Afrikaans is not a "sort of a Dutch dialect".<p>It is a separate language, derived from Dutch (note, there are difference Afrikaans dialects). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaans" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaans</a><p>Interesting write-up of what is considered a "dialect", and how it differs from "language": <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect</a>