Welcome to our website!

We are Marietjie and Jaco Swart, a New Zealand family that emigrated from South Africa in 2002. Christchurch is home now. We made the conscious decision to become part of, and to contribute to, our city and our local community.

Why do we have a website that promotes Afrikaans in Christchurch?

Because Afrikaans remains an important part of our cultural identity, and because there are many advantages for being bilingual, or even better, multilingual. And also because Afrikaans is a modern, fun, and beautiful language!

The importance of cultural heritage

According to Statistics Canada, 2000, 14: "Language is an important part of an ethnic group's cultural identity. It is embedded with the values, beliefs and norms of the groups who use it. For many migrants, maintaining one's first language and passing it on to the next generation is perceived as important to both cultural and personal well-being."

We completely agree with this statement, which is why we bring up our child with a sound foundation of her South African-Kiwi heritage, which includes her mother tongue, Afrikaans.

We've met so many young people that told us that they wish their Afrikaans parents tought them Afrikaans. Loosing your roots - and your mother tongue - can happen when you work hard at trying to fit into a new country and culture, but it is not neccesary.

The advantages of being bilingual and multilingual

A few advantages are:

• Your child could become fluent in a different language and carry this skill with them for life.
• By learning another language, your child may gain a better appreciation of other languages, cultures and people - helping to create and shape more globally-aware citizens.
• Some say that multilingual skills can translate indirectly into improved analytical, social and academic skills.
• To be able to speak another language can make your child feel at ease in environments where others are speaking different languages.
• Additional language skills can be considered advantageous for university and job applications as it demonstrate flexibility on the part of the applicant

Which is why we encourage Afrikaans-speaking parents to keep Afrikaans their home langauge.

For more information, we recommend Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Zurer Pearson, available from Fishpond.co.nz.

You can slso visit http://www.expatwomen.com for some interesting tips for bilingualism and multilingualism. This site aims to help women that live overseas.