“In the spirit of this year’s International Mother Language Day theme: Using technology for multilingual learning, not only is LitNet Akademies published online, but multimedia material is found within articles, including sound clips and video clips. Each article published, therefore, is part of a multidisciplinary and dynamic approach within a hypertext environment.”
Alta Vos, editor of LitNet Akademies (Opvoedkunde), was a guest speaker at the My Language Matters event on 27 February 2026, in celebration of International Mother Language Day.
This programme was presented by CPUT’s Language Working Group at CPUT Bellville Campus. The other guest speaker was Bonke Xakatha.
This is the text version of Alta’s keynote.
Why does my mother tongue matter?
Introduction
Distinguished guests, colleagues and friends
It is both an honour and a responsibility to speak about Afrikaans: a language that has carried knowledge, culture and identity across generations. In the past, Afrikaans was not only a language of poetry and song; it has also been a language of science, scholarship and intellectual inquiry.
Today, Afrikaans finds itself in a different position. While it remains vibrant in literature, media and everyday life, its role in academia and science has shifted. English has become dominant in many institutions, and Afrikaans must negotiate its place within a multilingual South Africa. Yet, despite these challenges, Afrikaans continues to produce scholarship and sustain communities of knowledge. Its scientific status may no longer be exclusive, but it is far from extinguished.
Looking ahead, the future of Afrikaans depends on how we choose to engage with it. If we invest in its academic presence, expand its digital footprint and embrace it as a language of innovation, Afrikaans will continue to grow as a language of higher functions. By understanding its past, honouring its present and envisioning its possibilities, we can ensure that Afrikaans remains a language of science, culture and progress.
Let’s first take an honest look at the past
Afrikaans rose to prominence as a language of power, sharing dominance with English in mainstream cultural and academic spaces. Subordinate groups were compelled to adopt these languages to survive economically, while their own traditions were confined to segregation and isolation.
Furthermore, the diversity of "other-than-white" Afrikaans speakers was ignored, and their varieties stigmatised. Afrikaans became a forced lingua franca, elevated to scientific status while other indigenous languages were sidelined. Language purism reinforced exclusion. Many people of colour rejected Afrikaans, turning to English instead.
Pertaining to the present
Afrikaans remains one of South Africa’s most widely spoken languages, with millions of speakers across diverse racial and cultural groups. This demographic strength ensures its continued role in everyday life, commerce and education, providing a strong base for higher functions. Let’s discuss the three prominent discourses that one cannot deny, ie, Afrikaans as vessel for the previously marginalised, the status quo of Afrikaans as an academic language, and, lastly, the cultural capital of Afrikaans.
1. Firstly, Afrikaans as a language of the marginalised
The newest statistics (from the 2022 census) show that 56% of home language speakers are coloured, in comparison with 40% from their white counterparts, with the remaining 4% being black, Indian or other speakers. My students in my Afrikaans modules at UP had interesting reactions to these demographic realities. Many had assumed that English was the most widely spoken language, unaware that Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans lead the list. They were equally astonished to learn that more than half of Afrikaans home language speakers are not white. This disruption of assumptions opens the door to new conversations about inclusivity.
Apart from the demographical statistics, Afrikaans was never only the language of privilege; it has also been the language of resistance and struggle. Struggle poetry shows how Afrikaans gave voice to the marginalised, the oppressed and the silenced. Hein Willemse wrote a poem in Cape vernacular with the title “fokkie dice pellie”, referring in an intertextual manner to Adam Small’s well-known poem, “die dice het vekeerd geval vi ons, daai’s maar al …”.
This short but powerful cry embodies frustration with fate, reclaiming Afrikaans as a weapon of protest. It demonstrates that Afrikaans can carry the voices of the marginalised just as powerfully as it once carried the voices of the privileged.
2. Afrikaans as an academic language
Afrikaans’s academic strength today is reinforced by platforms such as LitNet Akademies, Stilet and Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe.
May I, for a moment, contemplate the specific role of LitNet in providing national and international platforms for Afrikaans? Firstly, we should not confuse litnet.co.za with LitNet Akademies. Litnet.co.za is a wider digital environment that Etienne van Heerden, the founding editor, started. After almost three decades, Etienne is still the managing editor, facilitating a multilingual online community of critical voices within the cultural, literary and academic landscape.
LitNet Akademies is an accredited online academic journal that publishes peer-reviewed Afrikaans research articles. A core objective is to promote Afrikaans as an academic language. This journal is open-access and is multidisciplinary with six subdivisions, each with its own editor. LitNet Akademies therefore consists of six divisions: Natural Sciences, Law, Humanities, Religion, Economics and Education, of which I am the current editor. And, yes, you are very welcome to submit your Afrikaans-conceptualised journal articles directly to me, as some of you in the audience already have!
What makes LitNet Akademies different from other academic journals is that the online content is shared via litnet.co.za and social media, such as on their YouTube channel and LitNet’s Facebook page, where, for example, interviews with researchers are published. A large public audience, therefore, has free access to these articles to comment, like and discuss their work. This has the advantage that not necessarily just academics, but also interested parties from industry, are the readership. Menán van Heerden, manager of LitNet Akademies and a senior content manager at litnet.co.za, as well as editor of voertaal.nu, explains the relevance of the online journal LitNet Akademies.
All LitNet Akademies articles are accompanied by an extended English abstract, which expands the readership of the Afrikaans research. LitNet Akademies’s lengthy English abstracts are widely read and have an overseas readership in other African countries, the USA and Canada. A new video series to expand the Afrikaans research to an even broader English audience is the “Your AI-IQ” series: AI-generated videos and podcasts summarise/discuss the Afrikaans research articles in English, with permission and pre-approval from the authors. These lengthy English abstracts are also published under the category “Academic research” on litnet.co.za.
