I learned a new word in Afrikaans yesterday: valskerm. It's the word for "parachute" but it literally means "fall screen." At least that's my interpretation. And I love it. A parachute is technically a screen, since there are holes in it, and it's for falling.
You probably think I'm crazy, but it's things like this that make me fall in love with Afrikaans and cross-cultural experiences in general. They add to my understanding of a word or context.
People often say that Afrikaans is harsh-sounding language, an ugly language, or even a pidgin language (for its lack of verb conjugations). That may be, but I think there are things in Afrikaans that are beautiful and poetic. It may not be a Romance language, but it has added to my understanding of the world, helped me see things from a different angle, and for that, I am grateful.
18 comments:
You're right- Afrikaans uses poetry with existing words instead of multiplying vocabulary and it makes the language rich.
Parachute in Spanish is "paracaidas" which means "for falling".
People who say Afrikaans is "harsh" and all the other "nonsense" - don't know the language - Afrikaans is beautiful, once you know more about the language, you will confirm my statement. Afrikaans is a rich langauge...like Dan says...and if you know enough, you will also say Afrikaans is a language of romance and love :)
"Skerm" - the second part of the word..."valskerm" also means "shield"
http://verdantsf.blogspot.com/ Verdant is in America and he's teaching himself Afrikaans..what is amazing, he's even creating youtube videos about the topics...I just love this! I'm in contact with a Russian guy who teaches himself the language- also via Afrikaans music and I lift my hat to people like these two fellows! They have my respect - and you.
Make those people who say Afrikaans is harsh read poetry by N.P. Van Wyk Louw. It will surely change their minds. Nothing as expressive, nothing as gorgeous. Why else would the Dutch be obsessed with it?
This is so nice? I am a South African in the USA. I am Afrikaans and i love my language. Tell you what once you feel, not understand but feel the following sentences you will have arrived at a place where Afrikaans becomes a instrument of life and poetry...
"my skorry-morrie lekker ding"
and
"ek smaak jou stukkend"
Afrikaans has that close tie between the speaker and the object / thing he/she is talking about which English is lacking totally.
For many English words, you need to consult a lexicon first to be able to understand the link between the word and the idea behind it. That's because English was once so much frenchified and consequently made it more difficult for native speakers themselves. The meaning of the words are knwon through use and application, but the words themselves do not describe anything, they are "foreign" even to English speakers. Honestly I don't believe many people know that "chute" is French for jump.
Afrikaans language is very inventive and the words mostly describes the idea, often in a very vivid, colourful way.
English-speaking people can - with some effort - track down their own Germanic language roots in Afrikaans. Fallscreen would be a better word than parachute wouldn't it? In my opinion such words make a language cosier as well as handier.
Let's all admit it: Afrikaans rules ! :P
Thomas,
Thank you so much for your response! You are correct about English and I am ashamed to admit that I hadn't thought about the English words themselves being "foreign". I know many of the Latin, Greek and German roots for English words, but the French roots escape my knowledge. Perhaps for English, the words themselves aren't descriptive, yet how you string them together is?
Each language has something unique and beautiful about it, I believe.
Dear Anna
thanks for your quick reply. Because I can see you are interested in the subject I would like to elaborate a bit.
By the way: my native language is Dutch (that means I understand Afrikaans without having to know the language actively). I'm also very fluent in German, and reasonably fluent in English as well as in French.
Roughly speaking (of course there are more than enough exceptions), the simple "every-day-life" words of the English language are Germanic: words like good, wind, garden, thank you, boat, ship, fox, cow, to make, to do, to cook, to give ... and the more "difficult" words that are quite often law-related are French: government, destination, apprentice, liberty, case, to resemble, to approve...
In some cases English has retained both the Germanic and the French word. (Freedom versus Liberty). You can immediately notice freedom is a truer English word than liberty. The well-known adjective is "free", whereas "libre" is not an English adjective. For some words the French has pushed the English (thus Germanic) word away. "Air" used to be "Lyft" in English. (Compare to German: Luft - Dutch: Lucht - Afrikaans: Lug)
I think, when English children have heard of the word "submarine" for the first time, they will not have any clue what it's about, they would suspect it has something to do with the sea at best. Now let us imagine the same situation in a German or Afrikaans classroom: Unterseeboot ("under-sea-boat") or duikboot in Afrikaans ("dive-boat") You see what I mean?
