As a language nerd (and with a passing knowledge of German), I was fascinated on my visit to Windhoek to see and hear how much Deutsch is still in evidence here. IN 1883 a Bremen trader named bought some coastal land from a local tribal chief and founded the town of Lüderitz, named after himself - and then the imperial Bismarck government annexed the territory to create German South West Africa, which lasted until it was invaded by the Allies during World War I.and handed over to South Africa. German remained an official language until Namibian independence in 1990, and there are to this day German-language schools, churches, TV stations, and media. Also, while most of the dwindling community of German speakers are white, I did spot blacks singing German drinking songs in a Windhoek beer garden - a bit mind-blowing to me at the time (this was more than 20 years ago)!


BlueMars