The Afrikaans Language Movements: Afrikaners’ epic struggle for a mother tongue - Ernst van Zyl

Key topics:

• First Language Movement sparked Afrikaans writing, printing, and identity pride

• Second Movement resisted Anglicisation, promoting Afrikaans in schools and culture

• Afrikaans gained official status in 1925 after decades of determined activism

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By Ernst van Zyl*

In 2025, we celebrate the 100th birthday of Afrikaans as an official language. It is the perfect time to reflect on some of the significant figures, defining moments, and milestones that made this achievement possible.

The First Afrikaans Language Movement (1874–1899) 

The First Afrikaans Language Movement was mainly confined to the Paarl area in the Cape – the valley the Afrikaans Language Monument still appropriately and proudly overlooks.

One of the key figures of the First Language Movement was S.J. du Toit. In the 1870s, under the pseudonym “Ware Afrikaander”, Du Toit argued that there could be no nation (“volk”) without a language. Du Toit’s articles in De Zuid-Afrikaan, advocating for the promotion of Afrikaans, were supported by many Afrikaners through letters in the newspaper. Dr. Johannes Brill, a Dutch linguist and rector of Grey College in Bloemfontein, delivered a lecture on Afrikaans in 1875 that provided significant momentum for the development of this language. Over time, opinion leaders, academics and the general public increasingly began to throw their weight behind Afrikaans.

Another great campaigner in the early days of the language struggle, Arnoldus Pannevis, made representations to the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1874 about the need for an Afrikaans translation of the Bible. However, it was argued that Afrikaans had to develop as a fully-fledged written language before the Bible could be translated. Therefore, Afrikaners realised early on that we had to develop Afrikaans as a written language if we wanted to promote Afrikaans to a higher level. This critical awareness led to the establishment of the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (GRA) (‟Society of True Afrikaners”), which sought to promote the Afrikaans language and culture. In addition to writing in Afrikaans, the GRA established the newspaper Die Afrikaanse Patriot in 1876.

After the number of readers of Die Afrikaanse Patriot had grown sufficiently, some of the first Afrikaans books were published, such as Eerste Beginsels van die Afrikaanse Taal (1876) (“First Principles of the Afrikaans Language”) and De geskidenis van ons land, in di taal van ons volk (1877) (“The history of our country, in the language of our people”). S.J. du Toit, J.W. van der Rijst and C.P. Hoogenhout contributed to these. Soon, an annual calendar was available in Afrikaans, and the first Afrikaans children’s book, Spel- en Leesboek vir Afrikaanse Kinders (“Spelling and Reading Book for Afrikaans Children”), was published shortly after that.

The Zuid-Afrikaansche Taalbond (“South African Language Association”), led by Jan Hofmeyr and other Cape Afrikaners, was founded in 1890 to develop Afrikaans to a higher level and to promote Afrikaners’ pride in their language as an integral part of their identity. However, the existential crisis that arose with the outbreak of the First War of Independence in 1880 and the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 turned the fight for Afrikaans into a luxury that had to be put on the back burner.

The Second Afrikaans Language Movement (1902–1925)

After the Second Anglo-Boer War, one of the British peace conditions was that English should be the only language of instruction in public administration and the administration of justice. In 1903, E.B. Sargent, Transvaal Director of Education, wrote to Lord Milner, ‟ ... [we must] teach the children of the [Boers] our language and our ideals. Gradually, these children should also be taught our great Imperial ideals.” According to Sargent, the fact that the majority of Afrikaner children were at that time concentrated in concentration camps was a golden opportunity to Anglicise them.

From the ashes and ruin of the Second Anglo-Boer War, Gustav Preller wrote a striking series of articles in De Volkstem in 1905, in which he argued that promoting Afrikaans was the best antidote to the threat of complete anglicisation. Why Afrikaans and not Dutch? Afrikaner writer and co-founder of Die Voortrekkers, Maria Elizabeth Rothmann (M.E.R.), put it perfectly: ‟[Dutch] has always remained foreign, an uncomfortable tool ... the language of a world other than our practical, everyday world.” Preller also pointed out that Dutch was a complex language that almost no Afrikaner could speak correctly without stuttering. Preller further expressed his concern about the trend of Afrikaners who struggled to write in Dutch being forced to switch to English. Establishing Afrikaans as a written language, arising from a people’s spoken language, was therefore a prerequisite for the survival of Afrikaner culture.

