It was so funny when I found this site about Cape Town in Dutch.
http://www.kaapstadmagazine.nlFor someone who can understand and speak Afrikaans, Dutch looks very much like formal Afrikaans.
I was thinking seeing that Cape Town was Dutch long before it became part of the British empire, it just seems more right to have a site dedicated to Cape Town (Kaapstad) in Dutch.
I think the Afrikaans and Dutch speakers (Netherlands + Belgium +Suriname) can work closer together regarding their languages.
Why is there no Dutch/ Flemish/ Afrikaans combined tv station that people can look at? I know in South Africa people are becoming more and more influence by the English language. If there was an Afrikaans/Dutch/Flemish/Suriname tv station maybe people will see that English is not the only international language that is useful.
Of course I'm not saying English is not important language I'm just saying
the Dutch have a golden opportunity to expand it's useage and users of the language. I mean the more people that speak or understand a language the more people will use and learn that language.
If you take Portuguese for example, Portuguese spoken in Europe has only got 10,6 million native speakers, making it a language no bigger than Dutch but if you include Brazil with it's 190.6 million native speakers it officially becomes the 6th largest language in the world!
I think the point I'm trying to make is the Dutch have a golden opportunity to expand the usage of the language by working closer together with the Afrikaans speakers in Southern Africa.
There should be a Dutch/Flemish/Suriname/ Afrikaans channel where people can learn each others languages. It will boost the useage of Dutch amongst Afrikaans speakers aswell.A British person for example have no difficulty communicating with an American person because the British person is exposed to American English on tv from a very young age and the American is also exposed to British English thanks to tv and the former British colonies.
British English vs American English
Pavement = Sidewalk
Curtains = Drapes
Tap = Faucet
Boot = Trunk
Nappy = Dipper
Dummy = Pacifier
Spanner = Monkey Wrench
Nobody in England had to look up in a dictionary what Sidewalk, Dipper etc means because we have heard the word on the Simpsons and know it already.
That's why I'm saying a Dutch/Flemish/Afrikaans/Surinaam channel is essential in expanding the Dutch language and it's usage. A country like France, Portugal will jump at the opportunity to expand their languages why not the Dutch?