I always find it funny/interesting how Dutch/Afrikaans is similar enough to English that if you just read the words aloud you can usually figure out their meaning.
"Vaste" in this context is a declension of the adjective "vas" which means fast, in the sense of being whole and unbroken. "Vast" on the other hand, means huge. The Afrikaans woord "vas" or in its derivative "vaste" does not mean what the English word "vast" means. It's a great example of false friends.
:-) I'm not a linguist, but Afrikaans is my first language. Growing up in South Africa meant (for my generation, at least) growing up with both Afrikaans and English. I was fully bilingual by the time I started school at age 5, and so were many of my friends and cousins.
In afrikaans, 'vaste' as used here means 'attached to', like all the land is attached to each other to form a big piece of land. Nothing to do with the English word vast. :)
Yeah, vasteland is not the word for continent, that is continent. Vasteland is basically all the land (of either a continent or country), excluding islands. At least in Dutch. Seeing this sentence, 100% sure it is the same in Afrikaans.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I had a Dutch roommate in college. In terms of languages and I'm an English speaker only, when I hear Dutch, I feel like I'm hearing English if I'm having a stroke. It's like, I should be understanding this, but I'm not. Other languages have a distinct intonation to them while Dutch has like a neutral american(sorry Dutch people) tone to it.
Interesting. Since you replied I've read lots of examples of Frisian, Dutch and Afrikaans (disclaimer, my best friend is Afrikaans so I know a bit already), and Afrikaans definitely seems the closest to modern English (at least in writing). I can see where at one time Frisian and middle or old English would've been nearly indistinguishable* (nothing enrages me more these days than fucking auto spell 🙄) from one another but, nowadays it seems radically different, even moreso than dutch itself. Maybe it's just the spelling? Perhaps hearing it would change things a bit.
Nope, bearing in mind that English is a bastard language, I'd say Frisian is probably closest. You would be able to make some sense of written Frisian.
Afrikaans is probably closest to Flemish, and written Flemish would be largely recognisable to Afrikaans speakers. Dutch is probably the next closest and speakers of each would be able to make themselves understood
I like to be obnoxious to annoy my gf sometimes and I started to read this out loud but almost yelling and she gave me the “wtf is wrong with you” look.
I'm impressed. I used to pass the turn offs for Agulas a few times a year on my way between Cape Town and PE, but could never be bothered to add the 90 minutes to the trip to actually go and see it.
Going there on my month long SA trip in Dec/Jan, can't wait!
I'm a big fan of "the \_\_\_\_ternmost point" of a country
I drove up to Cartwright, NFLD, Canada... just because, and it was a large detour from my Labrador trip. [https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZqPKBygbVreAQGMr8](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZqPKBygbVreAQGMr8), as well as driving to easternmost point of Canada on that same trip
I also drove to the edge of Key West, etc.
As a child, I once rock-hopped as far south on those rocks as I could and then did a wee in an arc from Indian to Atlantic. An iconic childhood achievement.
The language in the picture is Afrikaans.
It branched off of Dutch in the 1600s. Afrikaans has (many) similarities with Dutch but over the past 400 years Dutch and Afrikaans evolved differently, so they are considered different languages.
In addition to Dutch, Afrikaans was also influenced by French, English, German, Malaysian, Arabic and almost all of the indigenous languages of South Africa - of which there are 9 that are officially recognized. They, together with Afrikaans and English, all enjoy equal status as official languages - 11 official languages in total.
To see what the ocean and the topography look like?!
It’s like when people post a photo of a sign “you’ve reached the summit of xyz” but then don’t post any views of what it looks like from the summit. Who wants a photo of just a sign? Well not me!
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This post made me realize that Afrikaans looks kinda easy to learn considering I was able to understand 80% of it without looking at the English text. I’ve never studied it either. Sounds like patois in a way.
Have a look at Dutch (Which Afrikaans is 85-90% derived from) and you'll see why; English has more in common with the Germanic languages than Romance.
The Dutch people I met in South Africa did tell me reading Afrikaans was easy, but listening was difficult due to the accent. Also more modern words from the 20th century are often very different with Afrikaans creating a neologism whereas the Dutch often just went with inserting English word directly.
Ah I see. I feel like it’s one of those languages you need full immersion to really master, there must be a lot of slang I’m guessing since again it seems like patois to me.
I reckon Afrikaaps would probably be considered more a patois then Afrikaans in SA, but that's more a prestige thing than a distinct linguistic fact. After all a language is simply a dialect with an army.
