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<font size='2'> <b>Sent by:</b> Francis Hult <br>
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<font face='verdana, arial, helvetica' size='4'><b>Is Afrikaans dead?<br></b></FONT><br>
<font size='2'>Jun 21 2006 03:45:27:043PM</font><p>
<font size='2'><p>Alet Rademeyer</font><p>
<font size='2'><i>A communication strategist has angered Afrikaans-speakers by saying the language should be taken off life support.</i><p>
Cape Town - A communication strategist from Johannesburg has angered Afrikaans-speakers by saying that the language should be taken off the ventilator and it should not be allowed to be kept on life support.
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Scores of people took on Clive Simpkins on his blog on the Moneyweb site after his statements that Afrikaans's days are over.
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Despite government support for mother tongue education, Simpkins disputed Afrikaans as an African language.
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He thought there was no more room for Afrikaans in the education system. He said he was shocked to find out that Afrikaans was still a compulsory subject at school.
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Several participants in the debate pointed out that Simpkins was wrong about Afrikaans being compulsory and that pupils had a choice between two languages at school, one in which to receive tuition and the other to learn as a language.
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According to Simpkins, Afrikaans was totally unusable outside of the country and that it made more sense to learn another indigenous language.
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