LitNet’s sister website, www.voertaal.nu, was launched in 2018 with a focus on the academic, linguistic and cultural exchange between South Africa, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean, the Netherlands and Belgium. Voertaal publishes in Afrikaans, Dutch and English. It offers growth opportunities for Afrikaans, and it is an important symbolic presence, signalling mutual cultural and academic interest between South Africa and the other countries mentioned.
In the spirit of this year’s International Mother Language Day theme: Using technology for multilingual learning, not only is LitNet Akademies published online, but multimedia material is found within articles, including sound clips and video clips. Each article published, therefore, is part of a multidisciplinary and dynamic approach within a hypertext environment.
Let’s end this section with a quantitative fun fact: In 2025, LitNet Akademies published 83 Afrikaans scholarly articles!
3. Let’s move to the cultural capital of Afrikaans
The private Afrikaans television channel kykNET was launched on the DStv satellite service on 15 November 1999. The channel was established with the vision of creating world‑class Afrikaans content that could compete internationally, discover new talent and give Afrikaans speakers a dedicated space for entertainment and culture. I quote from the media statement of kykNET on 26 November 2024:
KykNET vier 25 jaar van wêreldklas in Afrikaans
KykNET het deur die jare ’n magdom programme op die kykspyskaart gesit. Dramareekse, wat die ruggraat van menige TV-kanaal en die broeiplek van stories, talent en vaardigheid is, het momentum begin kry toe Song vir Katryn, kykNET se eerste oorspronklike reeks, in 2003 uitgesaai is. Sedertdien was daar treffers soos Vlug na Egipte, Boekklub, Sara se geheim en Nêrens, Noord-Kaap, om net ’n paar te noem.
Dis egter nie net dramareekse nie. Boere het vroue gekry, Hannon het kykers opge-glam, Kabous en Lourensa hou ons ingelig, Hannes kuier saam met mense op die bank én in hulle huise, en Breytie en die span praat bôl.
Under the direction of Waldimar Pelser, previously editor of Rapport, kykNET has continued to expand its reach, diversify programming and strengthen its position as the leading Afrikaans television brand.
A projection of the future of Afrikaans
The future of Afrikaans is not about survival, but about direction. Its continued vitality depends on how we position it in education, academia, technology and culture.
1. Institutional presence
The Constitutional Court rulings at Stellenbosch and the University of the Free State made clear that English-medium expansion is seen to broaden access. The challenge for the future is to balance access with sustainability, ensuring that Afrikaans remains present without excluding others. Afrikaans should work with English, not against it, whether it is in academic research, law and government, or media via newspapers, radio and television.
2. Education as foundation
The scientific growth of Afrikaans as a language of higher functions is inseparable from the quality of its educational foundation. Research and international consensus, including Unesco’s position, affirm that mother tongue education is essential for improved learning outcomes, deeper conceptual understanding and long-term academic success. When children are taught in their home language, they not only master the content more effectively, but also acquire additional languages such as English with greater ease and fluency.
Thus, mother tongue education in Afrikaans is not merely a cultural preference; it is a pedagogical necessity. It secures the scientific growth of Afrikaans by ensuring that future generations can think, reason and innovate in their home language, while simultaneously mastering English and other languages.
3. Academic presence and scholarship
Afrikaans must continue to publish. LitNet has pioneered a multimodal and hyperlink context, where articles are enriched with links to related debates, multimedia and responses. This digital format allows Afrikaans scholarship to be interactive, layered and globally accessible, ensuring that Afrikaans researchers are part of a living, evolving conversation, rather than being isolated voices.
4. Technology and modernisation
Afrikaans has embraced digital platforms, expanded scientific and technological terminology, and demonstrated resilience in new contexts. Its presence in AI and natural language processing, highlights its scientific relevance. Afrikaans has shown strength in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. Its regular grammar and transparent spelling make it effective in speech recognition and cross‑lingual transfer learning. Investing in digital resources, terminology development and online content will modernise Afrikaans and keep it relevant in global scientific discourse.
5. Community advocacy
Afrikaans literature, music and theatre thrive, reinforcing its prestige. The 100-year birthday celebrations of Afrikaans highlighted its dual legacy of exclusivity in the past and inclusivity in the present. Festivals, concerts and kykNET series such as Die storie van Afrikaans showcased Afrikaans’s vitality across the different speech communities in South Africa.
Parents, educators and cultural organisations must continue to champion Afrikaans as both heritage and innovation. Public campaigns should emphasise that Afrikaans‑medium education expands opportunities rather than limits them. Afrikaans opens doors not only to English, but also to Dutch, Flemish, Surinamese and Indonesian contexts, making it a global connector.
Afrikaans’s future lies in education, scholarship, technology, inclusivity and advocacy. By investing in these areas, Afrikaans will remain a language of higher functions. It is not a question of survival, but of growth, relevance and confidence.
Conclusion
Afrikaans’s journey shows how language can be used to dominate, but also how it can be reclaimed to resist and to heal. Its present demonstrates resilience, adaptability and inclusivity – from shaping scholarly discourse, to Kaaps idioms enriching textbooks, to poetry giving voice to the marginalised.
Afrikaans is not merely surviving; it is evolving. It is a language of privilege and protest, of science and song, of heritage and innovation.
Afrikaans matters. It carries our histories, our struggles, our triumphs and our hopes. And if we continue to speak it, write it and think in it, Afrikaans will remain a language of science, culture and progress.
As Breyten Breytenbach once wrote: “Afrikaans is ’n klein taal, maar dit dra groot drome.” And those dreams are ours to keep alive.