Afrikaans, should it be preserved?

Luca   Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:43 pm GMT
Well if you see it like that then every language was spoken by oppressors and the fact that it's a simplified form of Dutch is of relevance for linguistics because it represents the last born between germanic languages and in a new environment like Africa (yes there's also English and some people still speaking German in Namibia) and not only used for swear.

And for the previous reply...it was a bit difficult to keep in touch with Holland that was miles and miles away from South Africa, and this was even more difficult after the English took over the colony.
Achab   Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:07 am GMT
Here's a link that may be of some interest:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Afrikaans/Introduction#Language_of_the_oppressor.3F

Totsiens,

Achab
Guest   Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:15 am GMT
-Afrikaans is the only European language that developed outside of Europe.-

This is not true,
many creole languages are official languages in some countries, like Haiti, Seychelles...Kaboverdianu or Kriol is planned to be made official language of Cape Verde Islands, soon.
Luca   Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:55 pm GMT
The "european langauges" family never existed. (That's indo-european)
Tony   Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:32 am GMT
I think that I like the Afrikaans language more than the English that is spoken in SA. But I have heard that Afrikaans was the language of the Apartheid government, so it is falling into dissuse because Afrikaans is viewed as the language of the oppressor. This makes me sad a little bit because I think the Afrikaans language is really neat. So, is it true that the language is falling into dissuse? Are the schools in SA using the language as the medium of instruction? Are there television programmes in Arikaans?
Guest   Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:26 pm GMT
Apparently there are tv channels solely in Afrikaans so it can't be doing too badly.
Guest   Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:11 am GMT
Afrikaans is the DE FACTO LINGUA FRANCE of South Africa and Namibia. There are more non-native speakers of it than English even among black communities even though it's being viewed as the language of the apartheid. it is one of the official languages of South Africa and it cannot just be discarded because of its role in inter-ethnic communication.

Haven't you heard ad read that the number of newspaper readers in Afrikaans language increased and that of English decreased? More and more television viewers and radio listeners tune in Afrikaans programs than English and most of those are blacks.
Guest   Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:13 am GMT
No language should be artificially kept alive. If a language is naturally on the decline, then let it die.
Guest   Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:55 pm GMT
Well, Afrikaans is a part of the Afrikaners heritage, so if they lost it they would losing something valuable.

Just ask how African-Americans feel about losing their ancestral languages when their forebears were bought over as slaves.
Watcher   Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:05 am GMT
Afrikaans won't die in contrast to what the English speakers expected it's the DE FACTO lingua franca of SA and Namibia and one of the official languages of SA. English maybe the language of business but more black South Africans speak it than English. Besides the bonding between Dutch, Flemish, and Afrikaans languages collectively known as Netherlandic has grown strong. Afrikaans speakers are no longer isolated from their roots, thanks to the modern means of communication.
Bob   Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:25 am GMT
Let's not forget that Afrikaans is not just spoken by some whites. It is actually the mother tongue of about 90% of "Coloured" (racially-mixed) people in South Africa and Namibia.
Mick   Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:11 am GMT
I guess their opinion towards Afrikaans would be determined whether they identified with the oppressors or the oppressed.
769-8520   Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:32 am GMT
Should it be preserved? That depends on the speakers. If they want to preserve it good on them, let them speak it. If they don't, that is their decision and people should stop whining.
Dawie   Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:50 pm GMT
Afrikaans in fact has more non-white native speakers than white. White Afrikaners are by no means the sole custodians of the Afrikaans language despite what they might like to think, although there is a clear division between white and non-white dialects of the language.
Guest33   Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:07 pm GMT
Well, there is an important point. IT IS NOT OFFICIAL IN AFRICAN UNION.

The official languages of African Union are English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Swahili.