Learn about the Afrikaans alphabet
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Intro |
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| Michael: Is the Afrikaans alphabet the same as the English alphabet? |
| Dewan: And what are the differences? |
| Michael: At AfrikaansPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Lyne Dexter, a kindergarten student, is studying the alphabet with her mom, Rita Dexter. She sees an unfamiliar letter and asks, |
| "Mommy, why is this "i" weird?" |
| Lynette Smit: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Dialogue |
| Lynette Smit: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Rita Smit: Dit is 'n i met 'n deelteken. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Lynette Smit: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Michael: "Mommy, why is this "i" weird?" |
| Rita Smit: Dit is 'n "i" met 'n deelteken. |
| Michael: "It's an "i" with a diaeresis." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you will be learning about the differences and similarities between the English and Afrikaans alphabets. |
| The official Afrikaans alphabet consists of 26 letters, just like the English alphabet, but don’t let this mislead you into thinking that the two are completely the same. While they are both based on the Latin alphabet, the pronunciation of the individual letters is often different and Afrikaans also has thirteen diacritical marks. |
| If you don’t know what those are, don't worry, we’ll explain in a moment. First, we’d like to add that the first records of written Afrikaans were actually in Arabic. Yes, Arabic. This is because, around 1815, the Muslim schools in South Africa switched from Malay to Afrikaans as the language for teaching, and so the instructional texts were all in Arabic. It was only around the middle of the same century that Afrikaans, written with the Latin alphabet, started to appear in publications like newspapers and religious works. |
| As we mentioned, Afrikaans makes use of 13 diacritical marks and I will now explain what that means. In the dialogue for today’s lesson, Lyne asks her mother: |
| Dewan: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Michael: “Mama, why is this “i” so weird?” Her mother replies: |
| Dewan: Dit is 'n “i” met 'n deelteken. |
| Michael: or “It is an “i” with a diaeresis.” Before we go any further, we’d like to just point out that the word “diaeresis” is not an easy one to pronounce. It’s got three vowels next to each other. This is a good example of where diacritical marks would have been really useful. You’ll see what we mean in a moment. |
| Now, let’s get back to what Lyne and her mother were talking about. Lyne was looking at a word containing an “i” with two dots on it, instead of the one that English speakers are used to. |
| And while on the subject of what we are used to, did you know that the dot on a small “i” and small “j” in English is called a tittle? It is an example of a diacritical mark—a mark that is placed above a letter in order, usually, to indicate that it has to be pronounced in a specific way. In Afrikaans, one can sometimes replace the tittle with two dots, and this is what is called a diaeresis. |
| Interestingly, one can find it in English too, but, these days, not many people use it anymore. It used to be written over the “i” in "naïve," for instance. This is a good word to use as an example of why languages use diacritical marks. |
| When you write the word “naive” without the diaeresis, someone who doesn’t already know the word might be tempted to pronounce it “nave.” What the diaeresis does, in this case, is it tells the reader that the vowel it modifies is pronounced in such a way that it sounds like the start of a new syllable. For instance, one of the words that Lyne might have been looking at in Afrikaans is |
| Dewan: beïnvloed |
| Michael: It means "influence" and is spelled with a B-E-I at the beginning of the word and the diaeresis or |
| Dewan: deelteken |
| Michael: is on the “i.” Usually, B-E-I in Afrikaans would be pronounced |
| Dewan: bei |
| Michael: but the diaeresis tells us that it is pronounced |
| Dewan: beï |
| Michael: Listen to what the word would sound like without the diaeresis: |
| Dewan: beinvloed |
| Michael: and then with it: |
| Dewan: beïnvloed |
| Michael: Quite a big difference. Now, you can understand why I said that a diacritical mark of some sort would have been very useful in a word like “diaeresis.” |
| As we mentioned earlier, there are thirteen of these handy diacritical marks in Afrikaans. Although these marks are not the only difference between English and Afrikaans in terms of the alphabet. One of the major differences between the two is in the pronunciation of certain letters. |
| Consider the letter “G,” for instance. In English, it can sound like the hard “G” in “grape” or the soft “G” in “beige,” but in Afrikaans, it can be a hard “G” as in |
| Dewan: berge |
| Michael: meaning “mountains,” or the fricative “G” as in the word |
| Dewan: goed. |
| Michael: meaning "great." This is probably one of the most difficult sounds to pronounce for English speakers. Afrikaans also uses a rough, rolling “R” as in the word |
| Dewan: rerig |
| Michael: which means “really.” Another version of this word is |
| Dewan: regtig |
| Michael: which makes use of both the rolling “R” and the fricative “G.” Good luck pronouncing that one if you are new to Afrikaans! |
| That said, while these might be difficult sounds to pronounce, they certainly give Afrikaans a distinctive, earthy character, with the result that it can be a very expressive language. Afrikaans is also, actually, not a difficult language to learn. It is a very logical language, and it is phonetic, which means that you pretty much write words the way you hear them. Also, those diacritical marks can be useful because they tell you very clearly how to pronounce certain letters. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that the English and Afrikaans alphabets are both based on the Latin alphabet with 26 letters for both languages, but, compared to English, Afrikaans also makes extensive use of diacritical marks which indicate how certain letters must be pronounced or emphasized. Some Afrikaans letters are also pronounced differently to their English counterparts. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "Mommy, why is this "i" weird?" |
| Dewan: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dewan: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Dewan: Mamma, hoekom is hierdie "i" so snaaks? |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "It's an "i" with a diaeresis?" |
| Dewan: Dit is 'n "i" met 'n deelteken. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dewan: Dit is 'n "i" met 'n deelteken. |
| Dewan: Dit is 'n "i" met 'n deelteken. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: An unusual and unique feature of the Afrikaans language is the indefinite article |
| Dewan: ‘n [deelteken n] |
| Michael: It means the same as the English “a” or “an,” but, believe it or not, it is spelled “apostrophe ‘N.’” The presence of the initial apostrophe means that, if this word comes at the beginning of a sentence, it is not capitalized. Instead, the first letter of the following word is capitalized. Odd, but also fascinating! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Dewan: Totsiens! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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