The fast tongue and the furious response: Charlize dissed Afrikaans
|Published
PRAAT TWAK: Charlize Theron
I grew up speaking Afrikaans.
I know it has a complex history and some view it with disdain, but like most coloured people from the Cape Flats, I adore the language.
Both those things can be true at the same time.
We can hate how something came about, but love what it has become.
You can’t discard one aspect of an entire culture because of a few horrible members of that culture, who also happen to speak that language.
Otherwise you wouldn’t have any German-speaking Jews today, would you?
Besides, the evolved Afrikaans we speak today is a whole lot more diverse, colourful and lively than the Dutch that was introduced to the Cape in 1652 and upon which it is built.
Which brings me to Charlize Theron and the ignorance that fell out of her mouth last week that Afrikaans is “a dying language that isn’t useful and is spoken by about 44 people”.
Well, obviously she was trying to be funny and hyperbolic by saying only 44 people still speak it, but I think we can take the rest of her comments fairly seriously.
Let’s take a look at exactly how wrong and misplaced Charlize’s utterances are.
Over the last decade or so, there’s been a strong interest in the preservation of regional and indigenous cultures, especially languages.
In fact, this year was the start of the UN’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
The reason is because of some grim estimates that say up to 95% of the world’s indigenous languages will become extinct or seriously endangered by the end of the century.
We can argue about the moral value of Afrikaans all we like, the fact is that it has cultural and historical significance to many millions of people.
Much of it spoken here, especially in Cape Town, is unique to this region.
So unique in fact, that this mengelmoes of Dutch, Flemish, German, French, San, Arabic, Malay, Xhosa, Khoi and heaven knows what else, is only found here and nowhere else.
So while its roots are indeed colonial, the evolved Afrikaans was birthed here, making it very much indigenous.
And that alone means that it deserves preservation.
I know English is the international language of commerce, and Afrikaans doesn’t make it onto any list of noteworthy international languages that matter.
And yes, an argument could be made that Afrikaans should not be a compulsory academic subject for those who don’t wish to study it.
And of course it is near impossible for an Afrikaans-speaking someone who becomes highly skilled at something, to transfer that skill to somewhere else in the world, but then the same applies to French or Mandarin, and we don’t see a problem there, do we?
As for its usefulness, it is still widely spoken in Namibia, and if you make a few easy adaptations to your speech, you can find your way around Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands fairly easily.
There are also places in the world where some Dutch is still understood – parts of Indonesia, Suriname, St Maarten and the DRC for example.
That is more places that most indigenous languages can be applied to.
And let’s just be honest about it, there are some things that just sound so much better when said in Afrikaans.
I bet you are thinking of your favourite Afrikaans phrase right now.
So instead of deriding Afrikaans, Charlize should be championing it – she could be the global mascot of the language, and maybe even of ALL indigenous languages threatened with extinction.
Some of Charlize’s fellow celebrities have already shown the way.
Since Russia’s invasion, Mila Kunis often speaks up for her birth country Ukraine.
And Kim Kardashian has drawn attention to conflicts involving Syria and Armenia, a region that her father hailed from.
Trevor Noah will joke about African traditions, but never at the expense of its worth to the world and his own growth.
And that is exactly how, as a famous person, you should use your access to mass media or your huge social media platform.
Charlize can learn from them.
It would be a great cause célèbre – a legacy worthy of a Hollywood star. Especially one whose mother tongue … and name are very much Afrikaans.