Maria Taylor – 17 June 2022
If you are planning to travel to South Africa and want to learn Afrikaans, there are several methods you can try. Immerse yourself in conversations with locals. This is a good way to learn the language naturally. But what is the best way to learn Afrikaans language? I’ve rounded up the best ways to learn Afrikaans in South Africa.
Immerse yourself in conversations with native speakers
When you decide to learn Afrikaans language, there are many reasons to do so. Not everyone takes the time to learn a foreign language, and speaking Afrikaans will demonstrate your commitment and ability to learn other skills.
Many of the folk in South Africa are proud of their language, and you’ll be able to communicate with them in their own tongue, if you have learned Afrikaans lessons from the professionals.
Next, you’ll want to focus on listening to non-language learning podcasts in Afrikaans. You can also listen to Afrikaans-language podcasts, including Klipkouers Potgooi, Afrikaans Preke, and WAT met Willim Welsyn. These podcasts provide beginner-level conversations in the language.
Conversations with native speakers
There are several ways to improve your Afrikaans pronunciation. One of the most effective ways is to engage in conversations with native speakers.
This way, you’ll understand their accents better and build a greater network of Afrikaans speaking friends. Speaking properly also shows respect for native speakers.
Reading Books
You can learn Afrikaans in South Africa by reading books or watching movies with subtitles in the language. Try to focus on the actors’ speech and write down the words you don’t understand so you can look them up later.
Watching Movies
Alternatively, you can watch dubbed versions of your favourite movies in Afrikaans language. Besides reading books and movies in Afrikaans, you can also read newspapers, magazines, and online articles in this language. You can try watching Afrikaans News on TV or even web shows that help you learning that language easily.
You can also choose an Afrikaans grammar textbook. The books teach grammar rules in a conversational way, incorporating context and logic to help you learn the language. There are also free online resources, like Memrise, which will help you learn the language.
These sites also let you transfer your scores for free, so you can compare your scores with others. But, keep in mind that learning a language without an engaging context can be frustrating and leave you with no desire to learn the language.
Google Translate
You can try English to Afrikaans language translator in Google and type words you want to learn meaning for. It will quickly show translated version of your text.
Sometimes you can try writing entire sentence in Google translator to see how the sentence will look like in Afrikaans language. This way you will learn more words, sentences online for FREE.
We hope this article has helped you how you can easily learn Afrikaans in South Africa. If you have any questions about this guide, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
