Does one talk about a historic novel or a historical novel? How does one translate centre of excellence into Afrikaans? Sentrum van uitnemendheid or sentrum van voortreflikheid? Of course, one can consult a dictionary. Or you can Google the word or phrase to “ask the audience”. But does the audience always know best?

Ask the audience

Let’s take historic novel versus historical novel. If you’re looking for a quick answer, simply put the phrase in quotation marks – “historic novel” – so that Google will search for the exact phrase. Within 0.27 seconds, Google will report back with 13 200 results for “historic novel” and 705 000 results for “historical novel”. Obviously, historical must then be the correct adjective if numbers are anything to go by.

Searching for the most frequently used Afrikaans translation for centre of excellence, Google comes up with 20 600 results for sentrum van uitnemendheid and only 53 for sentrum van voortreflikheid. Which means most people use sentrum van uitnemendheid as the translation equivalent of centre of excellence.

But does “the audience” always know best?

For lack of an English example, I’m going to use an Afrikaans word to illustrate this. The Pharos bilingual dictionary (Eng-Afr) translates the word expert with deskundige, followed by kenner. It also mentions (vak-)kundige. According to the language guide Skryf Afrikaans van A – Z, a deskundige is more of an expert than a kundige who is more of an expert than a kenner. Yet, Google searches show some 175 000 results for kundige(s), 125 000 results for kenner(s), and only 42 000 for deskundige(s) – obviously without taking context into account.

Have modern-day language users lost their ability to distinguish between the finer meanings of words? Is language becoming a lost art? Or is this a case of the shorter, the better (kort of vort) – i.e. kundige is shorter than deskundige?

I read somewhere that the art of language should be just as important as that 12-year-old scotch, organic fair-trade coffee or single-estate tea that you treasure so lovingly.

Different cultures, different body parts?

Here’s something to think about: Why do English people know something like the back of their hand while Afrikaans people know something like the palm of their hand (soos die palm van jou hand)? English people know things off the top of their head while Afrikaans people know something uit die vuis (fist). English people give a pat on the back while Afrikaans people give a klop op die skouer. And English people sayYou scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours while Afrikaans people say Die een hand was die ander.
 
 
Any language-related comments or questions? Contact Amanda at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 082 5703 895.