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Afrikaans Translation Services: Afrikaans to English and English to Afrikaans

Afrikaans Translation Services

Language Scientific provides high quality Afrikaans translation services, supplying technical, medical and scientific translation, localization and interpreting into and out of Afrikaans. We are a US-based language services company serving over 1,500 global corporations. Our specialization, focus, industry-leading quality management standards and customer-centered attitude have earned us the trust of many of the world’s best technology, engineering, biomedical and pharmaceutical companies.

Our approach to translation quality management is founded on the principle that engineering documents should be translated by professional translators who are also engineers, and medical documents need to be translated by linguists trained in the medical sciences. We use a combination of advanced people, unique processes and applied technologies to deliver you a better translations experience. We deliver reliable, high quality translations with confirmed turnaround times at competitive prices.

Language Scientific has two divisions—Technical and Engineering Localization and Translation Services Division and Medical and Pharmaceutical Localization and Translation Services Division. Both groups provide a full range of Afrikaans translation services to support your strategic global communication goals, including:

We offer a unique depth of subject-matter expertise via our Advanced Scientific Knowledge network (ASKnetwork™) and globalization know-how for companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Chemical, Clinical Research, Energy, Healthcare, Industrial Manufacturing, Medical Device, Pharmaceutical, Technology and related industries. Our ASKnetwork™ of over 5,000 specialists comprises multilingual engineers, doctors and scientists working in over 75 countries on 5 continents.

Language Scientific’s unique Accreditation Program for Technical and Medical Translators, along with a rigorous Quality Management System, ensures the quality standards that our clients have come to depend on. Language Scientific’s Quality Management Systems are ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17100:2015 certified. We work closely with you to tailor a solution to best fit your needs.

At Language Scientific, we are driven by the mission to set the new Standard of Quality for technical translation and localization. It is this mission that drives our success and sets us apart as a company. When you need precise global communication, Language Scientific is the clear choice.

Afrikaans Language Statistics/Facts:

Afrikaans is an official language of South Africa and is spoken as a minority language in Namibia. There are approximately 20 million native speakers of Afrikaans with most native speakers living in southern Africa. There are Afrikaans speaking communities on a smaller scale living in countries such as Australia, Canada, United States and the United Kingdom. South Africa is a very diverse linguistic culture as there are eleven official languages of South Africa, including Afrikaans. The culture has varied significantly in the past century, as South Africa declared English and Dutch as the first two official languages.

Afrikaans is categorized under the Indo-European language family and belongs to the West Germanic subgroup. Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch. Afrikaans is sometimes, but less frequently as of recently, referred to as Cape Dutch.

Afrikaans Dialects:

DialectRegion
Standard AfrikaansAll over South Africa and is the most commonly spoken dialect
Northern Capepreviously spoken dialect before the Great Trek
Western Capepreviously spoken dialect before the Great Trek
Eastern Capepreviously spoken dialect before the Great Trek
OorlamsCommunities scattered around South Africa and Namibia

Countries where Afrikaans is spoken:

  • Australia
  • Lesotho
  • New Zealand
  • United States
  • Botswana
  • Malawi
  • South Africa
  • Zambia
  • Canada
  • Namibia
  • Swaziland
  • Zimbabwe

Afrikaans Speaking Country Data:

Country: South Africa

Capital: Cape Town
Population: 54,988,955
Constitutional Parliamentary Republic: President Jacob Zuma
Currency: Rand
GDP (ppp): $350.6 b
Unemployment: 25.2%
Government Type: Constitutional Parliamentary Republic
Industries: Automotive, mining, minerals, tourism, information technology, communicatins, electronics, chemicals, and agriculture

Country: Namibia

Capital: Windhoek
Population: 56,661
Presidential Republic: President Hage Geingob and Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa
Currency:  Namibian Dollar
GDP (ppp): $13.11 b
Unemployment: 27.4%
Government Type: Presidential Republic
Industries: Agriculture, products, mining, meatpacking, fish processing, and dairy

Afrikaans History

During the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company created small settlements where they would rest and port their ships along a trading route connecting Amsterdam to Asia. Most of the traders in the Dutch East India Company were natives from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The most prominent settlement that these European traders established was developed along coastal South Africa. South Africa was an ideal stopping point for the traders because it marks an approximate halfway point from start to finish.

The traders brought Dutch to South Africa which continued to develop as the colony that was created flourished throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. While Dutch was adopted as the language of choice by many South Africans, it was only one of many languages spoken. The traders spoke Dutch and the slaves spoke a range of different African and Asian languages. Specifically, the slaves that were traded by the Dutch East India Company spoke Khoi, Malay, and other indigenous African languages. As a result of this constant overlap of diverse languages, Afrikaans was unintentionally formed.

A further development of Afrikaans was maintained as this pattern of language exposure continued over a span of multiple centuries. Afrikaans became an accepted language spoken by both the traders and slaves. The language that developed in South Africa due to the Dutch influence was still recognized as Dutch up until the 19th century. Only at this point was the language spoken in South Africa a distinct language from Dutch. Afrikaans had previously only been acknowledged as a dialect of Dutch and not a separate language. Many of the slaves that were exchanged along the trading route spent long periods of time in South Africa and further developed the Afrikaans language with an Asian influence.

The majority of white South Africans are descendents from the traders of the Dutch East India Company that never returned home to their respective countries in western and central Europe. During the first half of the 19th century, many South Africans migrated to north-eastern regions away from South Africa in a journey known as The Great Trek. At this time, the spoken dialects of Afrikaans were thought to be split between the Northern, Eastern and Western regions. Since The Great Trek, the predominant language that has grown out of these three dialects is referred to as Standard Afrikaans. Afrikaans is still a major language spoken in South Africa and is commonly spoken by the government and used by media outlets. English is the only language that is more commonly spoken by the government and media. Zulu remains the most commonly spoken language in the South African household.

Interesting Afrikaans Facts:

  • Afrikaans and Dutch share many vocabulary words and only have slight differences in grammar style. The two languages are mutually intelligible, especially when written.
  • Afrikaans is also similar to English
  • The letters Q and C are rarely used in Afrikaans
  • Afrikaans is sometimes called “Kitchen Dutch”
  • Cricket and Rugby are popular sports for Afrikaan speakers

Afrikaans Translation Services

To learn more about our Afrikaans Translation Services or any of the other 215 languages that we offer please contact us below.