German language in Namibia (Redirected from Namibian German)

Namibian German
Südwesterdeutsch
Namsläng
Native toNamibia
Official status
Official language in
Namibia
Language codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone
Examples of German language on signs in Namibia
Namibia is the only country in Africa where German is a recognised language

Namibia is a multilingual country in which German is recognised as a national language. While English has been the sole official language of the country since 1990, in many areas of the country, German enjoys official status at a community level. A national variety of German is also known as Namdeutsch.

German is especially widely used in central and southern Namibia and was until 1990 one of three official languages in what was then South West Africa, alongside Afrikaans and English, two other Germanic languages in Namibia. German is the mother tongue of German Namibians as well as older black speakers of Namibian Black German and Black Namibians who as children grew up in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the last decades of the Cold War. The German Namibian newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung on its website refers to native speakers and of several Namibians who know German as a second or third language. German benefits from its similarity to Afrikaans and has a prominent position in the tourism and business sectors. Many Namibian natural features, place and street names have German names.

History

Sign in Windhoek with directions to the German colonial-era monuments Christ Church, Alte Feste and Reiterdenkmal
The Allgemeine Zeitung is the only 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.

South Africa took over administration of the country in 1915. However, German language privileges and education remained in place. In 1916 the Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper was founded under its original name of Der Kriegsbote. After the end of the First World War the South African attitude to the German Namibians changed, and between 1919 and 1920 about half of the Germans were transferred out of the country. In 1920 Dutch (later to be superseded by Afrikaans) and English replaced German as the official languages of the country.

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. 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 Afrikaans and English as a working language of the government. In 1984 was German officially added as an official language.

After independence in 1990, English became the sole official language of Namibia. Though German lost its official status, it continues to be used in everyday Namibian life.

Culture

German is used for everyday communication in Namibia, such as in Schools, Churches, Literature, Radio and television, Broadcasting Corporation, Hitradio, TV Provider Satelio, Music Online media, both forums and online newspapers

Other uses

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. 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.

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".

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


This page was last updated at 2024-03-15 04:54 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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