After isiZulu and isiXhosa, Afrikaans is the most widely-spoken first language in South Africa. This implies that if you learn to speak Afrikaans fluently, that you would be able to communicate with people across the width and breadth of the country.
If you would like to improve your Afrikaans and include it in your CV as a competence, signing up for lessons would be an important first step. With regular lessons, your Afrikaans pronunciation will improve dramatically and will open up doors to employment and in your personal life.
While there are a number of routes that you can follow, in terms of taking Afrikaans lessons, we would suggest finding a private Afrikaans tutor.
The Price of Afrikaans Lessons in South Africa
If you thought that private Afrikaans lessons were expensive, you might be very surprised to find that they are far less pricey that what you imagine.
In South Africa, when you make use of a trusted online tutoring service like Superprof, you can quickly and efficiently find Afrikaans lessons for around R172 per hour. Some lessons will cost less, as they will be dependent on your location and whether you would prefer to work remotely or to interact with your tutor face to face. Irrespective of the above, you will be able to track down a tutor who will fit your budget.
Certain things are simply best learned via private tutoring and learning Afrikaans is definitely one of them. You will not only gain grammatical knowledge, but engaging with your teacher regularly, will ensure that your Afrikaans pronunciation will improve. You will also find that any sticky areas, that you may have identified, will improve as you collaborate with your tutor and will speed up your growth in confidence, as you start to speak the language with greater ease. There can be no doubt that you will have a great smile on your face when you find yourself pronouncing Afrikaans words correctly and see your tutor’s and other people’s positive responses to your ever-improving Afrikaans-speaking skills.
It is, of course, extremely important, when you select a private Afrikaans tutor, that you carefully match your goals with their qualifications, experience and background.
On Superprof, you can get insight into your tutor's teaching style and character via the reviews left by their past students.
Take Afrikaans Lessons in South Africa: Why?
South Africa is a country with 11 official languages and, by virtue of that fact, it is very probable that Afrikaans is not your first language. However, if you want to get ahead in life and, possibly, do business in the country, it would stand you in good stead if you are able to express yourself in Afrikaans, one of the languages commonly used in the business place. An increasing number of high school learners have opted to study Afrikaans as an additional language, as it is not as difficult to study as some of the indigenous languages.
Additionally, many a young learner can benefit from having a parent studying Afrikaans alongside them, considering that many adults have some background in the target language.
Here’s how parents can learn Afrikaans with their children:
- Take an active interest in your child’s learning
- Encourage your child to use Afrikaans with you
- Try to learn Afrikaans at a pace close to your child’s
- Remember that a word-for-word translation doesn’t always work
- Acquire Afrikaans textbooks related to your off-spring’s coursework
- Take Afrikaans online tutorials or evening lessons.
Why Should You Learn to Speak Afrikaans Fluently?
One of the great benefits of connecting with a private Afrikaans tutor relates to time, since this is one of the most efficient ways to learn to speak fluent Afrikaans quickly.
With your tutor wholly invested in you and your progress, you will not have to idly sit and wait while other struggling students are assisted. You will, thus, be able to pay attention to your own challenges and progress unhindered. As learning a new language can be quite a complex issue, the best way to do so is via private, one-on-one tuition.
A number of key benefits are available to you when you enrol with a private Afrikaans tutor:
- Learn at your own pace
- Learn at a time and place convenient to you
- You choose the way to interact: via webcam or in-person lessons
- Give an input into the subject matter to be covered
Since Superprof's tutors come from different backgrounds, it is important that you track down the right personal tutor who is able to assist you, no matter your ability level, and help you achieve your goals. Whether you want to do well in your matric exams or just learn to read Afrikaans, you will find a Superprof tutor to meet your budget and needs.
Check out these courses in Afrikaans on Superprof.
How to Choose the Right Afrikaans Tutor for You
There are, of course, a number of quality options available to you. However, the perfect tutor for you will be the one who meets your goals, expectations and reasons for wanting to study this, to some, strange, guttural language.
You may, for example, choose a student over a qualified teacher and that may be fine, depending on what your reason for learning Afrikaans is. If you intend to enrol for a communications programme at university level, then it would definitely be worth your while and financial investment to engage the services of a tutor who has the appropriate level of skill, experience and qualifications to be your guide.
Enhance your chances of doing well at varsity by pushing your Afrikaans results above 50%. You may find that although you’ve done well in all your other subjects, you may be refused admission to a particular course if your language marks are not up to scratch.
Of course, the following factors need to be taken into account: your location, goals, budget and whether you would consider working remotely or not.
Start taking afrikaans lessons online with experienced tutors on Superprof.
Make Your Private Afrikaans Lessons Count: Some Tips
Turn Your Weakness into a Strength
You want to gain as much as possible from your Afrikaans lessons. Thus, provide your tutor with some direction in terms of the concepts that you are grappling with. Take along a report card from your Afrikaans school teacher and discuss your short-comings openly with your tutor to turn them into strengths and boost your performance and confidence.
Complete all Homework
You are investing precious resources on your studies, so, ensure that you get the maximum return on your investment by paying careful attention, at all times, and by completing all tasks assigned to you.
Tasks assigned for completion at home, normally build on what you have learned, test your interpretation or comprehension and give you the opportunity to practise and refine new skills.
Your tutor will never assign any work to you that is a waste of time!
Practise Speaking Afrikaans
The best way to learn any language is to speak it!
You have to hear yourself saying Afrikaans words to know whether you’re on the right track in terms of inflection, emphasis and pronunciation. You can achieve this by speaking to native speakers on a daily basis, if possible. You could also find a language buddy, who would like to learn your native tongue while helping you learn Afrikaans. This form of language immersion works well in South Africa, where Afrikaans-speakers can be found all over the country and where Afrikaans learning resources are readily available.
On that note, remember that to achieve good pronunciation of Afrikaans words, you should tune in to Afrikaans media, such as the radio, TV and podcasts as regularly as possible.
Be Committed
You have decided to learn Afrikaans for reasons that you know very well. You therefore need to remain disciplined and committed to spending as much time as possible learning the language.
That will include accessing as many Afrikaans learning resources as you can lay your hands on and ensuring that you learn to read Afrikaans. Use every opportunity to practise using the language, whether it be at home on family, out at a braai or even at the local supermarket. Give it your best shot and see how helpful people really are. Once you’ve let people know that you’re learning Afrikaans, they will want to assist you at every turn.
Your commitment and dedication will soon see you advancing at school, varsity or in the work-place, in particular, where new opportunities will present themselves. Should you encounter any hurdles, you can always turn to the professionals at Superprof to give you the boost you need to achieve mastery in Afrikaans.
Don’t hesitate! Make the most of the opportunities which present themselves and soon become a bi- or even trilingual individual!
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
