The future of the Afrikaans language looks bright, but concerted effort is needed to promote and protect it.
This is the view of the Afrikanerbond — an Afrikaner rights group — as the language celebrated 100 years of official status in the country this week.
Afrikaans became South Africa’s second official language on May 8 1925.
Jan Bosman, the Afrikanerbond's chief secretary, said the centenary celebration was an important milestone.
Cultural and language festivals taking place across the country showed the language was gaining traction, Bosman said.
But he said his organisation was concerned that “English is once again becoming a dominant language” in the country. “This [English dominance] is to the detriment of other official languages, including indigenous languages, so we need a major effort to ensure other languages are acknowledged.”
Bosman said the government was not doing enough to promote languages. “In the last 100 years we had five Afrikaans universities, but now we do not have any ... except for the one that Solidarity is building ... we also need universities in other languages.”
He said Afrikaans had made big strides, including in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. “I’m excited. I think there’s much effort to promote Afrikaans ... there are books on different sectors of Afrikaans, and also looking at artificial intelligence with ChatGPT and other programs, Afrikaans is there.”
But despite these strides, there was still a need for other concerted efforts to ensure the language is protected and promoted.
Bosman, who was among Afrikanerbond representatives who met ANC members this week, said the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act — which they feel threatens the language — was one of the matters on the agenda.
Afrikaans is South Africa’s third most widely used language, and a first language for about 7-million people.
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