In 1905, the Afrikaanse Taalgenootskap (“Afrikaans Language Society”) was founded under the leadership of Gustav Preller. This was followed by the founding of the Afrikaanse Taalvereniging (“Afrikaans Language Association”) in 1906 under the leadership of J.H.H. de Waal. These two societies had the common goal of promoting the speaking and writing of Afrikaans. In 1908, D.F. Malan declared: “Elevate the Afrikaans language to a written language, make it the bearer of our culture, our history, our national ideals, and you will also elevate the people who speak it.”

During this time, well-known poets such as Eugène Marais and Jan F.E. Celliers also made invaluable contributions to the germination of a new Afrikaans literature. The role of poets of that time was to prove that everything was possible in Afrikaans. Some of these pioneering works were brilliantly displayed in Marais’ poem “Winternag” (1905) and Cilliers’ collection of poems Die vlakte en ander gedigte (1908). In 1909, the forerunner of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (“South African Academy for Science and Art”) was founded on the initiative of J.B.M. Hertzog and under the leadership of M.T. Steyn.

In 1914, the Afrikaner author C.J. Langenhoven submitted a motion to the Cape Provincial Council requesting that Afrikaans be used instead of Dutch as the medium of instruction for Afrikaans-speaking pupils up to and including standard four. The success of this motion led to similar recognition of Afrikaans in other provinces. In 1917, the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, chaired by Adriaan Moorrees, published the first Afrikaanse woordelys en spelreëls (“Afrikaans vocabulary and spelling rules”).

From 1917, Afrikaans spread like wildfire as a medium of instruction in schools. By 1925, almost all instruction for Afrikaans pupils was provided through the medium of their mother tongue. In 1918, Afrikaans became a university subject at the University of Stellenbosch and Grey College in Bloemfontein. In 1924, D.F. Malan pointed out in a speech that more South African literary works had been published in Afrikaans than in English in the previous decade.

In 1912, W.J. Conradie’s Children’s Bible, Bybelgeskiedenis vir ons volk (“Bible history for our people”, was printed, and in 1914, B.B. Keet once again made a strong plea for an Afrikaans Bible translation in a lecture to the ATV in Stellenbosch. In 1933, the first edition of The Bible in Afrikaans was published, largely thanks to the work of Afrikaners such as J.D. du Toit (Totius), J.D. Kestell, B.B. Keet, H.C.M. Fourie, E.E. van Rooyen, J.J. Smith, D.F. Malherbe, T.H. le Roux and S.P.E. Boshoff. At the heart of the First Language Movement was the insistence on the realisation of an Afrikaans Bible. The printing of the 1933 translation was a beautiful flower on a tree that had already been planted in the previous century and had been kept alive with great effort.

The Constitution of 1909 recognised only Dutch and English as official national languages. It was not until 8 May 1925 that Afrikaans was put on equal footing with Dutch when Afrikaans was recognised as an official national language of South Africa. The development of Afrikaans into a fully-fledged academic language enabled Afrikaners to express themselves in new, dynamic ways in the struggle for cultural freedom. N.P. van Wyk Louw expressed himself as follows on the implications of this development: ‟Above all, [the Afrikaner] felt his language like a beautiful new weapon in his hand.”

The key lesson to take from this history is to understand how much blood, sweat, creativity, and perseverance it took to plant and care for our beloved language tree, which has become the beauty it is today. Today, Afrikaans speakers can pick the flowers of that tree and enjoy its shade and fruit. Louw rightly described the development of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction as “necessary as bread for our culture”. We must be eternally grateful to those who made incredible sacrifices so that we can read, write, study, laugh, cry, pray, sing and dream in our beautiful language today. We must also never forget that the enormous responsibility to ensure the survival of our mother tongue rests on our shoulders. We must continue to fight and build, speak and write in Afrikaans, so that our descendants can celebrate the 200th birthday of our language with pride and gratitude. Keep the faith, take heart, and stay the course in Afrikaans.

*Ernst van Zyl is head of public relations at AfriForum and the director of the documentary film Selfbestuur (Self-management). Ernst obtained a master’s degree (cum laude) in Political Science at Stellenbosch University. He is a co-presenter of the Podlitiek podcast, hosts the Afrikaans podcast In alle Ernst, and has a channel for political commentary and interviews on YouTube. Ernst usually publishes contributions on X (formerly known as Twitter) and YouTube under his brand Conscious Caracal.