the founding of Cape Town. The Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in Year 1705 ( MDCCV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a A relative majority of these first settlers were from the United Provinces (now Netherlands), though there were also many from Germany, a considerable number from France, and some from Norway, Portugal, Scotland, and various other countries. "United Netherlands" redirects here For the "Kingdom of the United Netherlands" see United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The indentured workers and slaves were Asians, Malays, Malagasy in addition to the indigenous Khoi and Bushmen. Asian or Asiatic is a Demonym for people from Asia. However the use of the term varies by country and person often referring to people from a particular The concept of a Malay race ( Bangsa Melayu) was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840 The Malagasy ( French: Malgache) ethnic group forms the vast majority of the population of Madagascar. The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa

The Afrikaans School has long seen Afrikaans as a natural development from the South-Hollandic Dutch dialect, but has also only considered the Afrikaans as spoken by the Whites. Some believe that Afrikaans was originally spoken by the Khoisan people solely after using words they heard from the Dutch. Khoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan or Khoe-San) is the name for two major Ethnic groups of Southern Africa.

Though this 'theory' would imply the improbability of a language systematically developing out of a grammatology. Furthermore, this theory would fail to explain the systematic process of simplification from dialectical 17th century Dutch to Afrikaans, its geographically widespread and cohesive nature and also the persistent structural similarities between Afrikaans and other regional Franconic dialects including West Flemish and Zeelandic. West Flemish (West Flemish Vlaemsch/Vlaams, Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: Flamand occidental) is a group of Dutch dialects spoken in Zeelandic ( Zeêuws in Zeelandic Zeeuws in Dutch is a Regional language spoken in the Dutch province of Zeeland and on the

Afrikaans also remains akin to other West-Germanic languages (except English) in that it remains a V2 language which features verb final structures in subordinate clauses, just like Dutch and German. Verb-second (V2 word order, in Syntax, is the rule in some languages that the second constituent of declarative main clauses is always a verb while this is not necessarily

Dialects

There is evidence to support the existence of a few strongly defined dialects as is also found in the Dutch language area. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Following early dialectical studies of Afrikaans it was theorised that three main historical dialects probably existed before the Great Trek in the 1830s. The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration during the 1830s and 1840s of the Boers ( Dutch / Afrikaans for "farmers" who These dialects are defined as the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape dialects. The Northern Cape dialect of Afrikaans is a theoretical historical dialect of Afrikaans which may have existed prior to the Great Trek and which may have influenced the language The Western Cape dialect of Afrikaans is a dialect of Afrikaans that seems to have existed prior to the Great Trek and which most probably influenced the language of the present-day The Eastern Cape dialect of Afrikaans is a theoretical historical dialect of Afrikaans which may have existed prior to the Great Trek and which may have influenced the language of Remnants of these dialects still remain in present-day Afrikaans although the standardising effect of Stamdard Afrikaans has contributed to a great levelling of differences in modern times. Modern-day Standard Afrikaans itself is said to have developed from the Eastern Cape dialect (as this is where the Great Trek started and from where the rest of South Africa was initially populated).

Modern day Afrikaans could be said to include the following dialects:-

- Transvaal-Free State Afrikaans (being the most similar to Standard Afrikaans)

- Malmesbury dialect (characterised by the guttural /r/, similar to French. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people

- Cape Peninsula dialect spoken by the elderly these days and more similar to the so-called Cape Coloured dialects. The term Cape Coloureds refers to the modern-day descendants of slave labourers imported into South Africa by Dutch settlers as well as to other groups

- Maleier Afrikaans ( A Cape dialect heavily influenced by Arabic and Malay owing to the ethnicity of the speakers, see Cape Malays). The Cape Malay community is an Ethnic group or Community in South Africa, taking its name from what is now known as the Western Cape of

- Kaapse Afrikaans

- Kalahari Afrikaans

- Griekwa Afrikaans

- Kharkhams Afrikaans

- Baster Afrikaans spoken in Namibia by the Rehoboth Basters of Rehoboth. The Western Cape dialect of Afrikaans is a dialect of Afrikaans that seems to have existed prior to the Great Trek and which most probably influenced the language of the present-day Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast

- Oorlams Afrikaans

There is also a prison cant known as soebela, or sombela which is based on Afrikaans yet heavily influenced by Zulu. The Zulu ( IsiZulu: amaZulu) are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10-11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal This language is used a secret language in prison and is taught to initiates.

Owing to the mass emigration of mainly white South Africans post-1994 they may be up to a million Afrikaans speakers outside Southern Africa. Southern Africa is the Southernmost Region of the African Continent, variably defined by Geography or Geopolitics. There is at least one Afrikaans language newspaper in London, Die Stem. Die Stem van Suid-Afrika ( English: The Call of South Africa) was the National anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994 and shared national anthem and Sydney has radio broadcasts in Afrikaans. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 This has given rise to the somewhat humorous idea of a dialect of "Buitelands" Afrikaans or "Sout-mielie" Afrikaans- usually influenced by English owing to the fact that most South Africans have emigrated to Anglophone countries. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa An Anglophone (or anglophone) is someone who speaks the English language. Afrikaans has become to many South Africans what Yiddish once was to the Jewish Community. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High A kehilla or kehillah (קהילה Hebrew: "community" is a Jewish Community.

