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As an Afrikaans native speaker, I can wholeheartedly recommend against wasting time learning it. Coming from Pretoria, I don't think I've ever used the language
by pixelpoet 3y ago
As an Afrikaans native speaker, I can wholeheartedly recommend against wasting time learning it. Coming from Pretoria, I don't think I've ever used the language to communicate with someone who isn't a massive racist, and purely objectively speaking Dutch is far more practical in Europe.
- Biologist123 3y agoAfrikaans is basically low German, spoken in much of northwest Europe. Although Afrikaans throws in a few peculiarities (eg piesang - also Bahasa Indonesian). I know school history likes to pretend Afrikaans is Flemish, but really Flemish is just another low German dialect. I’d also say I’ve liked most Afrikaners I’ve met, didn’t encounter much racism, and Jan Smuts is a fascinating character.
- pixelpoet 3y agoAs it happens I also used to speak Indonesian, although I unfortunately forgot that somehow, despite learning it very early. German, Dutch and Afrikaans stuck since they're basically the same as you say. I guess the racism is mostly due to growing up in Pretoria while apartheid was ending, and my stuffy old family and everyone around me was still using the k-word and stuff like that :/ Getting out of SA was my first real act of self-agency and I haven't regretted it for a second. On the contrary, when I look on social media at how the people who never left my hometown are doing... it's so grim over there. Left a sour taste for sure, and I don't mean to say that all Afrikaners are racist.