[Bowiefan871]

Originally Posted by ches

An Afrikaner would be someone who speaks Afrikaans as a first language. Under apartheid, when we were segregated, there were a lot of community identities formed. For instance, the mixed-race descent people who were lumped together as "coloured" formed a real identity and a rich heritage. The "coloured" community has an individual dialect, foods, cultural icons, etc.

Similarly the "Afrikaners" who descended from the "Boers," which is what the descendants of the Voortrekkers. (The Voortrekkers were Dutch-descent farmers who took part in the "Great Trek" after the British took over the Cape in the early 1800s and founded the two independent "Boer Republics," namely the Transvaal and Free State.) After the Anglo-Boer War, which the Boers lost, the British formed the Union of South Africa and the "Boers" started calling themselves "Afrikaners." Somewhat ironically, "Afrikaner" translates as "African."

"Boet" translates as brother. Brothers and close friends would call each other "Boet" (or "Swaar" which means brother-in-law).

Afrikaner culture would be barbeques (braais), veldskoene, speaking ordentlikke (proper) Afrikaans, rugby, sokkiejol met 'n boereorkes, Steve Hofmeyr, biltong, boerewors, etc. Your homework is to Google all of that!

Well, I do have many braais and I am a fan of rugby. I am learning Afrikaans...I'm not fluent. As for those musicians...erm...I didn't really like all that Afrikaans pop material.

So even if I was into all those aforementioned aspects, I still wouldn't be an Afrikaner because I'm not a descendant of the Boers? Is being an Afrikaner really an innate thing?

Did the apartheid government ever classify white South Africans of Slavic descent(i.e. Poles, Russians, Czechoslovakians, etc) with a particular term?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm 100% Polish by heritage and I speak the language fluently as well. There was certainly a significant Polish community in the Western Cape from what I remember. There were even Polish churches in Cape Town which I would attend for Easter.