Standardisation

The linguist Paul Roberge suggests that the earliest 'truly Afrikaans' texts are doggerel verse from 1795 and a dialogue transcribed by a Dutch traveller in 1825. Doggerel is a derogatory term for Poetry considered of little literary value Printed material among the Afrikaners at first used only standard European Dutch. By the mid-19th century, more and more were appearing in Afrikaans, which was very much still regarded as a set of regional dialects.

In 1861, L. Year 1861 ( MDCCCLXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common H. Meurant published his Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar, which is considered by some to be the first authoritative Afrikaans text. Abu Bakr Effendi also compiled his Arabic Afrikaans Islamic instruction book between 1862 and 1869, although this was only published and printed in 1877. Sheikh Abu Bakr Effendi (1835&ndash1880 was a Qadi who was sent to the Cape of Good Hope to teach the Muslim community of the Arabic Afrikaans was a form of Afrikaans that was written in Arabic script. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday Year 1869 ( MDCCCLXIX) is a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The first Afrikaans grammars and dictionaries were published in 1875 by the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners ('Society for Real Afrikaners') in Cape Town. The Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners ( Afrikaans for "Society of Real Afrikaners" was formed on 14 August 1875 in the town of Paarl Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the

The First and Second Boer Wars further strengthened the position of Afrikaans. See also Second Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The First Boer War ( Dutch: Eerste Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: The official languages of the Union of South Africa were English and Dutch until Afrikaans was subsumed under Dutch on 5 May 1925. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory } The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Events 553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 - Rebel Barons renounce their allegiance to King John Year 1925 ( MCMXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

The main Afrikaans dictionary is the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT), which is as yet incomplete due to the scale of the project, but the one-volume dictionary in household use is the Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (HAT). Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal ( Dictionary of the Afrikaans Language) generally known as the WAT, is the largest Descriptive Afrikaans The Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (abbreviated to HAT) ( English: "Explanatory dictionary (monolingual defining of the Afrikaans Language" The official orthography of Afrikaans is the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls, compiled by the Taalkommissie. The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific Writing system to write the language

The Afrikaans Bible

A major landmark in the development of the Afrikaans language was the full translation of the Bible into the language. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Prior to this most Cape Dutch-Afrikaans speakers had to rely on the Dutch Statenbijbel. The term Cape Dutch was used to describe the inhabitants of the Western Cape of South Africa, descended primarily from Dutch and Flemish as well The Statenvertaling (Dutch for State Translation) or Statenbijbel (Dutch for State Bible) is the first official Bible translation The aforementioned Statenvertaling had its origins with the Synod of Dordrecht 1637 and was thus in an archaic form of Dutch. The Statenvertaling (Dutch for State Translation) or Statenbijbel (Dutch for State Bible) is the first official Bible translation The Synod of Dort was a National Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618[[ 619|/19]] by the Dutch Reformed Church, in order to settle a serious controversy This rendered uderstanding difficult to Dutch speakers and increasingly unintelligible to Afrikaans speakers.

C. P. Hoogehout, A. Pannevis and S. J. du Toit were the first Afrikaans Bible translators. Important landmarks in the translation of the Scriptures were in 1878 with C. P. Hoogenhout's translation of the Evangelie volgens Markus (Mark), however this translation was never published. The manuscript is to be found in the Nasionale Biblioteek van Suid-Afrika or South African National Library, Cape Town. Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the

The first official Bible translation of the entire Bible into Afrikaans was in 1933 by Prof. J. D. du Toit, Prof. E. E. van Rooyen, Prof. J. D. Kestell, Dr. H. C. M. Fourie en Prof. B. B. Keet. This monumental work established Afrikaans as a "suiwer" and "oordentlike taal", i. e. a pure and suitable language for religious purposes, especially amongst the deeply Calvinist Afrikaans religious community that that had hitherto been somewhat sceptical of a Bible translation out of the original Dutch language to which they were accustomed. Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the The Bible has been translated into many languages from the Biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek.

In 1983 there was a fresh translation in order to mark the 50th anniversary of the original 1933 translation and provide much needed revision. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The final editing of this edition was done by E. P. Groenewald, Prof. A. H. Van Zyl, Prof. P. A. Verhoef, Prof. J. L. Helberg and Prof. W. Kempen.

Afrikaans Version of the Lord's Prayer. Onse Vader. ^[2]

Onse Vader wat in die hemele is, laat u naam geheilig word. Laat u koninkryk kom, laat u wil geskied, soos in die hemel net so ook op die aarde. Gee ons vandag ons daaglikse brood, en vergeef ons ons skulde, soos ons ook ons skuldenaars vergewe. En lei ons nie in versoeking nie, maar verlos ons van die bose. Amen.

Classic Dutch Protestant version of the Lord's Prayer. Onze Vader ^[3]

Onze Vader die in de Hemelen zijt Geheiligd zij Uw Naam. Uw Rijk kome, Uw Wil geschiede op aarde als in de Hemel. Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood en vergeef ons onze schulden gelijk ook wij vergeven aan onze schuldenaren. En leid ons niet in bekoring, maar verlos ons van het kwade. want van U is de Kracht en de Heerlijkheid in Eeuwigheid. Amen.

