Namibia, South Africa
The Afrikaans language is unique to the African linguistic landscape. A West Germanic language descended from Dutch, brought centuries ago to the area which is now South Africa by Dutch settlers, Afrikaans is considered a ‘daughter language’ of this European language.
Afrikaans evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland, a western province of the Netherlands, already diverging from standard European Dutch by the 18th century. For some time it was viewed as a form of inferior Dutch, called ‘Cape Dutch’ or ‘kitchen Dutch’ to emphasize its lesser value. This verkeerd Nederlands (‘incorrect Dutch’), later termed Afrikaans Hollands (from which the language takes its name), soon gained momentum in southern Africa, as people began to recognize it as an actual, living language.
Various legislations, and specifically the Official Languages of the Union Act of 1925, recognized Afrikaans as a language of the country in its own right, separate from Dutch, which before then was the sole official language next to English. Currently Afrikaans is one of eleven official languages of South Africa.
Apart from going through a process of simplification in Africa, the language also acquired vocabulary from such languages as English, Malay, Portuguese, and the African Bantu and Khoisian languages, all of which have enriched the language and helped to distinguish it from modern Dutch. Despite its centuries away from Europe, however, over 90% of vocabulary remains Dutch in origin.
The majority language of the western provinces of South Africa, there are seven million native speakers (13.5% of the population), making it the third largest native language of the country. Many speakers of English and the Bantu languages also use Afrikaans as a second language for communication. With Namibia, where some 10% of the population uses Afrikaans, the total number of native and L2 speakers could be as high as 23 million.
Afrikaans has also impacted other languages. Many words have been adopted by South African English, e.g., bakkie (‘pickup truck’) and braai (‘barbecue’), whilst standard English has found such Afrikaans words as aardvark (‘earth pig’ in Afrikaans) and trek (‘pioneering journey’) a rich addition to its vocabulary.
Spectrum Translation has worked with Afrikaans since 2005. We have translated and localized Afrikaans for a variety of purposes, including business, legal, medical, and technical. We employ an extensive network of contacts in South Africa, from Cape Town and Pretoria to Durban, Johannesburg, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, and other cities.
We welcome your queries regarding successful translation, proofreading, and editing in this unique West Germanic language of Africa.