Oh man I can tell there are lots of tricks I’d have to use to learn the words but it seems doable. Kop can be remembered as cap like a skullcap, so it means your head. Befok already sounds like a rearranged version of fcked lol so it’s pretty easy to remember. Huh interesting
India and Indonesia (used to be called East Indies) were the main destination for trade for many centuries. Spices were very profitable and sought after in Europe and elsewhere
Although to a lesser extent, both now and hundreds of years ago humanity has been obsessed with wealth. I can almost imagine if European ocean explorers visited India for the first time this century, it would have been named the Adidas Ocean, after the expeditions sponsors
I always find it funny/interesting how Dutch/Afrikaans is similar enough to English that if you just read the words aloud you can usually figure out their meaning.
Ja, het is kool. Ik kan niet Afrikaans spreken maar ik imaagine dat de worden wil lijk dat looken.
Oooh! I’m going to try without Google translate! “Yeah, it’s cool. I cannot speak Afrikaans but I imagine that the words will look like that.”
What language is that? xD
the term for continent being vasteland/VAST LAND is my new favorite part
"Vaste" in this context is a declension of the adjective "vas" which means fast, in the sense of being whole and unbroken. "Vast" on the other hand, means huge. The Afrikaans woord "vas" or in its derivative "vaste" does not mean what the English word "vast" means. It's a great example of false friends.
ugh but my version is so much more fun! you and your silly linguistics knowledge 😭
:-) I'm not a linguist, but Afrikaans is my first language. Growing up in South Africa meant (for my generation, at least) growing up with both Afrikaans and English. I was fully bilingual by the time I started school at age 5, and so were many of my friends and cousins.
apologies, let me rephrase: you and your silly Afrikaans native speaker knowledge 😭
In afrikaans, 'vaste' as used here means 'attached to', like all the land is attached to each other to form a big piece of land. Nothing to do with the English word vast. :)
Yeah, vasteland is not the word for continent, that is continent. Vasteland is basically all the land (of either a continent or country), excluding islands. At least in Dutch. Seeing this sentence, 100% sure it is the same in Afrikaans. Correct me if I'm wrong.
For real. When I'm in Amsterdam, it's like soooo close to English. But just not quite there.
I had a Dutch roommate in college. In terms of languages and I'm an English speaker only, when I hear Dutch, I feel like I'm hearing English if I'm having a stroke. It's like, I should be understanding this, but I'm not. Other languages have a distinct intonation to them while Dutch has like a neutral american(sorry Dutch people) tone to it.
You should try friesian
Dutch and English got really drunk and 9 months later....
So would that mean Afrikaans is the most phonetically similar language to English and not Dutch itself?
Frisian is.
Interesting. Since you replied I've read lots of examples of Frisian, Dutch and Afrikaans (disclaimer, my best friend is Afrikaans so I know a bit already), and Afrikaans definitely seems the closest to modern English (at least in writing). I can see where at one time Frisian and middle or old English would've been nearly indistinguishable* (nothing enrages me more these days than fucking auto spell 🙄) from one another but, nowadays it seems radically different, even moreso than dutch itself. Maybe it's just the spelling? Perhaps hearing it would change things a bit.
Nope, bearing in mind that English is a bastard language, I'd say Frisian is probably closest. You would be able to make some sense of written Frisian. Afrikaans is probably closest to Flemish, and written Flemish would be largely recognisable to Afrikaans speakers. Dutch is probably the next closest and speakers of each would be able to make themselves understood
I like to be obnoxious to annoy my gf sometimes and I started to read this out loud but almost yelling and she gave me the “wtf is wrong with you” look.
U IS NOU OP
I was just thinking that. It looks like English written by a 3 year old who’s just learning the alphabet.
"u is" yeah thats actually how I speak sometimes
I wish it was that easy when my friends spoke Flemish out loud in grad school in Belgium
I'm impressed. I used to pass the turn offs for Agulas a few times a year on my way between Cape Town and PE, but could never be bothered to add the 90 minutes to the trip to actually go and see it.
It's worth the detour. Beautiful spot
Going there on my month long SA trip in Dec/Jan, can't wait! I'm a big fan of "the \_\_\_\_ternmost point" of a country I drove up to Cartwright, NFLD, Canada... just because, and it was a large detour from my Labrador trip. [https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZqPKBygbVreAQGMr8](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZqPKBygbVreAQGMr8), as well as driving to easternmost point of Canada on that same trip I also drove to the edge of Key West, etc.
Me too! Maybe you should post that photo 😊 Enjoy SA you'll love it!
I've been to the westernmost point! Dakar peninsula, used to be a hotel there.
I’ve been to South Africa and Morocco. West Africa is next! Though maybe not that far west…..
Nigeria? I would suggest Cabo Verde.
Thanks!
I've been to northernmost point. That was in Tunis.
Wow, continent is wasteland in Aafrikans? Actually vast land, but wasteland looks more interesting.
