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What do you feel about teaching your children to speak Afrikaans, as part of your cultural heritage?
My 10 year old daughter is asking us to teach her, and I don't know how to respond.
If we are definitely going back to SA, I would feel more determined to make the effort, but seeing as Afrikaans is only spoken in Southern Africa, is it worth it? Wouldn't it be better to learn one of the European languages which she would have more exposure to anyway?
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i think its important to let them learn afrikaans.
i take myself i love speaking afrikaans and all my friends are like
what did you say then?
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Hi Dudette.... I am sure she can learn Afrikaans and learning an European language. Tell her to come in to the Afrikaans forum and we can help her too 
:daisy:
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We are teaching our eldest son afrikaans....this is because my husbands family is afrikaans, and because we might go back one day.
He already speaks fluent english, and is doing okay with the afrikaans when he feels brave enough to use it. I think going on holiday in June will give him a boost.
We will be teaching Andreas afrikaans too, when we feel he is ready.
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When I found out I was pregnant, I was determined to teach my little one Afrikaans, but the more I look at it, the more difficult it looks to me.
I am Afrikaans, and was brought up speaking Afrikaans at home, but went to a bilingual High School where I ended up in an Afrikaans and English mixed class.
When I went to Varsity, I took everything in English as Business language is mainly English in South Africa... and then I met my hubby who is English.
We sometimes speak Afrikaans to each other, but that is mainly when we are at work or in the shops....at home we never speak it, so I am scared that I wont end up teaching my bambino Afrikaans......
Any suggestions?
Beans
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dudette Wrote:What do you feel about teaching your children to speak Afrikaans, as part of your cultural heritage?
My 10 year old daughter is asking us to teach her, and I don't know how to respond.
If we are definitely going back to SA, I would feel more determined to make the effort, but seeing as Afrikaans is only spoken in Southern Africa, is it worth it? Wouldn't it be better to learn one of the European languages which she would have more exposure to anyway?
Learning any language is a benefit to your children. If she learns Afrikaans she will already have a grounding in concepts that do not occur in English, and this would make the learning of any Germanic or Romantic languages much easier. If she wants to learn please make the effort to teach her. It is part of her heritage and she has a right to know it.
It is true that Afrikaans is only endemic to South Africa but there is no reason why the language cannot continue as a house tongue in other parts of the world. Many other ethnic groups have done it.
If you want to teach her - the best way is to start by using it more at home, you can also buy excellent books and tapes through Kalahari that can help.
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The best way of learning is to teach them what they want to know - it is never a waste of time or energy. In fact, we do not know exactly what the future holds ....
