South Africa: Reports of the Impending Death of Afrikaans Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Afrikaans is a uniquely southern African language. At least six million people in South Africa and Namibia speak Afrikaans, and there are probably many more of us (coloured people) than there are white people who speak the language.

One of South Africa’s national languages is under threat of disappearing. Afrikaans may still be spoken and may outlive us – those of us who will still be kicking around for the next 25 to 30 years – but there is mild panic, some hysteria and general concern that Afrikaans is being relegated as a language of instruction, and demonised as a cultural or identity marker.

Briefly stated, at the outset, there are at least 6,000 languages currently in use around the world, and at least 500 that are extinct. So, we need to ask whether Afrikaans should be killed or left to die a natural death?

Let’s start with the unproblematic, possibly trite statement that the past, present and future of Afrikaans is woven into the country’s history which, never mind notions of exceptionalism, cannot be ripped from everything else going on in the world.

In one of those fits of rhetorical abuse to which we are prone, Afrikaans is described as “the language of the oppressor”. It is not without validity though. Language is never neutral and is almost always used as a weapon.

We should…