Afrikaans
pronunciation
How to pronounce Afrikaans in British English:
UK [ˌæfrɪˈkɑ:ns]
How to pronounce Afrikaans in American English:
US [ˌæfrɪˈkɑns, -ˈkɑnz]
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- Noun:
- an official language of the Republic of South Africa; closely related to Dutch and Flemish
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- Adjective:
- belonging or relating to white people of South Africa whose ancestors were Dutch or to their language
Word Origin
- Afrikaans (n.)
- 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.
Example
- 1. Parliamentary debates are in english . Even the instructions on bottles of prescription drugs come only in english or afrikaans .
- 2. As well as english , french , portuguese and arabic , it offers zulu , afrikaans , amharic and swahili .
- 3. But tim du plessis , the editor of an afrikaans newspaper , argues that afrikaners are merely migrating to a new space , between dead-end radicalism and anc co-option .
- 4. For the school-leaving exam , proficiency in at least two languages is required . But most native english-speakers opt for afrikaans , said to be easy to learn , rather than a useful but harder african tongue .
- 5. Today most young indians speak only english or are bilingual in english and afrikaans , though they may continue to chat at home in a kind of pidgin english larded with indian and zulu .