Can you understand Afrikaans? | #2

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language primarily spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller communities of speakers in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and other neighboring countries. It originated from the Dutch dialects spoken by the Dutch settlers who arrived in southern Africa in the 17th century. Over time, the language evolved and incorporated words and influences from other European languages, such as Portuguese, English, and German, as well as African languages like Khoisan and Bantu.
Afrikaans is the third most spoken language in South Africa, with around 7 million native speakers, and it is one of the 11 official languages recognized in the country. Afrikaans and Dutch are mutually intelligible to a certain extent, although there are significant differences in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation between the two languages.
We created those mini language challenges so you can experience Germanic languages for yourself and tell us how well can you understand each language based on your linguistic background. Do let us know in the comments about your experience.
The Germanic language family is a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, and it includes languages spoken primarily in Northern, Western, and Central Europe. The Germanic languages are traditionally classified into three main groups: West Germanic, North Germanic, and East Germanic. However, the East Germanic languages, which included Gothic, are now extinct.
West Germanic languages include:
English
German
Dutch
Frisian languages (spoken in the Netherlands and Germany)
Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa and Namibia)
Yiddish (spoken by Ashkenazi Jews in various countries)
North Germanic languages include:
Swedish
Danish
Norwegian
Icelandic
Faroese
🤗 Big thanks to Garret from South Africa!
🏋️‍♀️ Support my Work:
My name is Norbert Wierzbicki and I am the creator of @Ecolinguist channel. You can support my work by volunteering to participate in the future videos or donating to the project.
☕️ Donations → www.paypal.me/ecolinguist​ (I appreciate every donation no matter how big or small🤠)
📝 Volunteer your language skills for future videos → forms.gle/aZeSFSsFexbmxE7UA
🤓 Join the Ecolinguist DISCORD community → / discord
🟥 Join this channel to get access to perks: / @ecolinguist
📱 Follow me on Instagram: @the.ecolinguist
🎥Recommended videos:
Can Modern English Speakers Understand Old English? → • Can Modern English Spe...
Old English vs Modern German → • Old English vs German ...
Dutch vs English → • Dutch Language | Can E...
🤓 Can American, Australian, and Non-Native English speaker understand Old English? → • Old English Spoken | C...
🤓 American, Australian, and Non-Native English speaker vs Old English | #2 → • Old English Language |...
🤠 Old Norse | Can Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic speakers understand it? @Jackson Crawford ​→ • Old Norse | Can Norweg...
🤓 Latin Language Spoken | Can Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian speakers understand it? → • Latin Language Spoken ...
🤗 Big hug for everyone reading my video descriptions! You rock! 🤓💪🏻
#shorts

[@Ecolinguist]

🤓 Translation and additional info below: ↓ TRANSCRIPTION: Wat is dit? Dit is 'n kleurryke plant. Dit kan 'n sterk reuk hê. Dit het blare en ’n stingel. Insekte soos bye en motte besoek dit gereeld. Dit kan gepluk en in ’n vaas geplaas word. Dit is ’n blom. TRANSLATION: What is this? This is a colorful plant. It can have a strong smell. It has leaves and a stem. Insects such as bees and moths visit it regularly. It can be picked and placed in a vase. This is a flower. 📝 Volunteer your language skills for future videos → forms.gle/aZeSFSsFexbmxE7UA 🤗 Big thanks to Garret from South Africa!

[@ikbintom]

He has a beautiful, calm, clear (to me, a Dutch speaker) way of enunciating. I can't always understand Afrikaans, but with this speaker, every word is clear as day

[@easterlinear]

Yup, understood every word. I'm a Dutch speaker.

[@eljuano28]

@easterlinear - I'm a Dutch learner. I had to remember "kleurrijk" is colourful but I pretty much got the idea. I've been told native Dutch speakers have fairly distinct accents depending on where they live, (that I'm nowhere near advanced enough to notice yet,) so do you find Afrikaans more like a dialect or does it come across as a distinct language? Just curious.

[@easterlinear]

@@eljuano28 ‘kleurrijk’, ‘colour rich’ literally.. Afrikaans sounds like a dialect, almost every word is identical to Dutch or at least recognisable. Also the syntax is largely identical. I learnt how to speak within a few days. However, it’s a real language of course, with its own grammar, expressions and literature.