Afrikaans Language

Grammar

Main article: Afrikaans grammar

Comparison with Dutch, German and English

Afrikaans	Dutch	German	English
agt	acht	acht	eight
aksie/handeling	actie/handeling	Aktion/Handlung	action
asseblief	alstublieft/alsjeblieft (colloquially 'asjeblieft')	bitte	please (lit. The grammar of Afrikaans is very analytic —indeed it may be said to be the most analytic of the Indo-European languages. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States 'if it pleases you' - compare archaic 'lief', or French s'il vous plaît)
bed	bed	Bett	bed
dankie	dankje/dankjewel	danke	thank you
eggenoot	echtgenoot	Ehemann	spouse (from Old French)
goeienaand	goedenavond (colloquially 'goeienavond')	guten Abend	good evening
hoe	hoe	wie	how
kameelperd	giraf	Giraffe	giraffe
lughawe vliegveld	luchthaven vliegveld	Flughafen	airport (Latinate root)
my	mijn	mein	my
maak	maken	machen	make
nege	negen	neun	nine
oes	oogst	Ernte	harvest
oop	open	offen	open
oormôre	overmorgen	übermorgen	the day after tomorrow (lit. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people 'overmorrow')
reën	regen	Regen	rain
saam	samen	zusammen	together (compare 'same')
sê	zeggen	sagen	say
ses	zes	sechs	six
sewe	zeven	sieben	seven
skool	school	Schule	school
sleg	slecht	schlecht	bad (compare 'slight')
soos	zoals	wie	as, like, such
vir	voor	für	for
voël	vogel	Vogel	bird, fowl
vry	vrij	frei	free
vyf	vijf	fünf	five
waarskynlik	waarschijnlijk	wahrscheinlich	likely (alternate root), probably (Latin root)
welkom	welkom	willkommen	welcome
winter	winter	Winter	winter
ys	ijs	Eis	ice

Orthography

In Afrikaans many consonants are dropped from the earlier Dutch (see also the grammar section for a description of how consonant dropping affects the morphology of Afrikaans adjectives and nouns). This is a similar process to what happened with modern English. (compare: Afrikaans; regen=reën, and English; regn=rain. ) The spelling is also considerably more phonetic than the Dutch counterpart. A notable feature is the indefinite article, which, as noted in the grammar section, is ′n , not 'een' as in Dutch. 'A book' is ' 'n boek', whereas in Dutch it would be 'een boek'. (Note that ' 'n ' is still allowed in Dutch; Afrikaans uses only ' 'n ' where Dutch uses it next to 'een'. When letters are dropped an apostrophe is mandatory. Note that this ′n is usually pronounced as a weak vowel ([ə]; like the Afrikaans 'i') and is not as a consonant. In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word The Afrikaans word een is the number 'one'.

Other features include the use of 's' instead of 'z', and therefore, 'South Africa' in Afrikaans is written as Suid-Afrika, whereas in Dutch it is Zuid-Afrika. (This accounts for .za being used as South Africa's internet top level domain. The following is a list of currently existing Internet Top-level domains (TLDs) ) The Dutch letter 'IJ' is written as 'Y', except where it replaces the Dutch suffix —lijk, as in waarschijnlijk = waarskynlik. An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word It is interesting to note that the use of the hard 'k' is analogous to the pronunciation in parts of West Flanders. West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region also named Flanders, in Belgium. Also noteworthy is that, although the first 90 VOC settlers came from Haarlem in the Northern Netherlands, the majority of the population of that city at that time consisted of Southern Dutch immigrants. in the past usually Harlem in English is a city in the Netherlands. (Recent academic research also points to Afrikaans probably being a modern perpetuation of an earlier Dutch dialect, Amsterdams (Paardekoper)).

The letters c, q and x are rarely seen in Afrikaans, and words containing them are almost exclusively borrowings from French, English, Greek, or Latin. This is usually because words that had c and ch in the original Dutch are spelt with k and g respectively in Afrikaans (in many dialects of Dutch (including the Hollandic ones), a ch is spoken as a g, which explains the use of the g in Afrikaans language). Similarly original qu and x are spelt kw and ks respectively. For example ekwatoriaal instead of 'equatoriaal' and ekskuus instead of 'excuus'.

Glyphs in loan words

Loan words from languages that use Latin characters, are loaned with glyphs intact. For example, letters from Scandinavian languages, like å, ä, ø, letters from Bantu languages, like ḓ, ṱ, ḽ, ṋ, ṅ, and letters from Esperanto, like ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ are retained in Afrikaans loan words, although writing these may represent difficulties for Afrikaans users of word processors and e-mail.

One exception is the Dutch digraph which looks like a 'y' with diaeresis (often called the 'long y' or the 'Greek y') and is usually typed as 'ij', which in Afrikaans becomes two separate letters 'i' and 'j' (rather than a 'y' with diaeresis, 'ÿ'). In Afrikaans, this digraph from Dutch loan words is always written as 'y', never as 'ij', except in proper nouns.

Diacritics

All letters in the Latin alphabet are acceptable in Afrikaans, although for non-loan words only the 26 letters of the English alphabet and certain vowels with diacritics are used.

The vowels with diacritics in non-loanword Afrikaans are: á, é, è, ê, ë, í, î, ï, ó, ô, ú, û, ý. These thirteen letters are pronounced the same way as their non-diacritic counterparts in isolation. For the purpose of alphabetic ordering, these diacritic letters are regarded as equivalent to their non-diacritic counterparts. It is not acceptable to replace them by their non-diacritic equivalents in situations where typing the diacritic forms may be difficult. In the early days of e-mail and on primitive computer systems, the diacritics were often left out or written next to the character, and computer illiterate users may still do so today.

When a sentence is written in the uppercase, the diacritic letters stay in the lowercase form.

