WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

One of my friends questioned why the Afrikaan  language was still a required subject in most South African schools. Good question!
But first, a couple of photos of the nearby Botanical Gardens that I enjoyed on a long walk today, as it is a public holiday.  You can see that the trees are starting to turn color; many have lots most of their leaves since we're well into fall now,
So, yesterday I mentioned that it's only been 20 years since South Africa has been a democracy.  It's hard for us Americans to realize all the implications of that.  When I was in Morocco, it had been just 50 years since they were independent...the last ruling country was France.  So although the "first" language of the country was classical Arabic, and that's the one the taught in lst grade, it was required that French be taught starting in third grade, as the government documents were in French.  Add to that the fact that there are still 3 Berber languages alive and well, and that the common language of the street was Darija, the Moroccan Arabic that is not written but transliterated.  What a mess!  No wonder only 50% of the kids in the rural areas graduate from high school.

Meanwhile, back to South Africa. There are many tribal languages that are still spoken, but for years the ruling class were the Afrikaans (after they took care of the Brits) so that has been the language of the government and taught in schools. Since many Afrikaaners still live here, that is their language, although most of them do speak English, as do most blacks.  I would guess that perhaps in a few decades, Afrikaan won't be required, as most of the younger people will speak primarily English.  And, of course, the black population certainly does not want to have to speak it.  Anyway, that's my take on it.

Oh, and P. S.  Yes, it is much easier to move around in a country where nearly everyone speaks your language,except that's not quite the case here.  They speak South African English, which is not American English, and I struggle with the accents on many people. (Could be compounded by a bit of a hearing issue as well?)  But I am told that I am the one with the accent!  :)