[@ikbintom]

It sounds like a dialect of Dutch, but if a Dutch person wants to speak Afrikaans like a native, they'll spend many many months learning the abundance of small differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, word order and grammar.

[@eljuano28]

@@easterlinear Dank je wel! I've been watching dutch language news lately and ... well, I have a ways to go, but I'm having a blast and I catch the gist of what's going on even if I don't understand every word. It's amazing how obvious the relationship between Nederlands and English is, but it's clearly closer to Middle English or even Olde English than Modern English. My wife think it sounds like drunk English. 😆 I figure in a year or so I'll be brave enough to try having full conversations, but maybe sooner. Always hopeful. The vocabulary isn't as much a problem for me as word order. I wasn't expecting that. Again, dank je en tot ziens.

[@robin97rv]

​@@eljuano28you should look at the frisian language too, the 2nd official language in the Netherlands. It's the closest related language to old english, there is a video here on youtube that a frisian farmer has a conversation with someone who speaks old english. Most dutch people can understand afrikaans better than frisian too even though it is spoken in the netherlands. It's something fun to look into when you are learning dutch. I can speak frisian too so i can give you some comparisons of you're interested.

[@declangodfrey]

I was trying to guess which flower it was hihi

[@stephenpitkin3790]

As an EnglishAnd German speaker i got about 70% of it.

[@EnglishOrthodox]

Yoooo fellow English+German speaker 😎

[@randomboy8616]

My mense wat afrikaans praar👇🏼

[@Ecolinguist]

You can watch the full episode dedicated to the Afrikaans language here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIHKppmDaLWbp8U

[@ninjaishproductions2.053]

I speak only English and basic Spanish. I have no experience with Dutch or any other germanic languages, but I understood a good amount of this without looking at the words on screen

[@KasperKatje]

Makkelijk, maar lezen maakt het duidelijker. Bij horen is er een beetje twijfel bij sommige woorden.

[@YumYumLifestyle1]

Thank you for having our country in this video😊 Liking to support you😊

[@EsaiePierre]

M pa konprann anyen!😂😂😂

[@imeldagaroes]

Ek het elke woort ge verstan ek is 'n afrikaans praater❤😏

[@xtremetuberVII]

Blooming hell! Or should I say, Flowering hell!

[@ethandizon7025]

It is a flower, my answer is correct, for an English speaker Afrikaans is quite easy in written form, while spoken form is quite challenging for me

[@AmeliaSmit-ok4sq]

Hallo ek praat Afrikaans ook❤❤

[@Anthony_Gx]

As a Dutch native I can understand everything especially when I listen to you. Strangely reading it seems more difficult to understand Maar ik begrijp jullie zeker wel :-)

[@thegreytone]

Ek is bly dat jy dit kon begryp 😅, ek love Hollands en Duits as 'n Afrikaans sprekende.

[@JackGPT84]

@@thegreytone Nee, niet Holland, maar Nederland. Holland zijn eigenlijk twee provincies in Nederland.

[@thegreytone]

@@JackGPT84 okay sorry het nie geweet nie

[@JackGPT84]

@@thegreytone Haha geen probleem. Dit is officieel veranderd in 2020 om het geen Holland meer te noemen omdat het verwarrend voor mensen was buiten Nederland.

[@thegreytone]

@@JackGPT84 lol, nee dis verstaanbaar my ou maat, weereens dankie vir die korreksie, dit word waardeer.

[@UXER260]

I was thinking of a rose

[@chapno4255]

I thought i was guessing a flower

[@Weissenschenkel]

I never studied Afrikaans but with the knowledge I have in English and German I could understand the object is a flower.

[@JackGPT84]

Ja, ik kan het helemaal begrijpen wat hij zegt.

[@user-fl1dc9ju3g]

"This is a Bloom"

[@user-ns8de2bd1r]

Ja ek praat ook Afrikaans

[@lohannienaber8697]

Ja

[@Helgardt6189]

As ‘n Afrikaans sprekende van Suid-Afrika geniet ek my taal vreeslik.

