Afrikaans and Dutch — what is the connection? Are these two languages as similar as they’re rumoured to be?
When my cousins were younger, they used to dress identically. It was so cute. They’d show up at our house for a visit with my aunt and uncle, dressed in matching dresses or dungarees.
As you can imagine, outsiders often confused the two. But since my cousins were siblings and not identical twins, it didn’t take long for people to realise they were actually very different.
This is kind of what it’s like with Afrikaans and Dutch. Many people, including the Dutch, seem to have the idea that Afrikaans is practically identical to Dutch.
READ MORE | The Dutch and South Africa: more than just Apartheid and Boers
Although there are, of course, many similarities, they’re officially listed as different languages for a reason.
Afrikaans is basically Dutch, right?
Almost every time I mention that I am South African to a Dutchie, I’m met with a look of surprise mingled with recognition.
They usually exclaim: “Oh, so then you speak Zuid-Afrikaans, right? That’s basically Dutch!” — to which I smile and nod.
My response is, in essence, a lie: “Yes! Sort of.”
But, no more white lies. No more! 😤 I’m writing this article to finally expose the truth:
No. It’s not basically Dutch. In fact, much like two siblings dressed identically, Afrikaans and Dutch are from the same family but not twins.
Afrikaans: A Brief History
I’ve decided to invoke the use of the Google Dictionary to best explain this:
“Afrikaans: a language of southern Africa, derived from the form of Dutch brought to the Cape by Protestant settlers in the 17th century. It is an official language of South Africa, spoken by around 6 million people as their first language.”
So, Afrikaans is a 17th-century import of Dutch colonialism.
It’s important to add that while the root of the language is Dutch, it’s also an amalgamation of German, French, and Indonesian. Interesting, right?
Fun fact: Afrikaans is only one of twelve official languages in South Africa (yes, twelve — hello Rainbow Nation!).
Can South Africans understand Dutch?
As noted by Google, Afrikaans is “derived from Dutch”, so the saving grace is that the language is still very relevant to the Netherlands.
Dutchies haven’t got it entirely wrong this time. If you can speak Afrikaans, you will likely understand some Dutch.
What makes it more nuanced is that not all South Africans speak Afrikaans as their first language with native proficiency.
Many do, but there is a high chance that the sunny South African you do meet has another first language (e.g. English, Xhosa, Zulu are some examples).
Many South Africans only speak Afrikaans at the high-school level (guilty!) – some not at all.
READ MORE | Dutch architecture in South Africa you can still see today
Some parts of Afrikaans and Dutch are incredibly similar. The written Dutch words are often comparable to Afrikaans words, which means that you can easily grasp the gist of a sentence.
Spoken Dutch, however, can be mind-boggling! The majority of spoken Dutch is as difficult for an Afrikaans speaker to learn and understand as it is for a German, for example.
That said though, the basis of Afrikaans does mean South Africans can pick up Dutch relatively easy — so there is that little advantage.
Feel free to ask any South Africans you may know for further insight into the challenges and similarities between the two languages.
READ MORE | 9 podcasts that’ll have you speaking Dutch in no time
Similar words in Afrikaans and Dutch
A favourite pastime of mine is to do the Afrikaans-Dutch conversation table and see similarities and differences between two words. Here’s a little taster:
| English | Afrikaans | Dutch |
|---|---|---|
| Understand | Verstaan | Begrijp/Verstaan |
| A bit | ’n Bietjie | Een beetje |
| Left/Right | Links/Regs | Links/Rechts |
| The | Die | Het/De |
| Really!? | Rerig | Echt |
| Of course | Natuurlik | Natuurlijk |
| Banana | Piesang (also Indonesian) | Banaan |
In general, I think Afrikaans and Dutch are like my cousins, not twins but sisters. The same roots but different branches. The analogies could go on and on!
I hope this musing makes it easier for South Africans to explain and for Dutchies to understand — after all, in a way, we are family.
Did you know about the similarities and differences between the languages? Tell us in the comments!
Really nice article!!!
I have been living in Belgium for just over 4 years.
I have to agree with you. It is relatively easy to understand and communicate with the Dutch-speaking. But personally I have issues with construction of sentences… which does differ quite a lot.
In terms of vocab, it definitely helps to know Afrikaans.
Apparently it is also easier to learn Dutch in the Netherlands than it is to do so in Belgium…
That is why we offer Dutch classes specially for Afrikaans speakers! They have advantages and disadvantages when learning Dutch: their vocabulary expands very fast because of similarities. Most of them understand a lot. But using the right grammar is hard: it’s not only about learning, it is also about unlearning grammar of the Afrikaans language with similarities. All together Afrikaans speakers have different challenges and strengths when learning Dutch. So it is a good idea to take a course that is aimed at Afrikaans speakers! 🙂
I have a suggestion/correction. ‘Begrijp’ in the list of examples (the first line) should be changed to ‘Begrijpen’ if the infinitive is intended to be presented. ‘Begrijpen’ is the infinitive in Dutch, while ‘Begrijp’ is the imperative mood. Alternatively, if the imperative mood is supposed to be presented (which is possible since the difference in meaning in English and Afrikaans cannot, in contradistinction to Dutch, be derived from the form), ‘Begrijp’ is correct, but ‘Verstaan’ should be changed to ‘Versta’. Incidentally, strictly speaking it should be changed to ‘Versta’/’Verstaat’ (and ‘Begrijp’ should be complemented by ‘Begrijpt’), but most Dutch speakers would probably consider the latter form outdated; it is – strictly speaking – the plural variant but this is only (extremely) rarely used at present and would presumably not even be recognized by many speakers of Dutch and thus be deemed incorrect by them. So either ‘Begrijpen/Verstaan’ or ‘Begrijp/Versta’ would be correct.
Why not just use the word Dutchmen? I think it’s an absolutely fine word, and everyone knows it applies to both men and women.
Being Afrikaans I love the similarities and differences between the 2 languages. I did however find that it took me about 2 weeks to get my ear “tuned” to the accent and then I could follow any conversation and when I spoke slowly most Dutch people understood me. Foreigners whose 2nd language is Dutch thought my Dutch was perfect even though I used to speak to them in Afrikaans as our only way of communicating while renovating our whole house. I find no difference in reading a novel in Afrikaans or Dutch but speaking is the challenge because the Grammar is so different. You pick up vocabulary differences very quickly but speaking Afrikaans at home is a stumbling block to speak grammatically correct Dutch outside my home even after 8 years. My husband who never speaks Dutch passed inburgering on his first try for each subject. When my parents visited the last time we spend a day with their old neighbors from 1971 (we lived here for 1 year) at their home. My parents spoke Afrikaans and they spoke Dutch and we had a lovely day together. I love the Dutch language and should make more effort to practice the grammar.
The correct Afrikaans word for “Really?!” is “Regtig?!”… “Rerig” (or actually “Rêrig”) is a slang word.
Afrikaans exhibits more linguistic similarity to Dutch than Gronings does. Gronings is a northern ‘Dutch dialect’ with a completely different vocabulary and pronunciation from the native language, even more so than Afrikaans.
Comparing Afrikaans to New Dutch is questionable, given that Afrikaans derived 95%-98% from Old Dutch, and the language has evolved substantially.
Afrikaans people in the Netherlands are similar to dogs. We understand most of what the Dutch are saying, but we cannot reply 🙂
Woof !!!!