Enough of the SA population speak Afrikaans for it to matter

According to the Brand South Africa website, the 2011 census shows that isiZulu is the mother tongue of 22.7% of South Africa's population, followed by isiXhosa at 16%, Afrikaans at 13.5%, English at 9.6%, Setswana at 8% and Sesotho at 7.6%.

In an article in the Daily News the correspondent says; “Afrikaans may be perceived to be a white language, but a study has revealed that 60% of people who list Afrikaans as their home language are coloured, African or Indian. The research, by the South African Institute of Race Relations, was based on data obtained from the 2011 Census which showed that of the 6.9-million people who listed Afrikaans as their home language, 4.1-million (60%) were coloured, African and Indian, while only 2.7-million (40%) were white.”

The correspondent continues; “Coloured people accounted for the largest group who spoke Afrikaans in the country at 3.4-million, followed by white people at 2.7-million, African people at 602 166 and Indian people at 58 700. Researcher Thuthukani Ndebele said population growth and people’s personal circumstances contributed to the rise in the number of people speaking Afrikaans. Ndebele said it was becoming more about choice and convenience than race.”

Adriaan Basson, editor of Netwerk24 and previous editor of Beeld says; “The Afrikaans reading audience of 2015 is a diverse group of vibrant people who embrace technology, want to be informed, invest in the future of their country and their children, and are passionate about making South Africa work.”

Basson continues; “They love their language, but this doesn’t mean they live or socialise in isolation. They embrace diversity and see their language and culture as contributing to the rich tapestry of cultures represented in South Africa. Probably the biggest challenge to any perception that Afrikaans is still a ‘white language’ that excludes others is the fact that the majority of Afrikaans first language speakers today are not white.”

Chris Botha, group managing director at The MediaShop says in an article on The Media Online; “Afrikaans is not a language. The language is merely a manifestation of a culture and an understanding that I come from something that runs far deeper. The reason I believe Afrikaans will never die is because it is not a language but a culture. Like any other ‘non-English’ language, it ties you into a smaller sub-culture and group of which I am very proud. It is more expressive than any other existing language and has some amazing sounds. When spoken properly, it touches the soul.”

“I think Afrikaans gets a bad rap, in that it is still associated with being racist, old school and conservative. These are not what it is about at all. Remember, less than half of Afrikaans home-language speakers are actually white. I believe Afrikaans could do with an improvement in perception,” Botha adds.

Ads24’s Afrikaans market bundle reaches over 3.2-million unduplicated readers through both print and digital, this includes Netwerk24 and Media24’s Afrikaans newspapers Beeld, Die Burger, Volksblad and Rapport. This Afrikaans market bundle reaches 51% of the total Afrikaans market.

Source: Source: AMPS 2014AB, Effective measure May 2015, Futurefact 2014, Forum24.

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