Of the three most widely-spoken languages in South Africa (isiZulu, isiXhosa and Afrikaans) only Afrikaans has a relatively strong presence on Wikipedia. And compared to other languages, with smaller communities, like Welsh or Basque, Afrikaans Wikipedia is very small.
This article tries to interrogate why Afrikaans Wikipedia is, in terms of the world, very small, and why in terms of South Africa, it is so huge.
Historical Background
Afrikaans is a relatively young language – it developed out of the Dutch that was spoken by the colonists who arrived in South Africa in the 1600s. Considered a dialect of Dutch, it wasn't until the late 19th century when it began to be recognised as a distinct language in it’s own right. It gained equal status with Dutch and English as an official language in South Africa in 1925, although Dutch remained an official language until the 1961 constitution finally stipulated the two official languages in South Africa to be Afrikaans and English. It is the only Indo-European language of significance that underwent distinct development on the African continent.
Historically, language has been a volatile issue in South Africa – in 1976 the Apartheid government declared that all black South African students had to be taught in Afrikaans (the language of the government at the time). This sparked the famous June 16 protests in which the South African police fired on crowds of protesting high school students, killing 20 children. Since then, language has been closely associated with the struggle for freedom in South Africa, and with a diverse population’s emerging identity. In 1996, when the Constitution of South Africa was adopted, much importance was placed on the fact that, for the first time in the country’s history, all languages were given equal importance.
South Africa is second only to India in terms of the number of languages spoken. Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu are the official languages of the country, as enshrined in the Constitution. IsiZulu is the most widely spoken as a first language with 9.2 million speakers. It’s followed by isiXhosa (7.2 million) and Afrikaans (5.8 million). Most South Africans speak English (not always as a first language) and at least one other language, and many South Africans speak at least three.
Looking At The Numbers
The number of South African languages with articles on Wikipedia can be roughly broken down as follows:
Afrikaans: 8,300
IsiZulu: 107
Tshivenda: 74
IsiXhosa: 66
siSwati: 56
Setswana: 40
Sesotho: 38
Xitsonga: 10
While the gap between Afrikaans and isiZulu is huge, if you were to look at a language with a similar number of speakers, like Finnish (6 million speakers, 133,000 articles) or Danish (6 millions speakers, 70,000 articles) it suddenly seems very small.
The View From The Frontline
There is a multiplicity of reasons for this. One of them, which is sited most often when the relative lack of all African content on the Internet is being discussed, is the relatively low level of Internet penetration in South Africa. Access to the Internet is limited, and expensive, and many South Africans who do have Internet access only have it at work, where their time is constrained. They simply don’t have the disposable Internet time that is necessary to contribute to Wikipedia.
There are, however, more complex reasons. In order to understand them, I spoke with Gebruiker:Laurens; an admin on Afrikaans Wikipedia, and asked him why he thinks Afrikaans Wikipedia is so much smaller, relatively, to other languages.
“Awareness of Wikipedia in South Africa is low in comparison to European countries,” says Lourens. “I know, for example, that in the Netherlands and Germany Wikipedia has had a high profile in conventional media such as newspapers and television. In South Africa, I am only aware of a single programme that was aired on the pay-TV channel - which did not even mention the existence of the Afrikaans or other indigenous language Wikipedias.”
Multilingualism may also be one of the contributing factors that Laurens highlights. Many South Africans, including almost all Afrikaans speakers are essentially bilingual and use English as their medium of communication every day. “Perhaps they don’t see the need for creating content in Afrikaans as it is felt that you may as well read things in English, especially technical content such as encyclopaedic material,” he says.
A third, and very important issue that Laurens raises is that of the language of technology in South Africa. “Computers and the Internet are largely seen as an English medium issue. Until recently, Microsoft Windows was not available in Afrikaans or any other indigenous language and very few commercial software programs are available in local languages. Even basic issues such as support for special characters in local languages such as Afrikaans and Venda are not supported and Microsoft Word does not ship with an Afrikaans dictionary / spell checker. It is only since open source products such as FireFox and OpenOffice have become available that the situation is starting to change.”
He also highlights the complicated issue of how Afrikaans is perceived by South Africans, both Afrikaans speakers and non-speakers. “Before 1994, Afrikaans and English enjoyed very similar statuses, the introduction of eleven official languages and the impracticality of implementing such a language policy has lead to a de facto English as official language situation. The indigenous languages are therefore seen as "kitchen languages" to be used at home in the lounge and with friends. ‘Business’ is conducted in English. English is seen as the language of economic opportunity, both locally and abroad.”
There is also a political angle to this argument. Since 1948, Afrikaans has been inextricably associated with Apartheid, both linguistically and culturally, and this, says Laurens, has several implications. “Before 1994, white Afrikaans speakers were shielded from this knowledge through the ways information was controlled and the separation of the different race groups under the Apartheid regime. Afrikaans speakers have historically always reverted to English even when in conversations with English first language speakers who can speak Afrikaans. The burden of Apartheid may now provide an additional reason to switch to English, especially amongst upper middle class and intellectuals who one might expect to be more active Internet and Wikipedia users.
The Flipside
The irony, however, is that in South Africa, Afrikaans Wikipedia is by far the biggest and most dynamic local language Wikipedia project, even though isiZulu and isiXhosa have many more speakers. What is also interesting and important to note is that, although language does define many South Africans’ identity, it also transcends racial boundaries. Not all Afrikaans speakers in South Africa are white, and many non-white South Africans grow up speaking Afrikaans as a mother tongue.
Afrikaans is probably one of the more intellectualised of all the indigenous South African languages. As Laurens says: “Afrikaans was used at all educations levels, was used as a technical and scientific language, has a rich literature and even had encyclopaedias produced (Kennis & Afrikaanse Kinder Ensiklopedie).”
At South African schools and universities, children learning Afrikaans have learnt in the language from basic elementary to PhD level. As a result, Afrikaans is a language that is totally appropriate and capable of providing a vocabulary for any formal academic or encyclopaedic writing, which may be one reason why it has been more successful – the words are there.
Secondly, even though Apartheid ended over 13 years ago, there are more Afrikaans speakers with the disposable income and the time needed to be Wikipedia contributors than, for example, isiZulu or isiXhosa speakers. So it’s more likely that they will build a successful Afrikaans Wikipedia.
Thirdly, according to Laurens, the mountain had, relatively early on, come to Mohammed: “At some point one or two people became interested and started working on the project. That meant that there was enough there for newcomers who didn't have high demands in terms of the project's readiness to also start contributing. I think this is essential to get any sort of community going. I have seen other very small Wikipedia suddenly exploding (Swahili and Luxembourgian for instance) after a small number of people initiated the content development.”
According to Laurens, the content that was generated was a combination of original and translated material. He says that it isn’t unusual for newcomers to the project to ‘chase article counts’ by translating many articles at first and then settle into improving the quality of the content, which includes creating original content. The translations weren’t just from the English Wikipedia either – material from the Dutch and German versions was also translated.
Subject-wise there is also a mix of material on the Afrikaans Wikipedia. From very South African subjects, like small towns and current events, to less South African themed material, like articles about the geography of France. This spread of articles seems to follow the spread of the interests of the most active contributors, rather than any set agenda, or perceived need to create and preserve Afrikaans cultural knowledge.
What this model can tell us is that, with a little bit of seeding, and initial activity, it was possible to develop and build a dynamic and growing wiki in Afrikaans. And if it can be done in one language, then it’s entirely possible that it can be done in others.
tags: johannesburg south africa culture wikipedia langauge translation afrikaans south-africa
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