A Western Germanic language that developed in South Africa as a semi-creolised form of Dutch after Dutch colonists settled at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th Century. It is spoken by over 6 million people as a first language and by a further 6 million as a second language.

The language's name Afrikaans simply means "African" and features a highly regularised, simplified grammar (there are fewer than 5 irregular verbs in the language), double negation (as in French) and pronounciation that is softer and less guttural than modern Dutch. Like English, it has only one gender for nouns (as opposed to two in Dutch).

Afrikaans and Dutch remain mutually intelligible and although the majority of its vocabulary derives from 17th Century Dutch, it has incorporated many words from indigenous and aboriginal Southern African languages (especially KhoiSan, Xhosa and Zulu), as well as Malaysian, French and German, reflecting the phenomenon of South Africa as a melting pot of cultures.

Cut off from Europe, the fledgeling language rapidly evolved unique features. There is strong evidence to suggest that proto-Afrikaans developed as a creole form of Dutch among slaves and servants; indeed, it was known (disparigingly) as "Kitchen Dutch" or "Kombuistaal" (Kitchen Language).

By the 19th Century Afrikaans had developed into a separate language and in the 1920s was formally recognised as an official language...

One of the 11 official languages of South Africa that has Dutch roots.

It is generally spoken by the Boer population and the Cape Coloureds who were forced to learn it in Apartheid.

A language used in South Africa that mixes Dutch, English and native tribespeak.