[@YourFriendlySouthAfricanEben]

Liefde van Suid Afrika

[@tahirrizwan6759]

As a Dutch speaker, yes, but my ears needed a few seconds of adjustment lol

[@Toastyisgreat]

Die klink net soos my nw klasse

[@thegreytone]

Ja ons is nou besig met Lewe en nie-lewende dinge, wat is fotosintese?😅😅

[@tnfgr]

Quick fact Afrikaans is the brother language of dutch have a nice day

[@ImNeutral_editz]

as someone who speaks german and a bit dutch i can understand pretty okay

[@sumtingwong665]

As an Afrikaans speaker I understood everything being spoken

[@vuilnisgod4388]

it sounds like the entire world forgot the Dutch language and the only person who remembers it has a brain injury

[@rosemarybishop5776]

Im probably wrong about this but bits sounded a little like Chaucer.

[@marchauchler1622]

As a German who also speaks Dutch. Yes no problem.

[@Klara_Drarry123]

Blom

[@MIELA8]

I speak afrikaans

[@ClarickZA]

Yeah I live in South Africa I was born Afrikaans ❤

[@icebreatherannie2747]

Mooi! Ek virstaan Afrikaans! Ek praat Afrikaans 😄

[@thegreytone]

Dit is oulik lol. Soms verkies ek om die sinonieme te gebruik wanneer ek in gesprek is met eerder 'n Duitser of 'n Hollander. Keep practicing!! Jy moet 'n aangename dag het hoor, totsiens✌️

[@collapsed2204]

Germanic language speaker, specificallz West Germanic would understand quite a few words

[@lannifincoris6482]

Ja, das habe ich verstanden, nicht alles aber den Sinn.

[@esmerieschutte6179]

Hallo jille ek het maar net ge se .......... eke weet nie

[@satyrulak]

ik versta alles

[@thekings7150]

Ek kan

[@TranslatePlease]

I don't know Dutch or Afrikaans, but I got like 80%

[@lilivieira4674]

Why did I understand this????

[@Mh3mbun6kham0th3nH4lu]

een zonnebloem, toch ?

[@carinakleinhans4235]

N blom

[@Love_with_bffs]

Dit is n blom!!

[@couldbeworseKSENIA]

Harder, than Dutsch, but yesss🥳

[@Nellie_shorts]

I understand everything in this video because I speak afrikaans fluently because I was born in south africa Afrikaans translation Ek verstaan alles in heirde video want ek praat vlot afrikaans want ek is in suid afrika gebore.

[@rutger1963]

makkelijk

[@thegreytone]

Ek's bly dit was maklik en eenvoudig

[@reubenvisser8615]

Ek can understand Afrikaans

[@user-nx5sm6kt7m]

I am mufficult

[@ItsAkshatSharma]

Ander tale het na my toe gekom

[@thinuserasmus2313]

Dit wad maklik

[@a-dj-l6083]

Ek praat afrikaans ek is bly daar is afrikaanse you tubers

[@redranger3249]

Roos

[@Army.lrdf15]

Ek es Afrikaans

[@cristinajenabe8291]

Afrikaans is in South Africa

[@jeantroskie7347]

Dis n blom

[@user-yd8yc1os5h]

I speak afrekans like /ek hou babies van youtobe

[@RiaandreLiebenberg-tv3hq]

Ek is afrikaans

[@ericdekker5768]

Hear how they massacred my boy....

[@user-zm4ee3ne5t]

EK Kan Afrikaans praat

[@busisiwdbusi3640]

No

[@sniffrat3646]

eh....clearly not

[@marwanxmuscab]

Its just dutch but if a toddler speaks it

[@dulapeep8895]

Toddler is your mother.

[@marwanxmuscab]

...

[@user-tx7mz5tb1g]

no I don't understand Afrikaans language

[@Summertime_Gymnastics]

te maklik

[@crisantinapangilinan8375]

I do not understand Afrikaans

[@portiamatlabe5684]

Nee ons nee verstan 😅😅😅😅😅

[@gekkegerrit933]

gemakkelijk.

[@sune525]

Ja want ek is afrikaans

[@V1nedetta]

Fokken

[@jonathanribnick1420]

I am an Afrikaner and I was drinking with a guy from Amsterdam in Montreal one night and we could speak to eachother and understand to respond back it was awsome the more drunk we got the more we were able to understand eachother. I love my language and its deep roots.