Initial apostrophes

A few short words in Afrikaans take initial apostrophes. In modern Afrikaans, these words are always written in lower case (except if the entire line is uppercase), and if they occur at the beginning of a sentence, the next word is capitalised. Three examples of such apostrophed words are 't, 'k, 'n . The most common is 'n , which is the indefinite article, and the other two may soon be regarded as archaic.

'k Het hom lief (I love him)

similar to Dutch words: ik heb hem lief

'k 't Dit gesê (I said it)

similar to Dutch words: ik heb dit gezegd

'n Man loop daar (A man walks there)

similar to Dutch words: een man loopt daar

Daar is 'n man (There is a man)

similar to Dutch words: daar is een man

The apostrophe and the following letter are regarded as two separate characters, and is never written using a single glyph, although a single character variant of the indefinite article appears in Unicode, ʼn.

Some modern word processors have autocorrect features that incorrectly treat an apostrophe (also known as a 9-quote) at the beginning of a word as a single quote (also known as a 6-quote).

In non-stylised fonts, it is acceptable to use a straight quote for the apostrophe, and this is often done in electronic communication.

Table of characters

letter(s)	value(s) in IPA	notes
a	ʌ, a
aa	ɑː
aai	aə
au, ow	ou
b	b, p	'b' is pronounced 'p' in final position
ch	x
c	s, k	'c' is pronounced 's' before 'e', 'i', or 'y', otherwise 'k'
d	d, t	'd' is pronounced 't' in final position
dj	c
e	ɛ, iˑe, ə, æ	'e' is only /æ/ in a few words, and in the Cape Town dialect, /æ/ is merged with /ɛ/
ê	ɛː, æ	'ê' is pronounced /ɛ:/ in final position, otherwise /æ/, usually before 'r'
ee	iˑe
eeu	iːu
ei, ey, y	əi
eu	øː
f	f
g	x, g, ç
gh	g, k	'gh' is 'k' in final position
h	ɦ
i	i, ə
ie	i
ieu	iu
j	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
n	n, ŋ	'n' is 'ŋ' before 'c', 'k', 'q', and 'x', otherwise 'n'
ng	ŋ
ns		the 'n' is silent, and the previous vowel is nasalized
o	ɒ, uˑo
oe	u
oei	uiː
oi, oy	oj
oo	uˑo
ooi	ɔiː
p	p
q	k
r	ɾ
s	s
sj	ʃ
t	t
tj	tʃ, kj	'tj' is 'tʃ' at the beginning of a word, but 'kj' in '-tjie'
u	ɵ, y
uu	y
û	œː
ui, uy	œy
v	f
w	v, w	'w' is 'w' after a consonant, otherwise 'v'
x	ks
z	z

Afrikaans phrases

Afrikaans is a very centralised language, meaning that most of the vowels are pronounced in a very centralised (i. e. very schwa-like) way. In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral There are many different dialects and different pronunciations — but the transcription should be fairly standard.

• Hallo! Hoe gaan dit? [ɦaləu ɦu xaˑn dət] Hello! How are you? (more closely 'How goes it?')

Closely in Dutch: Hallo! Hoe gaat het?

• Baie goed, dankie. [bajə xuˑt danki] Very well, thanks.

Closely in Dutch: Vrij goed, dankje.

• Praat jy Afrikaans? [prɑˑt jəi afrikɑˑns] Do you speak Afrikaans?

Closely in Dutch: Praat jij Afrikaans?

• Praat jy Engels? [prɑˑt jəi ɛŋəls] Do you speak English?

Closely in Dutch: Praat jij Engels?

• Ja. [jɑˑ] Yes.
• Nee. [neˑə] No.
• 'n Bietjie. [ə biki] A little.

Closely in Dutch: Een beetje.

• Wat is jou naam? [vat əs jəu nɑˑm] What is your name?
• Die kinders praat Afrikaans. [di kənərs prɑˑt afrikɑˑns] The children are speaking Afrikaans.

Closely in Dutch: De kinderen praten Afrikaans.

An interesting sentence having the same meaning and written (but not pronounced as it sounds more closely to Dutch) identically in Afrikaans and English is:

• My pen was in my hand. ([məi pɛn vas ən məi hɑnt])

Closely in Dutch: Mijn pen was in mijn hand.

Similarly the sentence:

• My hand is in warm water. ([məi hɑnt əs ən varəm vɑˑtər])

Closely in Dutch: Mijn hand is in warm water has almost identical meaning in Afrikaans and English although the Afrikaans warm corresponds more closely in meaning to English hot and Dutch heet (Dutch warm corresponds to English warm, but is closer to Afrikaans in pronunciation).

Sample text in Afrikaans

Psalm 23. The theme of the 23rd Psalm ( Greek numbering Psalm 22) in the Bible casts God in the role of protector and provider 1983 Translation

1. Die Here is my Herder, ek kom niks kort nie. 2. Hy laat my in groen weivelde rus. Hy bring my by waters waar daar vrede is. 3. Hy gee my nuwe krag. Hy lei my op die regte paaie tot eer van Sy naam. 4. Selfs al gaan ek deur donker dieptes, sal ek nie bang wees nie, want U is by my. In u hande is ek veilig.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want: He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters: He restores my soul. he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me ; your rod and staff they comfort me''

Die Stem van Suid Afrika

In May 1918, C.J. Langenhoven wrote an Afrikaans poem called Die Stem, for which music was composed by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921. "Langenhoven" redirects here For the Namibian rugby player see Bratley Langenhoven Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven ( 13 August 1873 – Die Stem van Suid-Afrika ( English: The Call of South Africa) was the National anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994 and shared national anthem It was widely used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation in the 1920s, which played it at the close of daily broadcasts, along with God Save the King. SABC redirects here as this is the most common use of the abbreviation in English "God Save the Queen", or "God Save the King", is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms It is the National It was sung publicly for the first time on 31 May 1928[3].

