Namibian Black German
Encyclopedia
Namibian Black German is a pidgin
Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...

 language spoken in various parts of Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. It is a non-standardized variety. Namibian Black German is based on standard German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

.

Namibian Black German is presently near extinction. It was spoken mostly by Africans who served their colonial masters when Namibia was known as German South-West Africa
German South-West Africa
German South West Africa was a colony of Germany from 1884 until 1915, when it was taken over by South Africa and administered as South West Africa, finally becoming Namibia in 1990...

 but who did not get the chance to learn standard German. (Küchendeutsch means Kitchen-German.)

Example sentences:
  • Lange nicht sehen - long no see
  • Was Banane kosten? - What cost banana?
  • spät Uhr - 'late clock', meaning 'it's late'
  • Herr fahren Jagd, nicht Haus - Man go hunt, not house


Today, speakers of Namibian Black German usually also speak Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

or English.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK