Is Afrikaans a language

Answer 1

Yes. Afrikaans is a language that is spoken in South Africa. It is descended from Dutch. It arose after Jan van Riebeeck landed in the Cape on 6 April 1652. Many slaves of Malay origin were brought into South Africa in these ancient days and many have adopted Afrikaans above English and the African languages like Xhosa and Zulu. There are many white speakers of Afrikaans as well of course. Afrikaans is taught in South Africa as a first or second language. The anthem of the 'new' South Africa included an Afrikaans verse as well the African verses. A snippet of this goes:

Uit die blou van onse hemel, uit die diepte van ons see(Note the spelling is accurate, yet only approximate - here I question my expertise) Translation: Out of the blue of our skies (literally - heavens), out of the depths of our seas...

Hallo in Afrikaans is Hallo

And goodbye is totsiens