AFRIKAANS
Afrikaans is actually the fourth-most spoken Germanic language after English, German and Dutch, with an estimated 20 million speakers including second language speakers. Most Afrikaans speakers are found in South Africa and Namibia but a large number of them live abroad. It is one of the newest languages in the world, as it is an offshoot of Dutch spoken in southern Africa that simplified over time, acquiring a much more analytic grammar than any of the other Germanic languages, except perhaps English.
WHERE IS IT SPOKEN?
SOUTH AFRICA
Namibia Australia,
Botswana
New Zealand
Zimbabwe
NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
BETWEEN 15 AND 23 MILLION.
LANGUAGE FAMILY
INDO-EUROPEAN
THREE FACTS ABOUT AFRIKAANS
1. It’s the youngest official language in the world
Although it’s rather difficult to determine the age of any language, Afrikaans is the youngest official one in the world. It was only decreed “a real language” in 1925 by the South African government.
2. For several centuries, Afrikaans was only a spoken language
Although, as we already saw, Afrikaans started emerging at the end of 17th century, for several more to come, it was used only as a spoken language. In writing, standard Dutch remained the norm. This remained the case until mid-19th century.
3. Despite being often connected to RSA, Afrikaans is also spoken elsewhere
It’s not only the Republic of South Africa where Afrikaans is spoken. You can also hear it in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Australia, and New Zealand, although to a lesser extent.
