Afrikaansspeaking

Afrikaans-speaking refers to people who speak Afrikaans as a first or primary language, and to communities where the language is widely used. Afrikaans is a West Germanic language that developed from Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries in the Cape Colony. It borrows from Malay, Portuguese, and local languages, and has since evolved into a distinct standard form as well as regional varieties.

Most Afrikaans speakers live in South Africa, where Afrikaans is one of the country’s 11 official languages. It is especially common in the Western and Northern Cape, with significant communities in the Free State, Gauteng, and other provinces. Smaller communities exist in Namibia, where Afrikaans remains a widespread lingua franca, and in neighboring countries, as well as among diaspora communities in Europe, North America, and Australasia.

In South Africa, Afrikaans is used in education at various levels, in government and public life, and in media, including radio, television, newspapers, and online outlets. There is also a rich literary and cultural tradition associated with Afrikaans, spanning poetry, novels, theatre, and music.

Linguistically, Afrikaans is closely related to Dutch but has its own standardized form, known as Standard Afrikaans, with several regional varieties. It is commonly spoken alongside other languages such as English, isiXhosa, and isiZulu, with many speakers bilingual or multilingual.

Historical and contemporary debates about language use and education have shaped Afrikaans-speaking communities, particularly in post-apartheid South Africa. The term encompasses a diverse group of speakers with varying identities, from multi-generational urban residents to people with strong ties to rural and Afrikaans-speaking communities.