Learn the similarities between Afrikaans and Dutch
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Intro |
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| Michael: Is Afrikaans similar to Dutch? |
| Dewan: And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Michael: At AfrikaansPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Picture this scenario: Ben Lee sees an unfamiliar item on a restaurant menu in Cape Town. He asks his friend, Rentia Oosthuizen, "Is this Afrikaans?" |
| Ben Lee: Is hierdie Afrikaans? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Is hierdie Afrikaans? |
| Rentia Oosthuizen: Nee, dit is Nederlands. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Is hierdie Afrikaans? |
| Michael: "Is this Afrikaans?" |
| Rentia Oosthuizen: Nee, dit is Nederlands. |
| Michael: "No, it is Dutch." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you will be learning whether |
| Dewan: Afrikaans |
| Michael: Afrikaans and |
| Dewan: Nederlands |
| Michael: Dutch are similar and if they are mutually intelligible. The simple answer to both of these questions is “yes,” but it requires a little clarification. |
| For instance, while the languages are mutually intelligible, the balance is skewed in favor of Dutch speakers. What I mean is that, although the speakers of both these languages can understand one anotherr, Dutch speakers will usually find it easier to understand Afrikaans, while Afrikaans speakers will have less success trying to understand someone speaking Dutch. |
| Afrikaans is a more consistent language than Dutch because its morphology, grammar, and spelling are more regular. There are also more words in Afrikaans that Dutch speakers are likely to recognize from their own language. Afrikaans speakers will encounter a greater number of unfamiliar words in Dutch. By way of further explanation, let’s look at an example sentence: |
| Dewan: Ons is van die noordelike provinsie. |
| Michael: This is Afrikaans for “We are from the northern province.” |
| Indeed, the sentence in Dutch is very similar, and even shares the words |
| Dewan: noordelike |
| Michael: and |
| Dewan: provinsie |
| Michael: These words are mutually intelligible and mean the same thing in both languages. However, when it comes to understanding the entire sentence, Dutch people are at an advantage over Afrikaans people. This is because Dutch uses words that have no cognates in Afrikaans, meaning that people speaking Afrikaans can’t guess the meaning of the words since there are no similar words in Afrikaans, while a word like |
| Dewan: ons |
| Michael: has the same meaning in the Dutch language, which is “us” and, even if it wouldn’t be used in this context in Dutch, it’s easy to understand for a Dutch speaker. This is one example of how it is easier for Dutch people to understand Afrikaans than it is for Afrikaans people to understand Dutch. |
| A major difference between these two languages lies in the verb forms. Afrikaans has almost no irregular verbs, and one would be hard-pressed to find an example of the simple past tense in Afrikaans. |
| For instance, if you wanted to say “I helped” in Afrikaans, you would have to say: |
| Dewan: Ek het gehelp. |
| Michael: In this sentence, the word |
| Dewan: het |
| Michael: is similar in function to the English “did,” resulting in the direct translation “I did helped.” The same word can also mean “have” so the Afrikaans sentence can also mean, “I have helped,” depending on the context. In Dutch, however, the simple past would change the verb enough to make it hard to understand for Afrikaans speakers. |
| It would be easier for the Dutch speaker to understand the Afrikaans |
| Dewan: Ek het gehelp. |
| Michael: It is estimated that about 90 to 95% of Afrikaans words originate from Dutch, but there are several other languages that also had a strong influence on Afrikaans. For this reason, there are some words in Afrikaans that either cannot be found in Dutch or have a different meaning. Consider the word |
| Dewan: amper |
| Michael: In Afrikaans, this means “almost,” and it comes from a Malay word which means the same thing. Interestingly, one finds the exact same word in Dutch, but it means “scarcely” or “sour.” In Afrikaans, the word |
| Dewan: baie |
| Michael: can mean “very,” and it is derived from a Malay word that means the same thing. In Dutch, on the other hand, the word that conveys “very” is completely different. The point is that, because of the influence of other languages on Afrikaans, there are cases where the languages drift apart too much. |
| Besides vocabulary differences, there are orthographic or spelling differences between the two languages as well. For instance, in Afrikaans, the words |
| Dewan: kommunikeer |
| Michael: "communicate," and |
| Dewan: provokeer |
| Michael: "provoke," are spelled only with “Ks” (kays)—there is not a C to be seen. In Dutch, though, the same words are spelled with Cs, both hard and soft. |
| Michael: There was a spelling reform in Dutch in the 1990s, and, prior to that, a word like |
| Dewan: kultuur |
| Michael: meaning "culture" spelled with a “K,” would have been acceptable in Dutch, but now it no longer is. It is still spelled that way in Afrikaans though. In fact, Afrikaans always uses a “K” where Dutch might use a hard “C.” There are no stand-alone hard “C”s in Afrikaans. |
| There are many examples of these orthographic differences between the languages, but, overall, the similarities between the two languages are still very apparent. |
| We mentioned earlier that there are many words in the two languages that look and sound similar or even the same, but have different meanings. One such word is the Afrikaans |
| Dewan: as. |
| Michael: It looks and sounds similar to the Dutch word, which adds an l between a and s [als] and means “if.” The Afrikaans word also means “if,” but it can be used in comparison to mean “than” as well. Consider this sentence, which means, “That coat is cheaper than that one.” |
| Dewan: Daardie jas is goedkoper as daardie een. |
| Michael: This is another good example of how the way that the two languages have evolved has led to similarities that can be quite misleading at times. It is this kind of confusion that is one of the obstacles to mutual intelligibility. The two languages are mutually intelligible, of course, but there are some difficulties. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after Dewan while focusing on pronunciation. Do you remember how to say "Is this Afrikaans?" |
| Dewan as Ben Lee: Is hierdie Afrikaans? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dewan as Ben Lee: Is hierdie Afrikaans? |
| Dewan as Ben Lee: Is hierdie Afrikaans? |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "No, it's Dutch?" |
| Dewan as Rentia Oosthuizen: Nee, dit is Nederlands. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dewan as Rentia Oosthuizen: Nee, dit is Nederlands. |
| Dewan as Rentia Oosthuizen: Nee, dit is Nederlands. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Afrikaans is seen as a daughter language to Dutch and is a standard language as opposed to a national variety of Dutch. Netherlands Dutch, Belgian Dutch, and Surinamese Dutch are all national varieties of Dutch. In other words, Afrikaans has gained the status of being a distinct, separate language and is not seen as a form of Dutch. |
| Interestingly, the word |
| Dewan: Afrikaans |
| Michael: has Dutch roots and means “African.” It eventually acquired this name after initially being referred to as “Cape Dutch.” This was because it was the kind of Dutch that was being spoken in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in the mid-17th century. Later, it became known as “Afrikaans Hollands” or “African Dutch” and thereafter was shortened to, simply, “Afrikaans.” |
| This Dutch dialect was influenced by, among others, the Malay, Khoi, and Portuguese languages and, as a result, it evolved in its own, unique way over the centuries until, in the early 20th century, it was legally recognized as an independent language in South Africa. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Dewan: Totsiens! |
| Michael: Goodbye! See you soon! |
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