Tips for Learning Afrikaans

 

 

With South Africa gaining a spotlight in international media, more people are looking for tips for learning Afrikaans, one of the eleven official languages of the country.

Afrikaans is a curious language indeed, with words deriving mostly from Dutch, with some English, French and German influence as well. While the a great percentage of the country understands the language, native speakers are becoming fewer, and even then, a lot of slang permeates conversations.

Just like with most other languages, there are two types of dialects, one being the more eloquent, pure Afrikaans, and the other being conversational Afrikaans, which we speak at home. Some English and African languages (Zulu, Sotho, Xhosa, etc.) natives use Afrikaans words as part of their speech, as it’s universally understood within South Africa and even some neighboring states.

Too many people try to use pure Afrikaans, which most natives don’t even speak, and that lends itself to many potentially embarrassing mistakes.

One of the best tips for learning Afrikaans is to spend time with Afrikaans speakers and listen to how they speak. With many Afrikaans speakers emigrating to other countries, it’s common to find groups of Afrikaners in major cities in the UK, Australia and New-Zealand.

If you don’t have access to tips for learning Afrikaans in a social setting, you may want to consider hiring a tutor online.