Afrikaans translator

An Afrikaans translation agency would not advise it for documents that matter. For rough reading a Dutch speaker can often follow Afrikaans, since the two are closely related. For business, legal or official documents it is not advisable: spelling, word order, idiom and modern vocabulary diverge substantially, and English is a separate language again. We deliver Afrikaans where the target market expects it, and Dutch or English where those are the norm. We never substitute one for another automatically.

Afrikaans developed independently from the 17th century out of the Dutch spoken by Dutch East India Company settlers, and gained official status in South Africa in 1925. Its grammar is heavily simplified: verbs do not conjugate for person, the case system is gone, and negation is doubled ("... nie ... nie"). On top of that, Afrikaans has its own spelling and vocabulary. We work with native Afrikaans translators who command these differences.

We translate business contracts and trade documents for South African markets (mining, agriculture, wine export), annual reports, websites, technical manuals, and personal and family documents. We deliver expert translation of official documents and match terminology and register to the South African or Namibian context.

For written documents we deliver Standard Afrikaans (af-ZA), the norm set by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns in the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls. Spoken varieties such as Cape Afrikaans and Orange River Afrikaans also fall back on this written standard. For Namibia we match terminology to the local usage situation.

On working days you receive a quote within 1 hour. The lead time for the translation itself depends on document type, volume and language pair, and is confirmed in the quote. For tight deadlines we confirm a workable rush schedule up front rather than promising a fixed turnaround.

An Afrikaans translation agency takes the coordination off your hands. We select the native translator who fits your document and sector, match the variant and terminology to the South African or Namibian reader, and have the work checked by a second reviewer where the application, risk profile or volume requires it. You keep one point of contact for scheduling, terminology and delivery, all under a single quote. A skilled freelance translator does excellent work too; the difference an agency adds is bringing those moving parts together so you are not managing them separately.