Position:Home>History> Why isn't Dutch one of the official languages in South Africa ?

Afrikaans is sometimes incorrectly called a dialect of Dutch, where it is in fact not true!.

Afrikaans derives from old 'kitchen Dutch', i!.e!. Dutch as spoken by the common man!. Proper Dutch was allowed to a certain extent after a movement in the latter half of the 19th century!.

Afrikaans also derives from French, German, Malay, Portuguese and many Nguni languages!. The only reason really that there has always been moves to replace English terms and words with created Afrikaans ones was that English has always been forced upon the Cape Dutch and Boers (who together evolved into the Afrikaners) through efforts to Anglicise them, the emancipation of the slaves who were the bread and butter of the Cape Dutch farmers and not as mistreated as abolistionists claimed, the annexation of the Voortrekker port at Port Natal (later Durban) and of the Republic of Natalia, annexation of the Diamond Fields of Kimberley, the Jameson Raid, the Boer Wars etc!. Thus there are many reasons why the Afrikaans community have a resent for English and prefer to speak and be spoken to in Afrikaans!. it is a 200 year old indoctrinated fear and belief that anything English is bad and if we can create an Afrikaans word for it it becomes more tolerable!.

E!.g!. When hamburgers became famous, an Afrikaans word was invented, but the visual difference between a patty and a meatball made 'frikkadelbroodjie' impractical!. But, on the other hand, the word garage can mean either a filling station (vulstasie) or where you park yoyr car at night (motorhuis)!. So it depends on the context if it could work or not!.

Contrary to popular English belief, Afrikaans is not a emaciated language, not if you look at the Language Monuments in Paarl and Burgersdorp!. Browsing the internet reveals many a site or group for the language!. It has its own folk dance organistaion that sings exclusively Afrikaans songs!. Any music shop sells a vast range of Afrikaans music from Classics to Country to Rock!.

The similarities remain, but Afrikaans is as independent a language as Dutch!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Well, there are really two reasons

First, there weren't many Afrikaaners to start with!. Particularly after the privations of the Boer war, they made up a terribly small percentage of the population of what became South Africa!. Secondly, the British may not have held the ground as long, but there were more of them, and the language of trade and of diplomacy in that area quickly became English!. The truth is that the British were rapidly ascendant there, especially in the cities, and as a result, their language became ascendant, as well!. I don't know, however, that Afrikaans has died out completely as a language!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Afrikaans was the language before the british won the boer war - my great grandfather fought in the boer war against the boers at orange free state and the releif of lady smith!. He was with the Dublin Fusileers!. The language of trade and government was english as was !. The many african peoples especially the Zulus kept their own language - Afrikaans is still used to this day amongst the some of the descendents of boers!. The Dutch is still there but the main language and the language of business and government is EnglishWww@QuestionHome@Com

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Because the British won the Boer Wars!.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Boer_War

And Dutch is spoken, it's just called Afrikaans
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/AfrikaansWww@QuestionHome@Com

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Afrikaans, which is a form of Dutch, is one of the 11 offical languages of South Africa under its constitution!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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