It's not as if the "alienated" English language had no advantages. It is definitely not an easy language, but the large melting pot of words of different origins makes it accessible to both speakers of both Roman and Germanic languages as they can both recognize many words. (And the same goes of course for English-speakers willing to learn another language)
Back to South Africa: I feel sorry for the Afrikaners for how they and their culture are being marginalised by the government. I am very well aware of the inhumanities committed by the Apartheid regime, but Apartheid is not an objective reason to hate and trying to wipe out a language. The Afrikaners have also contributed to South-Africa for almost 400 years. It would be nice if we saw the theoretical policy of "11 official languages all equal" put into practice instead of "English only" in reality. And by that I mean an upgrade of all languages in South Africa, including (black) indigenous languages.
Thomas,
I also speak German, which I think helps a bit in learning Afrikaans (my Spanish, unfortunately, does not help!)
I am fascinated by language and what it says about its respective cultures. I really do think there is a strength and beauty to each one, even English.
Being a native English speaker I never understood how difficult English was to learn until I saw it from outside my culture. I knew, of course, that English "breaks all the rules" and isn't very phonetic, but until I watched people struggle and ask, "Why is it pronounced like this over here but it's pronounced like that over there?"... and I could honestly not answer, that I gained an appreciation for the order and structure of other languages - the consistency of German (if you learn the alphabet you can pronounce any word), the flowery metaphors of Spanish, the simplicity of Afrikaans verbs and their highly picturesque phrases, and even learning how to "sing" in American Sign Language...
Regarding the word "submarine", you are right in that it is not as obvious as "Onterseeboot" or "duikboot", but the prefix sub- does mean "under" and marine refers to the ocean, so one actually could deduce some meaning there, though not as quickly, perhaps!
I believe English is widely used for business here in South Africa because it is the more common "second langauge" across the many cultures, and because it is widely spoken across the world, as opposed to the other official 10 languages. But Afrikaans is alive and well here in Pretoria! In fact, on my side of the mountain, that is all that is spoken, so I don't think the language will die out anytime soon. There are very few English-medium schools in Pretoria. At the primary school level, two languages are learned - either Afrikaans and English, or Setswana and English, Sepedi and English, etc. At the high school level one can learn a third language. So at least in that regard, the nation is beginning to heal and appreciate the diversity in languages. It might take a few generations, but I can already see a difference between the younger and older generations in terms of mindset.
I agree with you that it's unfortunate to hold a culture or language hostage for the sins of their fathers. One loses so much richness and complexity when we fail to see the good and only focus on the bad.
I am curious, how do you know so much about language? Was that your field of study?
Have you ever visited South Africa? Perhaps you could consider a visit down here!
Hi Anna
I studied German + English as main foreign languages (+ French to a lesser extent) to become a translator. However, that branch of study does not clarify my obsession with cultures and languages. As with many interests, it started during childhood. But the fact that I am living in a country in political instability due to language conflicts also added weight to that passion.
You speak German? Perhaps you are an American of German descent? I know for instance that German ist the largest ancestry group in the USA. More than one third of all white USA people have full or partial German ancestry. No surprise there looking at how many Americans have German surnames. :-) Also think of some words like Fahrenheit and Kindergarten.
By the way, my remarks about English did not intent to claim it's not a beautiful language. But it sort of gets too much attention already so I'm always happy when I can "advertise" for other languages :-)
Maybe submarine was not the best of examples (can't think of any more striking examples at the moment, typically ...) but you got the point indeed.
English is a very difficult language to learn indeed. Many people in the world can speak English more or less, but a lot of theh have great difficulties with the grammatical tense system and the inconstistent spelling. (Indeed, German has a very consistent spelling and grammar). Back in the day when my studies took off me and my classmates thoughts German was going to be more difficult than English. At the end of the same school year we all agreed English was more difficult. It is more accessible than German because there's not much of a gender problem. German requires more effort to learn the basics than English, but once you've wrestled yourself through those basics, German will become easier and easier. In English it's the other way around: relatively easy introduction, but from then on it's about to get worse :-).
