Veels geluk met jou verjaarsdag, Afrikaans. Jy word 100 hierdie week en jy’t nog soveel om te sê.
On 8 May 1925, Afrikaans was officially recognised as a language of South Africa. But it had been spoken long before that, in kitchens, on farms, in mosques, markets, and schoolyards. It belonged to the people long before it belonged to the state.
Over the past hundred years, Afrikaans has been many things: a tool of resistance, a vehicle for poetry, a language of home, of protest, of memory. It has carried both hurt and healing. It has excluded, but it has also connected. It’s been formal and fiercely funny. Sacred and satirical. Local and literary.
At The Story Station, we believe in celebrating voices and the beautiful languages spoken in our country. Through secondhand books, we try to preserve stories that have shaped us, including those in Afrikaans and other South African languages. These stories deserve to be heard, protected, and passed on.
We’d love to hear from you this week:
What’s the one word, idiom, or saying that says South Africa to you? Send us a message at info@thestorystation.co.za or tag us on our social platforms.