LL-L "Language politics" 2008.11.17 (03) [A/E]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 17 November 2008 - Volume 03
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From: Heiko Evermann <heiko.evermann at googlemail.com
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2008.11.17 (02) [A]

Dear Petrus,

I have read your doubts about the future of Afrikaans. And I have understood
most of it, even though it was written in Afrikaans.

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.

 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.

Some ideas:
* shape up the Afrikaans wikipedia (af.wikipedia.org). 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:
nds.wikipedia.org 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 nl.wikipedia.org? 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 af.wikibooks.org. Just translate from
en.wikibooks.org and nl.wikibooks.org. 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.
* 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.
* Buy Afrikaans newspapers, not English ones. (If you want English news,
read the internet.) Support those who publish in Afrikaans.
* 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.
* 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.


Hartlich Gröten ut Hamborg
Heiko Evermann



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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language politics

Petrus *et al.*,

Our Heiko makes some pretty interesting suggestions above.

Chiming in here, I would like to summarize his and my own suggestions as the
follows:



   - Work on the image and visibility of Afrikaans both among its speakers
   and internationally.


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.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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