I have never visited South Africa. (the US I have, New York, which was once a Dutch settlement called Nieuw-Amsterdam). But I follow the news and read a lot of articles about the country. The Afrikaner people are complaining a lot about a shocking number of gruesome farm murders (Plaasmoorde) committed by black people and some claim these actions are secretly allowed and even directed by certain members of the ANC. Furthermore, as said before, the Afrikaners feel linguistically impaired by the many schools they had being closed and all in favor of English-speaking schools. Both in Europe and in South Africa, Dutch-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking are thinking about joining hands in the Dutch Language Union to compensate for the lack of respect Afrikaans has been getting from the SA government. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Map_Dutch_World_scris.png)Though it is not the only aspect determining a language's standing in the world, sheer numbers do tempt people into learning a language. In the Dutch-Afrikaans case, that would mean the tally would be increased from somewhat 28 million speakers to +- 48 to 50 million people and that's a big difference. I doubt the "re-unification" will happen soon, but I know there are discussions going on about it. I think it's still too difficult momentarily because the Dutch Language Union has no say in SA and the Afrikaners would need an approval from the ANC-government. Given their loathing against Afrikaans, would they welcome a strenghtened position of Afrikaans in the world? ...
Concerning society in SA: I'm happy to hear from you things are improving. I have read multiple reports containing the same message. It will take more generations indeed to heal fully.
Anna, have you seen this? (see the youtube link hereunder) I'm jealous at this guy ! He also speaks about Afrikaans and Dutch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55_G66g02QU
Thomas,
I am enjoying our chats! I do speak German and I am indeed of German descent: my Great-Grandparents were all from Germany - aus Bayern. In California, however, where I am from, it is customary to learn Spanish as there are more Mexicans living in California than native Californians. I chose to study German just to be different. It didn't work; I still had to learn Spanish!
You are welcome to make any comment you like about the English language - I am not quick to defend it, nor am I quick to defend Americans! I think I am fairly open-minded on both those fronts and would agree with you that they get far too much attention!
How's this for an example: the word "watch" as opposed to Armbanduhr auf Deutsch oder "polshorlosie" en Afrikaans? Of course, the English word used to be "wristwatch", which is indeed descriptive, but the word has been shortened to "watch" which has a vague meaning at best! (Is dit 'n werkwoord of 'n selfstaandige naamwoord?)
In terms of the news stories you hear/read... I am not sure what to think of that. I have a somewhat different perspective living here, and since I look at things through the lens of a foreigner, my perception is subjective at best. The plaasmoorde... it does indeed happen, though violent crime is down 5% in the last year here. My personal opinion is that these murders tend to be publicised to such an extent that they are blown out of proportion (I do not mean to sound harsh; the loss of a life is tragic under any circumstance). But there are different sides to every story, aren't there? Afrikaans people can often be negative about the state of things here in South Africa. This is understandable on the one hand, but can also narrow their ability to look at things objectively. Just as many - if not more - black South Africans are murdered brutally each year. Does that get reported in the news? I wonder...
I also have never heard of Afrikaans schools being shut down. Here in Pretoria that is certainly not the case. There are very few English-medium schools. I can't count on one hand the number of English-medium high schools in a city of 1.5 million people. My knowledge is limited, of course, but this is the first that I have heard of such happenings. Do you know where this occurred? I DO know that universities are trying to offer more classes in English simply because English is more widely spoken around the world, but even so there are universities here which are very much "Afrikaans" - even when the classes are offered in English people will often switch to Afrikaans, as that is the most widely spoken language here in Pretoria.
I do not think that Afrikaans is loathed by all black South Africans. Many prefer it to English and don't speak English at all, in fact. Others associate it with the "language of the oppressor" and refuse to speak it. On the whole, I think you will find more English South Africans who refuse to speak Afrikaans than black South Africans. But again, that is my perspective only. The two white South African people groups - English and Afrikaans - seem to "hate" each other more than anyone else! It's a complex country with a complex history... but still, I love it and hope to live here for many years to come. This is home now, and I cherish all of the languages and people groups.
I spent the day with my Dutch friends and strangely enough I thought about you. If you ever find yourself in South Africa you'll have to stop by for a "kuier".
Thanks for the links; the map and video were quite interesting!
Regards, Anna
Hi Anna
I once tried to learn Spanish, too. But I didn’t like it and I soon gave up, it wasn’t my thing.
About the “skole”, here is what I read: Before 1994, there were more than 2000 Afrikaanse skole, nowadays only some 350 remain (! ! !) That’s what I read in multiple reports in multiple languages (Dutch, Afrikaans and English) (here is one source, but there are many more http://www.pvv.nl/index.php/component/content/article/42-martin-bosma/4816-inploffing-en-uitwissing-van-het-afrikaans-op-universiteiten-pvv-steun-de-studenten.html). As I have not visited the country myself yet, I do not know how to interpret this. Really closed, literally (leaving empty buildings behind)? Or forced to switch to English as a medium of instruction? It’s hard to find more details but I’m sure the latter is part of the government policy. I have also read some ANC-members believe that if the blacks are not going to stand up for their language rights, the Afrikaners should say goodbye to their language out of solidarity with the blacks (in other words South-Africa should become solely English-speaking). What a criminal thought. Even if the indigenous people prefer English, why would another population group (which has been in ZA for almost 400 years) have to give up their culture?
