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The name of the language comes directly from the Dutch word Afrikaansch (now spelled Afrikaans) [n 3] meaning 'African'. [12] It was previously referred to as 'Cape Dutch' (Kaap-Hollands or Kaap-Nederlands), a term also used to refer to the early Cape settlers collectively, or the derogatory 'kitchen Dutch' (kombuistaal) from its use by slaves of colonial settlers "in the kitchen".
There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, [7] [13] [14] particularly in written form. [6] [12] [15] Research suggests that mutual intelligibility between Dutch and Afrikaans is better than between Dutch and Frisian [16] or between Danish and Swedish. [15]
In 1961 Dutch was replaced by Afrikaans as a co-official language. However, between 1925 and 1984 Dutch and Afrikaans were seen as two varieties of the same language by the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925 and later article 119 of the South African Constitution of 1961. After a short period (1984-1994) where Afrikaans and English were ...
Afrikaans, a language primarily descended from Dutch, is the mother tongue of Afrikaners and most Cape Coloureds. [9] According to the South African National Census of 2022, 10.6% of South Africans claimed to speak Afrikaans as a first language at home, making it the third most widely spoken home language in the country. [10]
The article also lists lots of languages which have no administrative mandate as an official language, ... (Afrikaans, German, and Oshiwambo are spoken regionally) [38]
The most common language spoken as a first language by South Africans is Zulu (23%), followed by Xhosa (16%), and Afrikaans (14%). English is the fourth most common first language in the country (9.6%), but is understood in most urban areas and is the dominant language in government and the media.
After gaining independence, many African countries, in the search for national unity, selected one language, generally the former Indo-European colonial language, to be used in government and education. However, in recent years, African countries have become increasingly supportive of maintaining linguistic diversity.
The Taalkommissie ("Language Commission") is a subsidiary of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns ("South African Academy for Science and Arts") that serves as the technical committee of the Nasionale Taalliggaam vir Afrikaans ("National Language Body for Afrikaans"), which is the language regulator of the Afrikaans language.