Eton Institute, UAE’s leading language training institute, will be offering short-lessons in Afrikaans on Twitter during the entire month of the FIFA World Cup 2010 for football fans and travelers visiting South Africa for this much-awaited sporting event. The Twitter lessons in Afrikaans, an official language of South-Africa, will feature conversational essentials and fun football centric phrases in just 140 characters. Dr. Eli Abi Rached, Director, Eton Institute commented: “What better way to be a part of the excitement in South-Africa and get into the spirit of the game than to speak the language. Nelson Mandela once famously said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, it goes to his heart.” This month we’re reaching hearts by speaking Afrikaans and football!” Afrikaans, an official language of South-Africa, is often acknowledged as the youngest language in the world with origins based in the Dutch language. Literally meaning African (in the general sense) in the Dutch language, Afrikaans was recognized as a distinct language only in the late 19th century. In addition to Dutch, with which the language shares nearly 90% of its vocabulary, Afrikaans reflects an eclectic vocabulary borrowing from various coexistent languages in the region including English, Portuguese, Malay, San, and Bantu. Eton Institute will be posting daily lessons in Afrikaans for an entire month starting this Thursday, 10 June. The Institute has in the past offered short lessons in Arabic on Twitter and will be posting language learning tweets in Afrikaans for all followers on their Twitter page. The enjoyable and easy to remember mini-lessons will include basic words and phrases such as greetings, asking for directions, getting around in South-Africa and fun football centric expressions.