I’m grateful to hear your (a different) opinion on the plaasmoorde. I can imagine some want to use them as a pretext to “prove” that during Apartheid there was more safety (which may be true, but of course that system was rotten to the core on many other domains). But what makes me suspicious of racist murdering is the fact that many white farmers were brutally tortured to death, while very little money got stolen from their homes. To me, that’s a serious indication. Mostly, thieves do not want to lose time when breaking into a house. They want money or valuable stuff and some of them will kill for that, but torturing? Mmmm I’m having my doubts there …
Anna, Now I’ve found a good one, even better than polshorlosie or Armbanduhr. How about the Afrikanerword for a (fire) match? Vuurhoutjie! (“ little piece of fire wood”). So cute, lol. In German Streichholz, in Dutch lucifer.
Met vriendelike groete !
Geagte Thomas,
In verband met die skole...
I think I figured out where those statistics came from. I did a little research and read several articles about the diminishing number of Afrikaans schools. What I read was that the number of Afrikaans-ONLY schools has dropped to between 300 and 500. The remainder of them have become dual-medium schools, which means that they offer both Afrikaans and English classes. How that plays out in Pretoria is this: a school will be 95% Afrikaans but have one class for English-speakers (35-40 students in a school of 1,000). If you look at it like this, the Afrikaans schools are not diminishing at all, just offering a few classes for those in the area who are English-speakers or who choose to attend school in English.
In the rural areas, children can attend school in their home language. During Apartheid years black South Africans were forced to learn at Afrikaans schools, which led to the Soweto uprising in June 1976. After the end of Apartheid, schools in the rural areas reverted to the black South African languages.
From my own perspective, which granted is limited, children these days are able to attend school in any of the 11 official languages.
Vuurhoutjies is a great word! I know that one. Some of my favourite Afrikaans words: spookasem (candy floss, but literally means "ghost breath"), stofsaaier (vacuum cleaner but literally means "dust sucker") and grondboontjiebotter (I just love the way that word sounds!) One thing I love about Afrikaans and German is that it is one word if it is one thing. English would take several words to indicate one thing, whereas in German and Afrikaans it gets squished into one word. I can't think of a good example, except that "ice cream sandwich" - three words - becomes "roomystoebroodjies" in Afrikaans - one word.
Praat jy Afrikaans of verstaan jy dit want jy is Nederlands?
Yes, unfortunately some murders in South Africa do involve torture and it is difficult to imagine how one human being could commit such atrocities against another. But the reverse happened during Apartheid years. There is a lot of anger lying under the surface of society - for some people at least - and it pops out every now and then with these murders. BUT... if you think about the transition post-Apartheid on the whole, it is rather amazing that things went as smoothly as they did. There was no coup, no civil war, and people live in relative peace with each other. I think that is pretty amazing given the number of different cultures and worldviews here.
Lekker aand!
Ik ga nu eventjes in mijn taal schrijven, vermits jij Afrikaans en Duits verstaat, zal dat niet te veel problemen geven ! ;-)
In verband met de scholen: Als ze ook lessen aanbieden in het Engels voor anderstalige studenten, dan is dat natuurlijk goed. Men klaagt echter wel over een sluipende "Verengelsing". Met andere woorden: klein beginnen, maar uiteindelijk worden het Engelstalige universiteiten. Volgens jou is die bekommernis onterecht?
Nog een leuk Afrikaans woordje: "kletsrymer" (Engels: "rapper") en "van nikske ni bang skip" = warship. "not afraid of anything ship" :-)
Ik versta jouw zin in het Afrikaans :-), ik ben niet Nederlands (wel Nederlandstalig. Ik ben een Vlaming (ENG: "Flemish") Dus: net zoals jij Amerikaans bent en niet Engels, maar wel Engelstalig. en "ek vin Afrikaans 'n baie interessante en mooie taal !"
Begrijp je wat ik zeg? *switching to German now* --> Ich nehme an, dass du den Löwenteil meines kleinen Textes verstanden hast. Wenn nicht, so kannst du noch immer die Hilfe von Google Übersetzer herbeirufen ! :-)
Liebe Grüße (Deutsch)
Vriendelijke groeten (NL)
Vriendelike groete (AFR)
Thomas,
Ek het die meeste van jou Nederlands verstaan maar ek het die woordeboek vir 'n paar woorde om te vertaal gebruik.
