Are Afrikaans and Dutch the same?

Are Afrikaans and Dutch the same?

Afrikaans is a Dutch dialect. It's actually a 17th century form of Dutch as it was the language spoken in Holland at the time they settled and colonized what was then South Africa. The language in Holland progressed and evolved while the Dutch (Afrikaans) of South Africa pretty much remained the same.

Is Afrikaans a dying language?

About the Afrikaans Language. The Afrikaans language is one of South Africa's official languages and a large proportion of the local population uses it as their first or second language. ... Some believe that Afrikaans is a dying language, however, it remains spoken all over the country and respected for its origins.

Is Afrikaans a real language?

Afrikaans is a creole language that evolved during the 19th century under colonialism in southern Africa. This simplified, creolised language had its roots mainly in Dutch, mixed with seafarer variants of Malay, Portuguese, Indonesian and the indigenous Khoekhoe and San languages.

Is Afrikaans an African language?

Afrikaans language, also called Cape Dutch, West Germanic language of South Africa, developed from 17th-century Dutch, sometimes called Netherlandic, by the descendants of European (Dutch, German, and French) colonists, indigenous Khoisan peoples, and African and Asian slaves in the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good ...

Are Afrikaans white?

Afrikaners make up approximately 5.2% of the total South African population, based upon the number of white South Africans who speak Afrikaans as a first language in the South African National Census of 2011....1691 estimates.

Ancestry	Percentage
Dutch	66.67%
French	16.67%
German	14.29%
Scandinavian, Belgian	2.37%

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Can German speakers understand Afrikaans?

No. Germanic languages are not as mutually intelligible with each other in the way that Romance and Slavic languages are. So no, Germans will struggle to understand Afrikaans. Afrikaans is closer to English and Dutch than it is to German.

Is Afrikaans a beautiful language?

"Afrikaans is helluva nice language," he says. "It is so expressive and flows so beautifully. You can't say lekker my bru in any other way.

Is it hard to learn Afrikaans?

Afrikaans is actually quite simple to learn, and many language learners consider it one of the easiest languages to master. Most Germanic languages have two or even three genders, but Afrikaans, like English, uses a singular gender. The verb conjugations were removed, simplifying the language even further.

Why is ZA used for South Africa?

None of the official names for South Africa can be abbreviated to ZA, which is an abbreviation of the Dutch Zuid-Afrika. Dutch was considered an official language in the Union of South Africa until 1961; it subsequently lost its synonymous status with Afrikaans in 1983.

Is Afrikaans hard to learn?

• Is it difficult to learn Afrikaans? You'll Have an Easy Time Learning Afrikaans is actually quite simple to learn, and many language learners consider it one of the easiest languages to master. Most Germanic languages have two or even three genders, but Afrikaans, like English, uses a singular gender.

What is Afrikaans, and where is it spoken?

• The Afrikaans Language. It is a West Germanic Language and it is spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Afrikaans is South Africa’s third mother tongue; it is spoken by fifteen percent of the population. There are more people that speak Afrikaans as their mother tongue.

Why is it called Afrikaans?

• Afrikaans is the dialect of Dutch that developed in South Africa. Some linguists have called it South African Dutch. The Dutch name of the Dutch language is Nederlands, which is more literally "Netherlandish.". Similarly, Afrikaans means "African.".

How many people speak Afrikaans?

• Afrikaans is currently one of eleven official languages spoken in South Africa, where over 23 million people speak Afrikaans, of which at least one third are native speakers.