Afrikaans Language Monument

Obelisks of the Language Monument in Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa.

The Afrikaans Language Monument (Afrikaans: Afrikaanse Taalmonument) is the only monument in the world dedicated to a language. It is on a hill overlooking the Teachers' Training College in Paarl, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Completed in 1975, it was built to celebrate the 100 years birthday of Afrikaans being declared as a different language from Dutch.

The monument is made of tapering structures of a convex and concave nature. They show the influences of different languages and cultures on Afrikaans itself. They are also a symbol of political developments in South Africa, as follows:

Clear West - the European source of the language
Magical Africa - the African influences on the language
Bridge - between Europe and Africa
Afrikaans - the language itself
Republic - declared in 1961
Malay language and culture

Inscriptions

On a large inscription at the entrance, two quotes from important Afrikaans poets are written.

van Wyk Louw inscription

Afrikaans is die taal wat vir Wes-Europa en Afrika verbind... Dit vorm 'n brug tussen die groot helder Weste en die magiese Afrika... En wat daar groots aan hulle vereniging kan ontspruit – dit is miskien wat vir Afrikaans voorlê om te ontdek. Maar wat ons nooit moet vergeet nie, is dat hierdie verandering van land en landskap as't ware aan die nuwe wordende taal geslyp, geknee, gebrei het... En so het Afrikaans in staat geword om hierdie nuwe land uit te sê... Ons taak lê in die gebruik wat ons maak en sal maak van hierdie glansende werktuig... -- N.P. van Wyk Louw

"Afrikaans is the language that connects Western Europe and Africa... It forms a bridge between the large, shining West and the magical Africa... And what great things may come from their union – that is maybe what lies ahead for Afrikaans to discover. But what we must never forget, is that this change of country and landscape sharpened, kneaded and knitted this newly-becoming language... And so Afrikaans became able to speak out from this new land... Our task lies in the use that we make and will make of this gleaming tool..."

Langenhoven inscription

As ons nou hier in die saal af 'n ry pale sou plant, tien pale, om die laaste tien jaar voor te stel, en aan elke paal 'n merk sou maak op 'n hoogte van die vloer af ooreenkomende met die betreklike skryfgebruik van Afrikaans in die respektiewe jaartal, en 'n streep deur die merke trek van die eerste af hier naby die vloer tot by die laaste daar anderkant teen die solder, dan sou die streep 'n snelstygende boog beskryf, nie net vinnig opgaande nie, maar opgaande na 'n vinnig vermeerderende rede. Laat ons nou in ons verbeelding die boog verleng vir die tien komende jare van nou af. Sien u menere waar die punt sal wees, daar buite in die bloue lug hoog oor Bloemfontein, in die jaar 1924. -- C.J. Langenhoven

"If we plant a row of poles down this hall now, ten poles, to represent the last ten years, and on each pole we make a mark at a height from the floor corresponding to the relative written use of Afrikaans in the respective year, and we draw a line, from the first here near the floor to the last over there against the loft, then the line would describe a rapidly rising arc, not only quickly rising, but rising in a quickly increasing manner. Let us now, in our imagination, extend the arc for the ten coming years from now. See you, sirs, where the point shall be, outside in the blue sky high over Bloemfontein, in the year 1924."

Dit Is Ons Erns

The phrase "DIT IS ONS ERNS" ("we are earnest [about this]", or "this is our earnestness") is inscribed on the pathway leading up to the monument.