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German language in Namibia

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German language in Namibia
Native toNamibia
Official status
Official language in
Namibia
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
Examples of German language on signs in Namibia

German is the sole official language of Namibia. [1] Due to cultural, social and political mechanisms which date back to the German colonialism, [2] the number of native German speakers are growing. [3] National Institute for Statistics found that 21% of Namibians speak German as mother tonngue, [4] It is spoken as a second language by 64% of the population. [5], younger urban and rural generations are moving towards the dominant use of German [6] German is commonly learned beside a native bantu language.[7] The 2014 population census found that 85% of Namibians are fluent in German. [8]

Namibian German language newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung is the largest German language circulation newspaper in Africa.

History

direction sign in German
The Allgemeine Zeitung is the German-language daily newspaper in Africa and one of the highest-circulation newspapers in Namibia

During the period when the territory was a German colony from 1884 to 1915, German was the only official language in German Southwest Africa, as Namibia was then known. Boers, i.e. South African whites who spoke Dutch (South African Dutch would later develop into Afrikaans) already lived in the country alongside Orlam tribes and mixed-race Rehoboth Basters.


The German-speaking population wished German to be reinstated as an official language and in 1932 the Treaty of Cape Town encouraged South Africa to do so.[1] It was hoped that this would throw a spanner in the works against South Africa annexing South West Africa into the Union of South Africa. South Africa did not officially recognise German; however, de facto German was added to native African languages as a working language of the government. In 1984 German was officially added as an official language.


Culture

German is used as a medium of communication in a wide range of cultural spheres:

Signs

Examples of multilingual signs in Namibia

Signs for shops, restaurants and services are often in English and German, reflecting not only a high proportion of German-Namibian ownership but also the high number of German-speaking tourists that visit the country. However, a customer entering such a shop may well be greeted in Afrikaans; relatively fewer signs are in Afrikaans but the language retains a leading position as a spoken lingua franca in Windhoek and throughout the central and southern parts of the country.

German is also found on signs for tourists, especially those to monuments and historic buildings from the German colonial period. Other signs that include German date back before 1990, when English, Afrikaans and German shared status as official languages of the country.

Place names

German place names are especially prevalent in the south of the country
Namibia contains many Afrikaans and German place names, except for in the northern part of the country

Unlike other parts of the world with large German immigration and large numbers of German place names, only few places had their name changed, for example Luhonono, the former Schuckmannsburg.[3] Especially in the south, in the regions of Hardap and ǁKaras, many place names are German or Afrikaans. Examples include Keetmanshoop (after German industrialist Johann Keetman [de] and the Afrikaans word for "hope", and Lüderitz, named after the German merchant Adolf Lüderitz.[4]

Street names

In Windhoek, Swakopmund, Keetmanshoop, Grootfontein and Lüderitz many or most street names are German in origin, even though after 1990 many streets were renamed to honor black Namibian people, predominantly but not exclusively from the currently ruling SWAPO party. (See for example List of former Swakopmund street names). Streets named before 1990 often end in "Str.", the standard abbreviation in German for Straße, and in Afrikaans for straat; streets renamed since 1990 often end in "St.", implying the English abbreviation for "Street".[5][6]

Building names

Many colonial buildings and structures have retained their original German names. Examples include Windhoek's castles Heinitzburg, Schwerinsburg and Sanderburg, Windhoek's Alte Feste (Old Fortress) and the Reiterdenkmal (Equestrian Statue) stored in its yard. Swakopmund also has many buildings still known by their German names, for instance Altes Gefängnis (Old Prison).

Namibian German as a dialect

The German language as spoken in Namibia is characterised by simplification and the adoption of many words from Afrikaans, South African English, and Ovambo and other Bantu languages. This variant of German is called variously Südwesterdeutsch (German südwest, southwest, referring to the country's former name, South West Africa); while younger people also call it Namsläng (i.e. Namibian slang) or Namdeutsch.

See also

References

  1. ^ "86-1932". www.klausdierks.com.
  2. ^ Radke, Henning (2017). "'Lekker dieses namtal zu lesen. Ich hou davon.' Namdeutscher Sprachgebrauch in namibischer Onlinekommunikation". gm.winter-verlag.de. In: Germanistische Mitteilungen (in German). pp. 109–132. Retrieved 2018-02-18.
  3. ^ Nakale, Albertina (9 August 2013). "President divides Kavango into two". New Era. via allafrica.com. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Alt URL
  4. ^ von Schmettau, Konny (28 February 2013). "Lüderitzbucht: Gründer- und Diamantenstadt" [Lüderitzbucht: Town of Pioneers and Diamonds]. Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Tourismus Namibia monthly supplement. p. 6.
  5. ^ Straße umgetauft. Archived 2011-12-02 at the Wayback Machine In: Allgemeine Zeitung. 19. Dezember 2001.
  6. ^ Umbenennung sorgt für Irrwege. Archived 2011-12-02 at the Wayback Machine In: Allgemeine Zeitung. 19. Juni 2003.

Literature

  • Marianne Zappen-Thomson: Deutsch als Fremdsprache in Namibia., Klaus-Hess-Verlag, Windhoek 2000, ISBN 3-933117-15-1.
  • Joe Pütz: Das grosse Dickschenärie. Peters Antiques, Windhoek Namibia 2001, ISBN 99916-50-46-6.
  • Erik Sell: Esisallesoreidt, Nam Släng - Deutsch, Deutsch - NAM Släng. EeS Records, Windhoek Namibia, 2009, ASIN B005AU8R82.
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