Charlize Theron may be of Afrikaans descent but she is not in favor of the language thriving.
Charlize Theron makes a bold statement
While Charlize Theron appeared on the Smartless Podcast, the South African didn’t seem to have positive views on the Afrikaans language.
To give a little background or context, Charlize Theron is famously known to be one of South Africa’s most successful actresses. The Bombshell actress is originally from a small town in Gauteng from a family who primarily spoke Afrikaans.
During the podcast, Charlize Theron explained to her hosts that she only learned English when she moved to the US. The actress further noted that she had English as a second language in school. And decided to learn the English language from scratch at the age of 19 years old.
The actress said she “didn’t speak English until I was like 19”. She further noted that nailing a South African accent is “very difficult”. However, the actress shared that she was able to let go of her accent. Since she was learning the English language from scratch.
Views on the actress’s latest thoughts
Now, what drove South Africans over the edge was the fact that she called the Afrikaans language a “dying language” and that very few people still speak the language. To be exact, Charlize Theron shared that there is at least 44 people who still speak the language.
Of course, many took to social media to express their views on what the South African actress was saying. To be frank, most were not in favor of what she was saying on the podcast.
One Twitter user wrote, “Afrikaans has a strong association with apartheid. This statement was made by Charlize Theron to appease Hollywood.”
Another shared, “Charlize is doing that thing where you’re embarrassed by your people you start pretending that they don’t exist in your head.”
While the comments made by Charlize were met with some criticism, plenty of individuals agreed with the actress that it’s a dying language. With some adding that it’s pointless to be teaching it in schools. Listen to the full interview below.
Source: News24