Crossword clues for afrikaans
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Germanic language of South Africa, the Dutch language as spoken in South Africa, 1892, from Dutch Afrikaansch "Africanish" (see Afrikander). Also known as South African Dutch.
Wiktionary
a. Of or pertaining to the Afrikaans language. n. 1 A Germanic language descending from Dutch; the primary language of the descendants of Dutch and other European settlers, as well as many mixed-race (e.g. (w Baster Rehoboth Basters)) living in South Africa and in Namibia. Also, one of the eleven official languages of South Africa and until 1990 one of three official languages of Namibia. 2 A term sometimes used of people from South Africa and Namibia (who speak Afrikaans), more properly called "Afrikaans people" or Afrikaners.
Wikipedia
Afrikaans (, , or ) is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland ( Hollandic dialect) spoken by the mainly Dutch settlers of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century. Hence, it is a daughter language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as "Cape Dutch" (a term also used to refer collectively to the early Cape settlers) or "kitchen Dutch" (a derogatory term used to refer to Afrikaans in its earlier days). The term is ultimately derived from Dutch "Afrikaans-Hollands" meaning "African Dutch". It is the first language of most of the Afrikaner and Coloured people of Southern Africa.
Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages, including Portuguese, the Bantu languages, Malay, German and the Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95% of Afrikaans vocabulary is of Dutch origin. Therefore, differences with Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and a spelling that expresses Afrikaans pronunciation rather than standard Dutch. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages—especially in written form.
With about 7 million native speakers in South Africa, or 13.5% of the population, it is the third-most-spoken language in the country. It has the widest geographical and racial distribution of all the eleven official languages of South Africa, and is widely spoken and understood as a second or third language. It is the majority language of the western half of South Africa—the provinces of the Northern Cape and Western Cape—and the first language of 75.8% of Coloured South Africans (3.4 million people), 60.8% of White South Africans (2.7 million) and at 4.6% the second most spoken first-language among Asian South Africans (58,000). About 1.5% of black South Africans (600,000 people) speak it as their first language. Large numbers of speakers of Bantu languages and English-speaking South Africans also speak it as their second language. It is taught in schools, with about 10.3 million second language students. One reason for the expansion of Afrikaans is its development in the public realm: it is used in newspapers, radio programs, TV, and several translations of the Bible have been published since the first one was completed in 1933.
In neighbouring Namibia, Afrikaans is widely spoken as a second language and used as lingua franca, while as a native language it is spoken in 11% of households, mainly concentrated in the capital Windhoek and the southern regions of Hardap and ǁKaras. It, along with German, was among the official languages of Namibia until the country became independent in 1990, 25% of the population of Windhoek spoke Afrikaans at home. Both Afrikaans and German survive as recognised regional language in the country, although only English has official status within the government.
Estimates of the total number of Afrikaans-speakers range between 15 and 23 million.
Usage examples of "afrikaans".
Aletta Gous, banned from entry into premises where printing or publishing was done, had lost her job as a proof-reader of Afrikaans textbooks and was working, when last Rosa was in touch with her, with some organization that tried to make popular among blacks a cheap, high protein food.
We spoke in Afrikaans and in the usual tones, mine kindly but authori tative, his hesitant and unsure whether he was to expect demand, rebuke or a request he would be reluctant to stir for.
The dress was merely uninteresting, not unconventional in the striking way he liked loose clothes on the tall bodies of the Afrikaans state theatre actresses and art school lec turers who were the women he kept around him.
Like many blacks from their home country-his and hers-for whom English and Afrikaans are lingue franche, not mother tongues, he used the Afrikaans phrase translated literally, instead of the English equivalent.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe wins the elections the Afrikaans parents drive up to the school, making a long snake of cars like a funeral procession, to collect their kids.
The Afrikaans fathers stay in the car park, leaning against their cars, smoking and talking quietly to each other in Afrikaans.
There was the crackle and buzz of static followed by some faint extraneous snatches of Afrikaans, then an excited voice speaking in Shangane, very close and loud.
They were that much closer to the border on the Limpopo River, and to Sean the sound of Afrikaans was a comfort and a promise.
An undistinguished, rural family, bad schooling, the Afrikaans language: from each of these component handicaps he has, more or less, escaped.
With the ghost of Afrikaans still in his ears, he is at home in the syntax.
Though it is years since he spoke Afrikaans, he can feel himself relax at once as though sliding into a warm bath.
Speaking Afrikaans in this country, he wants to tell her, is like speaking Nazi, if there were such a language.
Boom, the late-twentieth-century, half Zulu, half Afrikaans, chief engineer, met them.
Granpa spoke no Afrikaans and she no English so she thumped up and down in silence with her chins squashing onto her chest with every bump of the old truck.
She was happy enough, to put my poor results down to my inability to grasp the subtlety of the Afrikaans language as well as being the youngest in class, whereas I already spoke Zulu and Shangaan and, like most small kids, found learning a new language simple enough.