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The AfrikaansLanguage is a LowFranconianLanguage of SouthAfrica. SIL code: AFK. ISO 639-1: af. ISO 639-2: afr. Population: 6,200,000 in South Africa (1991 Christos van Rensburg), of whom 1,000,000 are native bilinguals with English (1989 J. Holm), 15.1% of the population (1995 The Economist). 4,000,000 in South Africa use it as a second or third language (1989 J. Holm). Population total all countries: 6,381,000. Including second language users: 10,000,000 (1999 WA). Region: Pretoria and Bloemfontein are principal centers of population. Cape Malays live mainly in Capetown, with some in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and Port Elizabeth. Also spoken in Australia, Botswana, Canada, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, New Zealand, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Dialects: CAPE AFRIKAANS (WEST CAPE AFRIKAANS), ORANGE RIVER AFRIKAANS, EAST CAPE AFRIKAANS. Comments: A variant of the Dutch spoken by the 17th century colonists, with some lexical and syntactic borrowings from Malay, Bantu languages, Khoisan languages, Portuguese, and other European languages. Their ancestors were brought from Java 300 years ago. 150,000 Cape Malays speak Afrikaans, some also speak English. National language. Cape Malays: builders, carpenters. Cape Malay: Muslim, Christian. Bible 1933-1983. Also spoken in: Botswana. (Language name: AFRIKAANS. Population: 20,000 in Botswana (1995 LBT). Comments: Spoken as mother tongue by Afrikaners (Ghanzi District) and by people of mixed racial background (Kweneng and Kgalagadi districts). Literacy rate in first language: 100% in Ghanzi, 50% in Kweneng and Kgalagadi. Literacy rate in second language: 75% in Kweneng and Kgalagadi districts in Tswana, 50% in English, few in Ghanzi District in Tswana, most in English. Christian. Bible 1933-1983. Also spoken in: Malawi. (Language name: AFRIKAANS.) Comments: Spoken by people of Dutch descent from South Africa. Bible 1933-1983. Also spoken in: Namibia. (Language name: AFRIKAANS.) Population: 133,324 in Namibia (1991 census). Used by 25% of the population in Windhoek in their homes (1995 census). Comments: It formerly had official status. Bible 1933-1983. Also spoken in: Zambia. (Language name: AFRIKAANS.) Comments: Language of wider communication. Bible 1933-1983.(extract from http://www.ethnologue.com/)
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