Afrikaans is officially 100 years old in 2025, and has about 10-15 million speakers, globally. Used in education, science, literature, and many other cultural and creative pursuits, both in South Africa, and abroad. The language closely resembles Dutch, with 90+% of our vocabulary, coming from our European cousins, but having distinct language and grammar rules. Afrikaans sounds odd to English speakers, due to guttural sounds, especially the 'g', but this does NOT mean it's impossible or difficult to learn. Quite the opposite. Afrikaans has a booming academic and entertainment industry around it, and it keeps growing, every year. Want to learn more? Send me a DM!

In English, when we meet new people, we can use different greetings, based on who we're talking to, e.g Formal: "Good morning, afternoon, or evening." Informal: "Hey!" or "Hello!" Bonus: Regional greetings are common, but can be confusing or insulting to foreigners, e.g South African English speakers sometimes use "Howzit!" or "Hola!" (The H in Hola is sometimes pronounced like a W, giving you something sounding like "W-h-ola!") Not to be confused with Spanish, where the H is silent. It may seem overly familiar, but can be a good way to immerse yourself in the local vernacular.