Live & Learn Afrikaans Immersion

Surrounding yourself with Afrikaans words, sounds and music will be the very best way to learn. Of course living in South Africa or Namibia and using the language daily is the best way to immerse yourself (like how children learn language!), but if that isn't possible for you right now, do your best to immerse yourself where you live, using the following suggestions...

1. Use a dictionary to print words like “table”, "door", "window", "kettle", "bed", "chair", "mirror" etc and stick them onto those items around the house. Over time these words will automatically become part of your vocabulary, without even trying to memorize them! You could also in time join some verbs, like eat, open/close, wash, boil, sleep, sit, look, etc so as to associate them with the objects. Try it!

6. Use www.Google.com/intl/af/ instead of Google in English… and set your search options so that only pages in Afrikaans comes up... OR use Google’s translation tools to turn English pages that you’re familiar with into Afrikaans, and get to know the word equivalents that way.

7. Listen to Afrikaans music and look for the lyrics to your favorite songs! Here is a song by Steve Hofmeyr called Pampoen, and here are the lyrics (open the expandable box):

Lyrics

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Sing, sing jou woorde teen my vas Bring jou hele lewe in ’n tas Vat ’n trein na Bloemfontein En die 506 na Petrus Steyn En as jy wil, vat daar ’n bicycle

Volg, volg die grondpad teen die bult Hol, oor die velde as jy wil Hier wag ek die jare om Vir ’n stofwolk op die horison Of iets soortgelyk, wat soos jy lyk

Ek't nog ’n vrot pampoen en ’n stukkende skoen En ’n trekker wat se tires lek Vir alles wat ek aan jou gedoen het Kom jy by my intrek Ek't nog ’n vrot pampoen en ’n stukkende skoen En ’n plaas wat ek afbetaal Vir alles wat ek aan jou gedoen het Kom jy om my te haal

Stuur, stuur my liefde vir jou ma Maar, as jy kom, los haar net daar My baby hier's net plek vir die drie van ons Want dis ek en jy en ’n af-oorhond Sy naam is Roof, maar hy's al jare doof

Bring, bring daai goedjies wat jou pla En ek, maak ’n ring van ogiesdraad Ek spaar nog vir die diamant En ’n donkiekar vir die predikant Ek sal moet blomme leen, tot dit eendag reën

8. Take professional or private lessons. Here is a wonderful resource for students and teachers alike where you will find Afrikaans teachers and their details, for example where they are located and how they will be able to teach you, either by email, phone, or other live internet methods. You might even find a private tutor near you, for one-on-one lessons! If not, no worries, there's nothing technology can't do, to bring a teacher right to you!

9. Listen to podcasts. We recommend listening to and/or reading Worldnomads which provide a regular feed of updated stories written by bloggers/travelers in South Africa. This will keep your interest in the language and that part of the world alive, until you can go there on a trip or live there for some time.

10. Go on a short trip to South Africa. If moving to the country or going on a formal immersion course is out of the question, then this is our next best suggestion. See our Go Abroad! section for more details on planning a vacation or trip to the country.

Have you had the experience of learning Afrikaans or enjoyed travelling to South Africa or gone on an immersion course? If so we'd love to hear about which instituations or guides you found useful and which online resources helped you to immerse yourself in the language.

Please e-mail us your first-hand experience using the form below. Your shared language learning guidance will save other language learners' time, energy, and money. In fact, that is the the mission of Live & Learn Languages!