Can you understand Afrikaans? | #2

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language primarily spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller communities of speakers in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and other neighboring countries. It originated from the Dutch dialects spoken by the Dutch settlers who arrived in southern Africa in the 17th century. Over time, the language evolved and incorporated words and influences from other European languages, such as Portuguese, English, and German, as well as African languages like Khoisan and Bantu.

Afrikaans is the third most spoken language in South Africa, with around 7 million native speakers, and it is one of the 11 official languages recognized in the country. Afrikaans and Dutch are mutually intelligible to a certain extent, although there are significant differences in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation between the two languages.

We created those mini language challenges so you can experience Germanic languages for yourself and tell us how well can you understand each language based on your linguistic background. Do let us know in the comments about your experience.

The Germanic language family is a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, and it includes languages spoken primarily in Northern, Western, and Central Europe. The Germanic languages are traditionally classified into three main groups: West Germanic, North Germanic, and East Germanic. However, the East Germanic languages, which included Gothic, are now extinct.

West Germanic languages include:
English
German
Dutch
Frisian languages (spoken in the Netherlands and Germany)
Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa and Namibia)
Yiddish (spoken by Ashkenazi Jews in various countries)

North Germanic languages include:
Swedish
Danish
Norwegian
Icelandic
Faroese

🤗 Big thanks to Garret from South Africa!

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[Ecolinguist]

🤓 Translation and additional info below:
↓
TRANSCRIPTION:
Wat is dit?
Dit is 'n kleurryke plant.
Dit kan 'n sterk reuk hê.
Dit het blare en ’n stingel.
Insekte soos bye en motte besoek dit gereeld.
Dit kan gepluk en in ’n vaas geplaas word.
Dit is ’n blom.

TRANSLATION:
What is this?
This is a colorful plant.
It can have a strong smell.
It has leaves and a stem.
Insects such as bees and moths visit it regularly.
It can be picked and placed in a vase.
This is a flower.


🤗 Big thanks to Garret from South Africa!

[ikbintom]

He has a beautiful, calm, clear (to me, a Dutch speaker) way of enunciating. I can't always understand Afrikaans, but with this speaker, every word is clear as day

[easterlinear]

Yup, understood every word. I'm a Dutch speaker.

[stephenpitkin]

As an EnglishAnd German speaker i got about 70% of it.

[declangodfrey]

I was trying to guess which flower it was hihi

[yagi]

Yes, definitely. As a (second language) Dutch speaker, it’s very easy, at least in writing. It’s a bit more tricky when spoken but I assume you can get used to it and educate your ear.

[KasperKatje]

Makkelijk, maar lezen maakt het duidelijker. Bij horen is er een beetje twijfel bij sommige woorden.

[mmarch]

Fully understand! It’s very similar to Dutch!

[ethandizon]

It is a flower, my answer is correct, for an English speaker Afrikaans is quite easy in written form, while spoken form is quite challenging for me

[YumYumLifestyle]

Thank you for having our country in this video😊 Liking to support you😊

[Weissenschenkel]

I never studied Afrikaans but with the knowledge I have in English and German I could understand the object is a flower.

[lighthouses]

I am Norwegian, and I can get the gist. I don't understand every word, but I understand that you were talking about a plant, with leaves and stem, and that you can pick it, and insects visits it.

[ninjaishproductions.]

I speak only English and basic Spanish. I have no experience with Dutch or any other germanic languages, but I understood a good amount of this without looking at the words on screen

[Anthony_Gx]

As a Dutch native I can understand everything especially when I listen to you. Strangely reading it seems more difficult to understand
Maar ik begrijp jullie zeker wel :-)

[xtremetuberVII]

Blooming hell! Or should I say, Flowering hell!

[Someone-ghj]

My mum is South African but refuses to teach me any of it, and whenever i try these sorts of things i get so frustrated and sad because if i could know if she ever cared

[animefreak]

I understand everything what he said as a Dutch speaking person.

[rosemarybishop]

Im probably wrong about this but bits sounded a little like Chaucer.

[RicoLee]

I had no idea what "soos" was supposed to mean and why they mean with "motte" in that sentence

[sumtingwong]

As an Afrikaans speaker I understood everything being spoken