Afrikaans

Afrikaans (/ˌæfrᵻˈkɑːnᵗs/, /ˌɑː-/, or /-ˈkɑːnz/) is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland spoken by the mainly Dutch settlers of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century. Hence, it is a daughter language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as "Cape Dutch" (a term also used to refer collectively to the early Cape settlers) or "kitchen Dutch" (a derogatory term used to refer to Afrikaans in its earlier days). The term is ultimately derived from Dutch "Afrikaans-Hollands" meaning "African Dutch". It is the first language of most of the Afrikaner and Coloured people of Southern Africa.