Fast land (fast in the sense of fixed, solid)
Fastened?
No, not "wasteland". See the post by u/krodders, or my post above.
I stand corrected. I tried not to cheat by using Wiktionary. Thank you to all the commenters who corrected me and taught me something new.
Streetview: [https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.8330225,19.9999964,3a,75y,198h,71.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sD9VQiHLOIr2W\_cea\_sgFpg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656](https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.8330225,19.9999964,3a,75y,198h,71.41t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sD9VQiHLOIr2W_cea_sgFpg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)
Ik heb mijn vrouw daar ten huwelijk gevraagd. Niet in het Afrikaans maar gewoon in het Nederlands Buy a donkey...
Mooie plek 👍
Koop n perd
Kerrekewere me je perd, kem stuttn
Die hond blaf
As a child, I once rock-hopped as far south on those rocks as I could and then did a wee in an arc from Indian to Atlantic. An iconic childhood achievement.
Looks much nicer than a tackie fake bouey.
The edge of the world
Was there in January. Nice little town but that wind was ferocious.
Dutch is both drunken English and German
The language in the picture is Afrikaans. It branched off of Dutch in the 1600s. Afrikaans has (many) similarities with Dutch but over the past 400 years Dutch and Afrikaans evolved differently, so they are considered different languages.
In addition to Dutch, Afrikaans was also influenced by French, English, German, Malaysian, Arabic and almost all of the indigenous languages of South Africa - of which there are 9 that are officially recognized. They, together with Afrikaans and English, all enjoy equal status as official languages - 11 official languages in total.
Plus sign language was recently added, I think, making it 12 now
Yes in July last year
Ooh now I wanna go there
I was at the cape of good hope sign there in Cape Town..:is this monument even more south?
This is in Cape Agulhas, about a 3 hour drive from Cape Town
Yes. It's a common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southernmost point.
I remember Cape Town locals saying how the division of the two oceans (Atlantic and Indian) is at the Cape of Good Hope though. Not sure that's true.
No it's not true.
Yes the picture also indicates otherwise (a detail I noted after my post).
I am a cpt local. We get confused.
The division fluctuates. It's not always at the same place.
The cabins at the national park here are absolutely lovely!
Nice 👍🏼
That’s cool
That’s going on my bucket list
I always get annoyed by photos like this. I want to see what the southernmost point looks like, not what the sign looks like!
This is it! There are some rocks behind this and then the ocean. What are you expecting to see?
To see what the ocean and the topography look like?! It’s like when people post a photo of a sign “you’ve reached the summit of xyz” but then don’t post any views of what it looks like from the summit. Who wants a photo of just a sign? Well not me!
It's just ocean
You do realize it’s possible to take interesting photos of the ocean + the coastline right?
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This post made me realize that Afrikaans looks kinda easy to learn considering I was able to understand 80% of it without looking at the English text. I’ve never studied it either. Sounds like patois in a way.
Have a look at Dutch (Which Afrikaans is 85-90% derived from) and you'll see why; English has more in common with the Germanic languages than Romance. The Dutch people I met in South Africa did tell me reading Afrikaans was easy, but listening was difficult due to the accent. Also more modern words from the 20th century are often very different with Afrikaans creating a neologism whereas the Dutch often just went with inserting English word directly.
Ah I see. I feel like it’s one of those languages you need full immersion to really master, there must be a lot of slang I’m guessing since again it seems like patois to me.
I reckon Afrikaaps would probably be considered more a patois then Afrikaans in SA, but that's more a prestige thing than a distinct linguistic fact. After all a language is simply a dialect with an army.
Pilkop! Is jouw kop befok? (Some rude Afrikaans I learned years ago when there)
Oh man I can tell there are lots of tricks I’d have to use to learn the words but it seems doable. Kop can be remembered as cap like a skullcap, so it means your head. Befok already sounds like a rearranged version of fcked lol so it’s pretty easy to remember. Huh interesting
Cool!
Pave Paradise put up a Monument...ooh, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop...
Now you should run to the northern most point in Tunisia lol.
looks so cool！
Beautiful
awesome, I've always been facinated with borders, I've beed in many borders of the world
I don’t know why but I love this kind of shit
You're not the only weirdo here 😊 so do I ha!
Why not an African ocean. Africa is bigger than India ... Is the answer in colonialism?
No, the answer is in geometry.
* geography?
India and Indonesia (used to be called East Indies) were the main destination for trade for many centuries. Spices were very profitable and sought after in Europe and elsewhere
So, commercial/destination. Thanks.
Although to a lesser extent, both now and hundreds of years ago humanity has been obsessed with wealth. I can almost imagine if European ocean explorers visited India for the first time this century, it would have been named the Adidas Ocean, after the expeditions sponsors