Die Stem van Suid-Afrika	The Call of South Africa	Literal translation from Afrikaans
First verse
Uit die blou van onse hemel,	Ringing out from our blue heavens,	From the blue of our heaven
Uit die diepte van ons see,	From our deep seas breaking round,	From the depths of our sea,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes	Over everlasting mountains,	Over our eternal mountain ranges
Waar die kranse antwoord gee.	Where the echoing crags resound,	Where the cliffs give answer
Deur ons vêr verlate vlaktes	From our plains where creaking wagons,	Through our far-deserted plains
Met die kreun van ossewa.	Cut their trails into the earth,	With the groan of ox-wagon
Ruis die stem van ons geliefde,	Calls the spirit of our country,	Rises the voice of our beloved,
Van ons land Suid-Afrika.	Of the land that gave us birth.	Of our country South Africa
Ons sal antwoord op jou roepstem,	At thy call we shall not falter,	We will answer to your calling,
Ons sal offer wat jy vra:	Firm and steadfast we shall stand,	We will sacrifice what you ask
Ons sal lewe, ons sal sterwe,	At thy will to live or perish,	We will live, we will die
Ons vir jou, Suid-Afrika.	O South Africa, dear land.	We for Thee, South Africa
Second verse
In die merg van ons gebeente,	In our body and our spirit,	In the marrow of our bones
in ons hart en siel en gees,	In our inmost heart held fast;	In our heart and soul and spirit
In ons roem op ons verlede,	In the promise of our future,	In the glory of our past
In ons hoop op wat sal wees.	And the glory of our past;	In our hope of what will be
In ons wil en werk en wandel,	In our will, our work, our striving,	In our will and work and wander,
Van ons wieg tot aan ons graf.	From the cradle to the grave-	From our crib to our grave
Deel geen ander land ons liefde,	There's no land that shares our loving,	Share no other land our love,
Trek geen ander trou ons af.	And no bond that can enslave.	Will no other win our trust.
Vaderland, ons sal die adel,	Thou hast borne us and we know thee,	Fatherland! We will bear the nobility
Van jou naam met ere dra:	May our deeds to all proclaim	Of your name with honour:
Waar en trou as Afrikaners,	Our enduring love and service	Dedicated and true as Afrikaners,
Kinders van Suid-Afrika.	To thy honour and thy name.	Children of South Africa
Third verse
In die songloed van ons somer,	In the golden warmth of summer,	In the sunglow of our summer,
in ons winternag se kou,	In the chill of winter's air,	In our winter nights so cold
In die lente van ons liefde,	In the surging life of springtime,	In the spring of our love,
in die lanfer van ons rou.	In the autumn of despair;	In the mourning of our loss
By die klink van huw'liksklokkies,	When the wedding bells are chiming,	At the sound of wedding bells,
by die kluit-klap op die kis.	Or when those we love do depart,	At the stonefall on the coffin.
Streel jou stem ons nooit verniet nie,	Thou dost know us for thy children	Soothes your voice us never in vain,
Weet jy waar jou kinders is.	And dost take us to thy heart	You know where your children are.
Op jou roep sê ons nooit nee nie,	Loudly peals the answering chorus;	At your call we never say no,
Sê ons altyd, altyd ja:	We are thine, and we shall stand,	We always, always say yes:
Om te lewe, om te sterwe -	Be it life or death, to answer	To live, to die -
Ja, ons kom, Suid-Afrika.	To thy call, beloved land.	Yes, we come South Africa
Fourth verse
Op U Almag vas vertrouend	In thy power, Almighty, trusting,	On your almight steadfast entrusted
het ons vadere gebou:	Did our fathers build of old;	Had our fathers built:
Skenk ook ons die krag, o Here!	Strengthen then, O Lord, their children	Give to us also the strength, o Lord!
Om te handhaaf en te hou.	To defend, to love, to hold-	To sustain and to preserve.
Dat die erwe van ons vadere	That the heritage they gave us	That the heritage of our fathers
Vir ons kinders erwe bly:	For our children yet may be;	For our children heritage remain
Knegte van die Allerhoogste,	Bondsmen only to the Highest	Servants of the almighty,
Teen die hele wêreld vry.	And before the whole world free.	Against the whole world free.
Soos ons vadere vertrou het,	As our fathers trusted humbly,	As our fathers had faith,
Leer ook ons vertrou, o Heer:	Teach us, Lord to trust Thee still;	Teach us as well to believe, o Lord:
Met ons land en met ons nasie	Guard our land and guide our people	With our land and with our nation
Sal dit wel wees, God regeer.	In Thy way to do Thy will.	Will it be well, God reigns.

Sociolinguistics

Afrikaans is the first language of approximately 60% of South Africa's Whites, and over 80% of the Coloured (mixed-race) population. White People is the second album by Handsome Boy Modeling School. The race with the highest number of Afrikaans speakers are the Coloureds(3 million), followed closely by whites (2. 6 million). Some 200,000 black South Africans speak it as their home language. ^[4] Large numbers of black South Africans, and English-speaking Whites (Anglo-Africans) also speak it as their second language. Anglo-Africans are people of primarily Sub-Saharan Africa whose first language is English.

