16-02-2005, 10:43 AM
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.