Ek is jammer dat ek jou nou eers antwoord. Die week is baie besig!
Mag ek asseblief Engels skryf as ek Afrikaans nog leer? Ich habe auch die meistens Deutsch vergessen weil niemand hier Deutsch spricht und ich kann nie üben. :-(
Und dann... Ek meng Duits mit Afrikaans en skep 'n "pidgin" taal!
I do not see an Anglicization of schools here, but you must understand this is only my perspective and I live in Pretoria, which is still very much Afrikaans. There are many universities that are yet "Afrikaans-speaking", and even at the University of Pretoria, which offers many courses in English, most courses end up being taught in Afrikaans (much to the horror of my South Korean friends who signed up for an English course and speak no Afrikaans!).
I understand the fear of Afrikaans diminishing, and that would be a great pity. I suppose that is always a concern, but I wonder how to remedy that? Could it be that instead of "hoarding" a language in order to preserve it, one could rather share it with the world? Write more Afrikaans poetry, literature, music, etc., so the rest of the world can learn to appreciate such a rich and young language with beautiful imagery?
If I may be so bold to offer a rather strong opinion - (and please understand that I say this with the utmost respect for Afrikaans people) - in the four and a half years that I have lived here, I have seen much complaining and very little productive problem-solving. I do understand the complaints (klagtes), of course, but it seems like the energy would be better spent actually DOING something about it. Just my limited perspective, of course. How do you see it from Europe? I am curious...
Ek hou baie van ons se gesprekke. Jy kan e-posse aan my stuur as dit makliker is. My e-pos is ericksonza@gmail.com
Lekker dag, Thomas!
YAWN
Dear Both of you.
Ek is a Afrikaanse Suid-Afrikaner, maar ek is totaal in al vlot in Engels, so Ek sal vir one nie Engelssprekende lesers Engels Tik.
I am what you could call a Boer, a member of the people - not an actual farmer. I am currently in grade 11 in Ferdinand Postma High school, a mixed medium school.
I would like to comment on several of the things that you guys have talked about in your correspondence.
So here goes.
With regard to the schools business. I am in a school that uses the rare curriculum system called a mixed medium. This means that Afrikaans and English learners have class in both languages. Classes are split more or less 50-50 between Afrikaans and English learners. I have found this to be a very effective way of dealing with the language divide. It helps English learners and Afrikaans learners learn the other language by use, and not just the theory behind it. I am privileged to be taking both as Home Language (Huistaal), and I love it.
Afrikaans is a very beautiful language, it is rich in images, has (I think) 9 dialects - all understandable to anyone that can speak Afrikaans. It is a visual language born from farmers that lived in the wilderness of the Cape, and later in the Karoo and Veld of the 'binneland'. Afrikaans is a language that I adore and love with everything I am. It can be as direct and specific as German, and as emotional and articulate as French.
It is ironic to think that Afrikaans originated with the "Boerevolk", but that the most people that use the language are 'coloured' - as in a mix of native African and dutch setller genes.
I have the unique perspective of being in a school that is also split 50-50 between white learners and all other races. (We have a learner from Armenia, four from Korea, and we even had one from Russia) I have met and become good friends with black children that are educated even more than some white people I know... (Something that the most conservative and right wing AWB members say is impossible) And I can truly and honestly say that I think this generation has almost completely healed from the past. Here we interact and live together as if there is no colour difference to our skin - the way it should be.
I love South Africa, and I love what my little corner of it has become: a country where every race, culture, people and ethnic group can live together in the same town, enjoy a cup of tee at the restaurant, and laugh over the same cliche joke. It is a country that has so much to offer the world, a country with the most beautiful landscapes and the greatest poetry (of all languages) that you will find anywhere.
The fact that it has so many diverse cultures and language in such close proximity is what has enriched each of them to no end. Our languages - especially Afrikaans - change at a rate not matched even in America (a country known for it's diversity).
South Africa truly is a country where the 'Diverse People Unite' as is our 'leuse'. And Afrikaans in all its different forms and dialects, is the epiphany of this. A language of and for the people.
Afrikaans is my language.
Afrikaans is beautiful.
Gideon Theo Roos
P.S.
You can Email me if you want to talk more about this (anyone)
KuheyArusaki@gmail.com / groos@mtn.blackberry.com (most likely to get a reply if emailed to the latter)
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