“I Understood Everything”: Internet Amazed To Hear Dutch and Afrikaans Speakers Compare Words

• A Dutch-speaking woman and an Afrikaans-speaking woman compared three words in their respective languages
• Afrikaans and Dutch are mutually intelligible as a result of Dutch settlers colonising South Africa in the mid-17th century
• Social media users were surprised to hear how similar the two languages sounded and commented on the translations

A Dutch speaker and an Afrikaans speaker got together to compare words in their respective languages, demonstrating their mutual intelligibility. People online, mostly South Africans, were surprised to find that they could understand the woman from the Netherlands.

On 15 October, 2025, Xelvin (a Dutch company specialising in technical secondment, and recruitment and selection) showed the two women, Deidre and Roos, comparing three words:

The South African woman mistakenly stated that a gecko in Afrikaans is 'verkleurmannetjie,' which is actually a chameleon, leading to potential confusion about linguistic accuracy. She also referred to an insect as 'gogga,' a term that can be considered slang.

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Why are Dutch and Afrikaans so similar?

According to the website Superprof, a platform that helps students find their ideal teacher in any field, the history of Afrikaans began with the Dutch colonising South Africa in the mid-17th century. The Dutch East India Company, under the command of navigator Jan van Riebeeck, established a supply station at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.

The Dutch settlers, known as Boers, brought with them their language and customs and interacted with the indigenous and enslaved people's languages and cultures. As time passed, the languages formed a unique cultural identity, and Afrikaans was born. However, it is important to note that Afrikaans did not only originate from Dutch. As mentioned, the settlers intermingled with the people of the land and those brought to South Africa from across the globe against their will.

Therefore, Afrikaans is also influenced by Asian languages (e.g., Malay) and indigenous African languages (e.g., Khoi), as well as a few European languages (Portuguese, French, German, and English), according to the website PoliLingua, a global language service provider company.

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The internet reacts to Dutch and Afrikaans

Several social media users took to the comment section to share how fascinated they were by the mutual intelligibility of the two languages. Other app users pointed out corrections after hearing their comparisons.

@unf_ash_ioned wrote in the comments:

"Listening to this makes me feel like Afrikaans is the version of Dutch that a small Dutch child came up with and somehow convinced adults to adopt. Some Afrikaans words are so cute because of how literal they are."

@rajandbongani told the online community:

"I have never heard Afrikaans and Dutch flow together so smoothly. As a 'Southie,' I could listen to Deirdre for hours. Proper honey."

A proud @tezzy_tez001 stated:

"It's the fact that I understood everything the lady from the Netherlands said."

@thabomabaso123 humorously noted:

"How I passed Afrikaans in school, I have no idea because what in the 'trappe van vergelyking' are they saying?"

@sbbrugby applauded the Afrikaans speaker, writing:

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"The way she switches so effortlessly between Afrikaans and Dutch."

@gahcalli wondered under the post:

"Why did I understand most of this? I am Norwegian."

Watch the TikTok video posted on Xelvin's account below:

3 Other stories about the Netherlands

• In another article, Briefly News reported that a woman from the Cape Flats bought property in the Netherlands and planned to build seven double-storey apartments. Her announcement sparked praise from people online.
• A South African mother pleaded for urgent assistance to escape what she called an "unhealthy and unsafe environment" in the Netherlands. The reason for her plea was met with mixed reactions.
• A South African couple compared fruit quality in the Netherlands to South Africa, highlighting small portions and high costs. The video sparked a discussion about the differences in food standards.

Source: Briefly News