麻豆社

Hollywood star Charlize Theron has faced a mountain of criticism for calling her mother tongue Afrikaans "a dying language".

She grew up in South Africa speaking only Afrikaans before learning English aged 19, and says she now speaks it with an American accent.

Her comments made some of the millions who speak Afrikaans in South Africa furious. The language is highly politicised in South Africa because of its role in the days of apartheid.

Andries Coetzee is professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan. He grew up in rural northern South Africa and is an Afrikaans speaker himself - does he think there is more to people's anger?

(South African-born Hollywood actress and UN Messenger of Peace Charlize Theron attends a press conference. Credit: Getty Images)