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Namibia is a multilingual country wherein German is recognized national language (a form of minority language). While English is the sole official language of the country, in many areas of the country German enjoys some official status at a community level. German is especially widely used in central and southern Namibia and was until 1990 one of three official languages in what was then South-West Africa, alongside Afrikaans and English. German is the main or mother tongue of about 30,000 Namibians, a number composed roughly equally of German Namibians as well as older black speakers of Namibian Black German and Namibians who as children grew up in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The German Namibian newspaper ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' on its website refers to 22,000 native speakers and of several hundred thousand who know German as a second (third etc.) language. German benefits from its similarity to Afrikaans and has a prominent position in the tourism and business sectors. Many Namibian natural features, place and street names have German names. Some experts see the future of German in Namibia as threatened.〔Stefan Fischer: (''Erhalt von Deutsch „fraglich“.'' ) In: ''Allgemeine Zeitung.'' 13. September 2010.〕 == History == During the period as a German colony from 1884 to 1915 German was the only official language in German Southwest Africa, as Namibia was then known. Boers, i.e. South African whites who spoke Dutch (South African Dutch would later develop into Afrikaans) already lived in the country alongside Orlam tribes and mixed-race Reheboth Basters. South Africa took over administration of the country in 1915. However, German language privileges and education remained in place. In 1916 the ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' newspaper was founded under its original name of ''Der Kriegsbote''. After the end of the First World War the South African attitude to the German Namibians changes, and between 1919 and 1920 about half of the Germans were transferred out of the country. In 1920 Dutch (later to be superseded by Afrikaans) and English replaced German as the official languages of the country. The German-speaking population wished German to be reinstated as an official language and in 1932 the Treaty of Cape Town encouraged South Africa to do so,.〔(„Nach den Bestimmungen des Vertrages von Kapstadt wird die südafrikanische Regierung aufgefordert, deutsch als dritte Amtssprache einzuführen.“ )〕 It was hoped that this would throw a spanner in the works against South African annexing South-West Africa into the Union of South Africa. South Africa did not officially recognize German, however, de facto German was added to Afrikaans and English as a working language of the government. Only in 1984 would German officially be added as an official language. After independence in 1990, English became the sole official language of Namibia, and German thus lost its official status, but German today continues to be used in a wide range of spheres of Namibian life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「German language in Namibia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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