Script guide › Latin
How to recognize Afrikaans
Afrikaans is one of 35 languages in Grafle's Latin group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- Looks like simplified Dutch — the standalone 'n (apostrophe-n) is the giveaway.
- Uses y where Dutch has ij: vry, gelyk.
What Afrikaans looks like
Alle menslike wesens word vry en gelyk in waardigheid gebore.
Hallo, hoe gaan dit? Dis 'n lekker dag vandag.
'n Boer maak altyd 'n plan.
Latin scripts: The alphabet you're reading now. Each language gives itself away by its own special letters and accent marks.
Where you'll see it on signs
- South Africa
- Namibia
Easy to confuse with
- Dutch — Afrikaans is stripped-down Dutch: it writes y where Dutch writes ij (vry vs vrij), and the standalone 'n is the giveaway.
- German — German Capitalizes Every Noun and uses ä/ö/ü/ß; Afrikaans does neither — and its standalone 'n is unique.
- Somali — Somali has doubled vowels plus x and dh clusters; Afrikaans reads like simplified Dutch with its standalone 'n.