Bad news for us souties then, looks like we might need to brush up on our Afrikaans because the language is going from strength to strength.

In the wake of the definitive Afrikaans dictionary HAT (Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal) 6 being released this week, the 50th anniversary edition nogal, the folks at IOL took a close look at the language’s history and evolution. These stats below are a good start:

Census figures suggest that the number of first-language Afrikaans speakers is growing in all nine provinces, bringing the total to some 6.8 million people, just under a million more than a decade earlier.

Afrikaans, at 13.5 percent, is the third most-spoken language in South Africa after Zulu (11.5 million speakers, or 22.7 percent) and Xhosa (8.1 million, or 16 percent). English follows, with 4.8 million speakers (9.6 percent).

Whilst the reputation of the language has suffered due to its association with the apartheid regime that hasn’t stopped it evolving with the times, reflected in some of the more interesting words one will find in HAT 6:

The dictionary includes words such as “gattas” (police), “gabba” (friend), “kappityt” (dance), “laaitie” (boy), “mang” (prison),“piemp” (rat on, from impimpi), “sharp” (right, and good), and “sjarrap” (shut up).

The 50th anniversary edition also seeks to celebrate the diversity of Afrikaans speakers found today, leaving behind the notion of the old farmer out in the sticks:

Afrikaans today is a bond that goes far deeper than skin colour and we hope that with the new HAT we are affirming that diversity in a way that is inclusive, a coming together. This really is a book for the new South Africa, which might sound a little hoary, but it’s true.

Lekker boet, I best go brush up on die taal then.

[source:iol]