Some state that the term Afrikaanses should be used as a term for all people who speak Afrikaans, irrespective of ethnic origin, instead of 'Afrikaners', which refers to an ethnic group, or 'Afrikaanssprekendes' (lit. people that speak Afrikaans). Linguistic identity has not yet established that one term be favoured above another and all three are used in common parlance. ^[5]

It is also widely spoken in Namibia, where it has had constitutional recognition as a national, but not official, language since independence in 1990. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) Prior to independence, Afrikaans, along with German, had equal status as an official language. There is a much smaller number of Afrikaans speakers among Zimbabwe's white minority, as most have left the country since 1980. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) Afrikaans was also a medium of instruction for schools in Bophuthatswana Bantustan [3]. Bophuthatswana (meaning gathering of the Tswana people) was a Bantustan ("homeland" in the northwest of South Africa. A bantustan or more commonly black african homeland or simply homeland, was territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South-West

Many South Africans living and working in Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are also Afrikaans speakers; and there is now an Afrikaans newspaper in London, called Die Stem. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. New Zealand has an Afrikaans club which is based in Auckland and which organises Afrikaans dances and meetings (http://www.afrikaans.org.nz/).

Afrikaans has been influential in the development of South African English. South African English ( SAE, en-ZA) is a Dialect of English spoken in South Africa and in neighbouring countries with a large number Many Afrikaans loanwords have found their way into South African English, such as 'bakkie' ('pickup truck'), 'braai' ('barbecue'), 'tekkies' ('sneakers'). A pickup truck is a light Motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling The word braaivleis ( is Afrikaans for "roasted meat" The word braai (pronounced "bry" rhyming with the word "cry" plural A few words in standard English are derived from Afrikaans, such as 'aardvark' (lit. The Aardvark ( Orycteropus afer) ("Digging foot" is a medium-sized burrowing nocturnal Mammal native to Africa. 'earth pig'), 'trek' ('pioneering journey', in Afrikaans lit. 'pull' but used also for 'migrate'), 'spoor' ('animal track'), 'veld' ('Southern African grassland' in Afrikaans lit. 'field'), 'boomslang' ('tree snake') and apartheid ('segregation'; more accurately 'apartness' or 'the state or condition of being apart').

In 1976, high school students in Soweto began a rebellion in response to the government's decision that Afrikaans be used as the language of instruction for half the subjects taught in non-White schools (with English continuing for the other half). Soweto is an urban area in the City of Johannesburg, in Gauteng, South Africa. The Soweto uprising or Soweto Riots were a series of clashes in Soweto, South Africa on June 16 1976 between black youths and the South African Although English is the mother tongue of only 8. 2 per cent of the population, it is the language most widely understood, and the second language of the majority of South Africans. ^[6] Afrikaans is more widely spoken than English in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, several hundred kilometers from Soweto. The Black community's opposition to Afrikaans and preference for continuing English instruction was underscored when the government rescinded the policy one month after the uprising: 96% of Black schools chose English (over Afrikaans or native languages) as the language of instruction. ^[7] Many historians argue that the language issue was a catalyst for the uprising rather than a major underlying cause (which was racial oppression). Others argue that the primary cause of the uprising was one specific aspect of the government's language instruction decision: that non-White (i. e. , Black, Coloured and Indian) South African children be denied instruction in all but the most basic topics of mathematics, sciences, fine arts, etc. The government justified this policy by claiming that non-White South Africans would never have an occasion to use such knowledge; see History of South Africa. Ancient history The Bushmen See also Ancient History of South Africa Some three million years ago Ape -human-like Hominids

Under South Africa's democratic Constitution of 1996, Afrikaans remains an official language, and has equal status to English and nine other languages. The current and official Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was adopted on 8 May 1996. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) The new policy means that the use of Afrikaans is now often reduced in favour of English, or to accommodate the other official languages. In 1996, for example, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reduced the amount of television airtime in Afrikaans, while South African Airways dropped its Afrikaans name Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens from its livery. SABC redirects here as this is the most common use of the abbreviation in English Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic South African Airways (SAA is South Africa 's flag carrier and largest domestic and international Airline Company, with hubs in Cape Town A livery is a Uniform or other sign worn in a non-military context on a person or object (such as an airplane or Vehicle) to denote a relationship Similarly, South Africa's diplomatic missions overseas now only display the name of the country in English and their host country's language, and not in Afrikaans. A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one State or an international Inter-governmental organization (such as the United Nations) present in

In spite of these moves (which have upset many Afrikaans speakers), the language has remained strong, with Afrikaans newspapers and magazines continuing to have large circulation figures. Indeed the Afrikaans language general interest family magazine Huisgenoot, has the largest readership of any magazine in the country. Huisgenoot ( Afrikaans for House Companion) is a weekly Afrikaans language general interest family Magazine. In addition, a pay-TV channel in Afrikaans called KykNet was launched in 1999, and an Afrikaans music channel, MK, in 2005. kykNET is a South African Television channel which broadcasts in Afrikaans. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) MK is a mostly Afrikaans music channel launched in mid 2005 as MK89 that is part of the DStv bouquet of satellite channels owned by MultiChoice / A large number of Afrikaans books are still published every year, mainly by the publishers Human & Rousseau, Tafelberg Uitgewers, Struik, and Protea Boekhuis.

