A Backgrounder to Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a relatively young language, yet it is very old. With its roots in Medieval Dutch, Afrikaans and modern Dutch are roughly equidistant from Old Franconian and similar medieval Rhine valley dialects. Afrikaans vocabulary remained closer to the medieval languages, but Afrikaans simplified the grammar immensely. For example, German has three gender distinctions (DIE, DER, DAS), and Dutch has two (HET, DE). Afrikaans, like English, eliminated the gender distinction of nouns and uses only DIE as the definite article. Afrikaans does not conjugate verbs, except for two verbs: WEES (to be), and Hê (to have). There is only a present, a past and a future tense form

TO BE: Present--IS; Past--WAS; Future--WEES
TO HAVE: Present--HET; Past--HAD; Future Hê

Below is a map of linguistic dominance of the diverse languages in South Africa.

It means that in German and Dutch you have to cope with many more variables to construct the same meaning. Afrikaans uses essentially the same vocabulary, but reduces grammar variables. Afrikaans and Dutch share between 95% - 99% the same vocabulary. There are some consistent spelling differences between the languages. As an Afrikaans speaker, I can immediately understand Dutch, yet I have found, the Dutch need a few weeks to be up to speed with Afrikaans.

Thus, if you are a scholar of European languages, Afrikaans would be a superb entrance to the Germanic world.

But that is certainly not all. Afrikaans is obviously also an African language. If you have an interest in things African, this is an exciting venture into an exotic part of the world. Much historical and anthropological research is available in Afrikaans. It is an academic language, and should provide you with superb resources. But, then there is the social aspect, the braaivleis (BBQ) African style, the humor, and access to the rich diversity of the peoples that speak the language.

 Other resources about the language: Please see Language Links

 (please report any dead links or suggest new ones -- click on the comments-feedback link below)

How do I type the characters with diacritics?

So, you hold the ALT key down, and on the number pad (with NUM LOCK on) you type 136 and the result will be ê.