h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Right now I'm busy with a particularly frustrating project. It's called an 'Information Literacy Training Course' and I have to translate it from English into Afrikaans! Easier said than done. Languages are rather strange things ... and whoever came up with Windows probably did not have Afrikaans in mind when
coming up with the various names for the various things.

Consider for instance a word such as 'menu' ... in Afrikaans the word 'menu' is 'spyskaart' composed of two words: 'spys' meaning 'food' and 'kaart' meaning 'map'. Because that is more or less what a restaurant menu is ... a map to food. We have no other word or term for 'menu'. But imagine having to talk about selecting options from 'food maps' on the screen! We've had to come up with an entirely different word, 'opsielys' (option list) instead of menu, to apply to the little boxes with lists on the screen.

Even the word 'box' ... in Afrikaans we have four words, 'doos', 'kas', 'kis' and 'trommel'. A 'doos' is a cardboard box; a 'kas' and a 'kis' are different kinds of wooden boxes, and a 'trommel' is a metal box. So which kind of box is the box of
a dialog box? A cardboard, wooden, or metal one? Or should we call it, rather, a 'houer' (container)? A dialog container? But 'dialooghouer' could also mean 'someone who holds dialogues'. Which is not exactly what a dialog box is.

Then there's 'drop-down menu'. In Afrikaans we have just one word for
'drop' as well as 'fall'. So it's a 'fall-down food map'. Except that
'fall-down' translates as 'afval' which also means offal (i.e. the entrails of a slaughtered animal) or refuse, waste products. So 'drop-down menu' translates directly as 'afvalspyskaart' - 'offal food map' or 'refuse food map'.

Then there's 'desktop'. These are the Afrikaans words for desk - 'lessenaar', which is 'a table designed for writing and studying'. Then there's 'skryftafel' - 'a table for writing'. Then there's 'skoolbank', 'a desk used in schools', and 'kateder' and 'spreekgestoelte' which both mean 'speaker's chair' or a
position from which a person of authority could speak. The closest literal translation for 'desktop' would be 'lessenaartop' which means the top of a table designed for writing and studying ... which sounds a bit weird when applied to a computer screen. The actual word we use for 'desktop' is 'werkskerm' - working screen, that is, screen to work on.

Then there's 'toolbar/taskbar' and all other sorts of bars. The word 'bar' could be translated two ways in Afrikaans. The first one is 'staaf' and it means a stout stick of some material, usually metal, such as a crowbar or a goldbar. We don't even speak in Afrikaans of a 'sjokoladestaaf', 'chocolate bar', we call it a 'sjokoladeblok', 'chocolate block'. So anyways if we talk about
a 'gereedskapstaaf' ('toolbar') it sounds like a general purpuse metal bar that can be used to function as various kinds of tools, or a metal bar that is a component of some tool or some kinds of tools. So if 'staaf' (metal bar) isn't the right word, how about the other translation for 'bar', namely 'kroeg'? Well, that kind of bar is the one you go to enjoy some drinks in. In the end we had to use, instead, the word 'balk', which means 'beam', for the various kinds of 'bars' that exist in Windows.

And then there's 'spreadsheet' ... a 'sheet' translates as 'laken' in
Afrikaans and it means a long and wide but very flat thing, usually white, made of linen and used to cover beds and bodies. The word we actually use for 'spreadsheet' is 'spreitabel' or 'spread table' where 'tabel' is the word for a visual arrangement of elements
rather than a wooden table to eat food on.

After all of this my sense of Afrikanerhood is a bit injured. I sometimes wonder if our language is up to the challenge of keeping up to date. Us Afrikaners have traditionally been farmers, 'Boers' ... and our language also was largely formed in a rather simple context. Say 'spreadsheet' to an average Boer and he'll probably go and put
some manure on his fields! This whole 'Information Age' is a totally new deal for us. And I'm wondering how other languages
will hold up ...

Sounds like quite a challenge...



'And the award for Understatement of the Year goes to...'



(Don't mind me--I just got up...)

Willem, I'm sorry, I sympathise but...

The French have recognised the same problem. They've tried to ban anglicisations but without complete success.

I remember some afrikanerdoms that had become part of the english spoken in Zimbabwe. Brothers being 'boots' for instance. I like that word for a brother.

Hi Amy

Hi Waz

Yeah, hi Waz! Anyways, the job is done now. I'm now just waiting for my money.

How funny... 'Offal Food Map,' huh? Sounds pleasant!

Hi Willem!

I'm a freelance translator and know exactly what kind of frustration you're going through. There are a couple of hypertext links to some helpful Afrikaans sites for Internet jargon, which I found extremely useful. I also currently working on a full list of Internet terms and phrases. Maybe we could help each other? Contact me at [email protected]

Hello Collin! Well ... that was written over ten years ago! I haven't done anything similar since then. Also technology and the 'net has changed a lot. These days I communicate in Afrikaans mainly with friends on Facebook. There's not really a need for jargon these days, and Google Translate makes many things very much easier ...