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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 17 November 2008 - Volume 03<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Heiko Evermann</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:heiko.evermann@googlemail.com">heiko.evermann@googlemail.com</a></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Language politics" 2008.11.17 (02)
[A]</span><br>
<br>
Dear Petrus,<br>
<br>
I have read your doubts about the future of Afrikaans. And I have understood
most of it, even though it was written in Afrikaans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="NL">My einddoel is eintlik om Afrikaans te probeer red van
ondergang. As iemand van beter metodes weet, dan hoor ek dit graag. Ek wil
Afrikaans nie noodwendig as 'n dialek degradeer nie. Ek toon alleen aan dat dit
goed gegaan het met ons taal toe Afrikaans 'n dialek was en Nederlands ons
kultuurtaal was. Ek is vandag van mening dat nouer bande tussen Nederlands en
Afrikaans gunstig sal wees vir Afrikaans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="NL"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">The future of Afrikaans is something only the speakers of the language
can accomplish. It is you who must have the perseverance to take care of your
language.<br>
<br>
Some ideas:<br>
* shape up the Afrikaans wikipedia (<a href="http://af.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">af.wikipedia.org</a>). The Low Saxon wikipedia already has more
articles than you have. And concerning the overall size of the text we are also
coming close. Remember: <a href="http://nds.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">nds.wikipedia.org</a>
is a 6 men project. (No women taking part, sorry.) Can you find some 20
dedicated authors to translate articles from the dutch wikipedia in <a href="http://nl.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">nl.wikipedia.org</a>? You have
about 500.000 (!!!) articles that you can tranlate. And given the statement
that both languages are mutually intelligable, this should not be hard. Prove
that you can write competently about any topic in Afrikaans. Make sure, that
your vocabulary is complete, that no words are lacking. You might even start to
write teaching material for lots of subjects in <a href="http://af.wikibooks.org/" target="_blank">af.wikibooks.org</a>. Just
translate from <a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/" target="_blank">en.wikibooks.org</a>
and <a href="http://nl.wikibooks.org/" target="_blank">nl.wikibooks.org</a>.
Prove that Afrikaans can be used as kultuurtaal. Make sure that there are
enough books available. You can do that online in the Internet. You no longer
have to print these books.<br>
* use Afrikaans. When talking to other people, do it in Afrikaans first, at
least as long as the other one is one of the blankes. Only switch to Enlish
when really neccessary. When the other one answers in English, continue in
Afrikaans as long as the other one understands. Only switch to English when
really neccessary.<br>
* Buy Afrikaans newspapers, not English ones. (If you want English news, read
the internet.) Support those who publish in Afrikaans.<br>
* Teach your children to treat your language as an inheritance, as something of
great value. This is true for each and every language. We all should not bow to
English-only. Treat English in South
Africa as a means of communication among the
peoples, but do not treat it as your language.<br>
* And most of all: refuse to give up. The number of fluent speakers that you do
have should be absolutely sufficient to keep your language alive.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="DE">Hartlich Gröten ut Hamborg<br>
<span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Heiko Evermann</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);" lang="DE"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">----------<br>
<br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Subject: Language politics<br>
<br>
Petrus <i>et al.</i>,<br>
<br>
Our Heiko makes some pretty interesting suggestions above.<br>
<br>
Chiming in here, I would like to summarize his and my own suggestions as the follows:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Work on the
image and visibility of Afrikaans both among its speakers and internationally. </span></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">
<br>
This requires removal of common misconceptions and misrepresentations as well ("Boer language", "language
of white South Africans," "bad Dutch" etc.). And it requires a promotional strategy that emphasizes
the heritage aspect without appealing to the ugly side of nationalism (that we saw right after the Apartheid system was dismantled). "Appreciation"
is the key, this and visibility. A good start on an international level may be to
"mobilize" or rather tap into the worldwide pool of those that already appreciate
Afrikaans, be it as their own language or as a foreign language. Encourage the creation of more good Afrikaans literature. Work on the transition from South African language to international language.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron</span></p>