Afrikaans music is also flourishing, from retro pop artist like Nicholis Louw, Eden, and Shine 4 to more forceful/avant garde outfits (Kobus!, Fokofpolisiekar, Buckfever Underground etc. ) singing in the language.

Modern Dutch and Afrikaans share 85 plus per cent of their vocabulary. Afrikaans speakers are able to learn Dutch within a comparatively short period of time. Native Dutch speakers pick up written Afrikaans even more quickly, due to its simplified grammar, whereas understanding spoken Afrikaans might need more effort. Afrikaans speakers can learn a Dutch accent with little training. This has enabled Dutch and Belgian companies to outsource their call centre operations to South Africa [4]. Outsourcing is Subcontracting a process such as product design or Manufacturing, to a Third-party company A call centre or call center (see spelling differences) is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by

Afrikaans has two monuments erected in its honour. The first was erected in Burgersdorp, South Africa, in 1893, and the second, better-known Afrikaans Language Monument (Afrikaanse Taalmonument) was built in Paarl, South Africa, in 1975. Year 1893 ( MDCCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Afrikaans Language Monument ( Afrikaans: Afrikaanse Taalmonument) is located on a hill overlooking Paarl, Western Cape Province, South Paarl (derived from Parel, meaning Pearl in Dutch is the third oldest European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after Cape

Future for Afrikaans

The end of apartheid has meant a loss of government support for Afrikaans, in terms of education, social events, media (TV and Radio), and general status throughout the country, seeing as how it now shares its place as official language with ten other languages. Nevertheless, Afrikaans remains more prevalent in the media - radio, newspapers and television^[8] - than all the other official languages, except for English. More than 300 titles in Afrikaans are published per year ^[9]. Further, some legal advertising is still provided in the Government Gazette bilingually^[10], in English and Afrikaans.

Afrikaans is still viewed negatively by some. Through all the problems of depreciation and migration that Afrikaans faces today, the language still competes well, with Afrikaans DSTV channels (pay channels) and high newspapers and CD sales as well as popular internet sites. Digital Satellite Television (also known as DStv) is MultiChoice 's multi-channel digital satellite TV service in Africa, launched in 1995

Afrikaans Music

Afrikaans language music has a long history in South Africa, probably originating with the first songs that Dutch East India Company or V.O.C. sailors sang by the slopes of Table Mountain. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Table Mountain is a flat-topped Mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa, and is featured in the The 19th century is probably when most of the tunes known to this day finally assumed their more or less modern forms. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar This was the period of the Great Trek, the Zulu Wars, The Boer Wars and the gold rush on the Witwatersrand, all factors that contributed to the formation of a South African, and chiefly, Afrikaans identity. The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration during the 1830s and 1840s of the Boers ( Dutch / Afrikaans for "farmers" who A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of Gold. The Witwatersrand is a low sedimentary range of hills at an elevation of 1700-1800 metres above sea-level which runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng in The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa This was of course reflected in the songs of the white and coloured South African peoples.

Traditional Afrikaans Music, or Boeremusiek

What is Boermusic? Boermusic is an instrumental folk music, dating from the period during which the people who practised it where internationally known as "Die Boere" The Boers of South Africa. It is informal music that is played in a distinctive way and was primarily intended as accompaniment for social dancing. For the purpose of this conversation we exclude other kinds of Afrikaans music from the same period like ballads, serenades and music aimed at passive audiences.

What is the Character of Boermusic? It is nearly impossible to put the rich variety of feeling elements, nuances and sounds that form the essence of Boermusic into words. It is an "experience" of strong and unique character that can not be described in music science terms. The concertina was, and is still to this day, the top lead instrument in Boermusic. Apart from the different types of concertinas that are found in Boer music, there are different dance rhythms and variations in accompaniment. It is striking how each artist often develops a unique and recognizable style. Just as amazing is how the different types of concertinas as well as the different geographical regions created divergent disciplines within Boermusic.

What are the origins of Boermusic? The origins of Boermusic are like a Cape vine with entangled roots and the development has to be distilled from history and myth. The earliest writings contained no reference to the term "Boermusic" or "Boere orkes" (Boermusic band). It is therefor necessary to search for clues that point to the music in question as light, cheerful, informal and indigenous dance music and not formal or classical music. For that we have to follow references to music-, dance- and song habits during the course of history to determine the inception of Boermusic and how it developed.

Boermusic is largely European in origin and it would be a misconception to think that all of it was brought to South Africa by the early settlers. Most of it was imported fairly recently but acquired a flavour of its own and remained in vogue here long after it went out of fashion abroad.

How did it come to South Africa? Whenever a certain dance became popular in Europe or anywhere else, it was not long before it was introduced in the Cape by military bands of the British Empire. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. Whenever they were off duty, they hired themelves out for parties, weddings and other social events. There where dance masters who taught the new dances to the locals and from there it spread into the hinterland. It acquired a local flavour and character of its own in the process. A large volume of Boermusic was consequently composed by local musicans, as is still the case today.

There where also music teachers who noted down local tunes. The first person to do this was Charles Etienne Boniface (1787-1853) who arrived in the Cape in February 1807. A cape is a type of Clothing, and can be used to describe any sleeveless outer garment such as a Poncho, but usually it is a long garment that covers only the back (Based on the book by Wilhelm Shultz, "Die ontstaan en ontwikkeling van Boeremusiek")

Afrikaans songs, old and new

- Jan Pierewiet, Jan Pierewiet, Jan Pierewiet staan stil. ('Jan Pierewiet, Jan Pierewiet, Jan Piereweit, stand still. ')

- "Mamma, ek wil 'n man hê" ("Mum, I want to have a husband")

- "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" (former national anthem - parts of which have been incorporated into the current anthem)

- " Aai Aai die Witborskraai" ('Oh, Oh the Pied Crow')

- "Afrikaners is plesierig" ('Afrikaners are fun')

- "De La Rey" (popular and patriotic song for white South Africans by Bok van Blerk)

- "Kom Saam Met My" (Johannesburg-native alternative band Seether, formerly known as Saron Gas. Die Stem van Suid-Afrika ( English: The Call of South Africa) was the National anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994 and shared national anthem The Pied Crow ( Corvus albus) is a widely distributed African bird species in the Crow Genus. White South Africans is a term which refers to people from South Africa who are of Afrikaner, British or other Continental European descent Bok van Blerk, born Louis Pepler, is a controversial South African musician who sings in Afrikaans. )

- "Sarie Marais" (Sentimental Transvaal Boer War Song, also sung by the British Royal Marines)

- "Suikerbossie" ( Sugarbush ( a type of Protea flower) a traditional Afrikaans love song)

- "Hasie, hoeko' is jou stert so kort?" Typical Cape Coloured Afrikaans humorous song

- "Die Alabama" Cape Coloured Afrikaans song celebrating a confederate ship sailing to the Cape in the 1860s. Sarie Marais (also known as My Sarie Marais) is a traditional Afrikaans folk song created during either the First Anglo-Boer War (ca For the Russian theme park see Transvaal Park. The Transvaal (Afrikaans lit Two Boer Wars were fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics the Orange Free State and the South African Republic "Sugarbush" redirects here For the ski resort see Sugarbush Resort Protea is both the Botanical name

Afrikaans "Hip-Hop"

There is also a growing Afrikaans language Hip-Hop scene with a number of groups, mostly Cape Coloured in origin, having had success on the international scene, including:-

- Profets of da City

- Braase vannie Kaap

- Parliament

- Kallitz

- Terror MC

- Mr-H

Interestingly, these groups have had some success in The Netherlands where, owing to intelligibility between Afrikaans and Dutch, Kaapse Hiep-Hop has become quite popular. Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in Hip hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latinos. The term Cape Coloureds refers to the modern-day descendants of slave labourers imported into South Africa by Dutch settlers as well as to other groups TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Many of the groups sing about the harsh and unfair conditions under which Cape Coloured people have been forced to live in the past and also the continuing racism and discrimination they face in the New South Africa, mostly owing to the alleged nepotism of the ANC government at the expense of non-black communities in South Africa, i. Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends based upon that relationship rather than on an objective evaluation of ability Meritocracy or suitability The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa e. white South Africans (especially Afrikaans-speakers), Indians, Coloureds and the indigenous Khoi and Bushmen. White South Africans is a term which refers to people from South Africa who are of Afrikaner, British or other Continental European descent India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa

See also

• Aardklop Arts Festival
• Arabic Afrikaans
• Languages of South Africa
• List of Afrikaans language poets
• List of English words of Afrikaans origin
• Afrikaans speaking population in South Africa
• South African Translators' Institute

Notes

References

• Roberge, P. T. , 2002. Afrikaans - considering origins, in Language in South Africa, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. ISBN 0-521-53383-X
• South African Afrikaans: History Slang

External links

General

• The Ethnologue: Afrikaans
• Wordgumbo: Afrikaans
• Afrikaans sample at Language Museum
• An introduction to Afrikaans
• Learn Afrikaans Online at www.afrikaans.us
• Largest supplier of Afrikaans language learning material on the web

Portals and links lists

• Litnet - Literature, culture and debate
• Die Knoop - A very large list of links to Afrikaans websites
• Woes.co.za - A popular multi-user blog
• The New South African - Afrikaans - More about South Africa's official languages.
• Kuier.co.za - A popular multi-user blog
• afrikaners.org.za - An Afrikaans portal containing links to other Afrikaans related site
• Uitsaaines.co.za - An International Afrikaans Music Radio Station on the Internet. . click Luister

Organisations

• Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) - Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations
• Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV) - Afrikaans Language and Cultural Association
• Vriende van Afrikaans - Friends of Afrikaans
• http://www.afrikaans.com/ - Stigting vir Bemagtiging deur Afrikaans

Spell checkers

• Spel.co.za - Commercial spell checker for Microsoft Office
• WSpel - Free spell checker for Microsoft Office
• Translate.org.za - Open source spell checker for OpenOffice. org, Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird

Dictionaries

• Afrikaans Dictionary - with definitions (approx 8763 words)
• Afrikaans to English - from Wordgumbo. com (5129 words)
• English to Afrikaans - from Wordgumbo. com (6397 words)
• Afrikaans-English-Afrikaans Online Dictionary - sometimes using Esperanto as intermezzo (7975 Afrikaans words)
• Afrikaans at Dict.info - Afrikaans into 57 languages (roughly 2300 words each) and Afrikaans-English (10 127 words)
• Elektroblok - Crossword Puzzle Solver and Thesaurus Dictionary (4 Million Afrikaans and English words, synonyms and hints)

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