Talk:Die Stem van Suid-Afrika

Bad Translation?
May someone who fluently speaks Afrikaans please check the translation? I tend to believe it shows the 1952 translation, which does not respect the original lyrics so that it fits with the music.

Thanks! MarcosR

It is not a literal translation. 212.41.142.242


 * The first translation on the page, the one to the right of the Afrikaans original, was a strange mish-mash of the official English version of the anthem, called The Call of South Africa, and a literal translation of the original, though it resembled the former more than the latter. I changed it to the words of The Call of South Africa.


 * The lyrics of The Call of South Africa are not exactly the same as those of the Afrikaans, both because a literal translation would not fit the music well and because the English anthem was meant to be a national anthem for English-speaking South Africans, to who the line Dedicated and true Afrikaners - children of South Africa would not be relevant.


 * That literal translation is just plain ugly! Dit klink so 'n bietjie kommin... "In the marrow of our bones"....? —Preceding unsigned comment added by South African Dream (talk • contribs) 18:08, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

- I changed 1 or 2 things, but a very good translation. Thank you for posting it. - (thought long and hard but couldnt come up with anything different than "In the marrow of our bones...")  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Piettie (talk • contribs) 02:52, 22 January 2011 (UTC)
 * How about "core"? Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 03:24, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

- why not "core"? you're right it is better, thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Piettie (talk • contribs) 17:18, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Why do we even need this really fugly "literal" translation when a perfectly good official (and singable) one exists?

Why the old flag?
Why is there a picture of the old flag on this article? The flag has nothing to do with the song. -- leuce (talk) 17:35, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
 * The old flag has everything to do with this song - this anthem was official at the same time as that flag was official. Roger (talk) 07:28, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * This anthem was also official when the old coat of arms were used, etc. And... the flag was used long before the anthem became the anthem.  The fact that both existed in the same period doesn't mean they have a link.  The anthem is not about the flag (or vice versa). -- leuce (talk) 17:39, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I removed the flag since this was used post-1994 for a time. – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 01:41, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Why the Subjectivity?
""In a remarkable gesture in 1995, Die Stem was sung by a black choir at the Rugby World Cup final match"". Why the flagrant subjectivity? Why should an encyclopaedia market peoples opinion? It is NOT a FACT that the gesture was 'remarkable'. Such descriptions are clearly subjective and need to be removed! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.31.120.77 (talk) 14:10, 13 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree. The choir sang both Die Stem and Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, at that time both songs were jointly official (they were later replaced with the current multilingual "composite" anthem). There's nothing particularly "remarkable" about it - the choir sang exactly what they were expected and supposed to sing. Roger (talk) 14:41, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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Audio via "South African Music Archive Project" and flatinternational's "South African Audio Archive"
Please add in the following:


 * Audio Recordings: info
 * Audio via South African Music Archive Project
 * Audio via South African Audio Archive (flatinternational)

as it's been reverted via XLinkBot: ref

Gsdfkljgdfklsh (talk) 11:25, 10 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Why are these links neccessary? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:29, 10 September 2017 (UTC)

Question about translation
I have a question regarding the line "Dedicated and true as Afrikaners"; my understanding is that "Afrikaner" can mean an African as well as a member of the ethnic group. In the context of this song, does it refer to the former or latter? – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 07:35, 26 May 2019 (UTC)
 * This is a well known source of confusion. The term Afrikaner does originally mean African but in the Afrikaans language now exclusively refers to an ethnic group (well that and a breed of cattle!) Furthermore, the context is of a nationalist poem/song. So the translation is correct. Francoisdjvr (talk), 04:12, 27 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Alright, I see now. Thanks for the clarification. – Illegitimate Barrister (talk • contribs), 21:24, 19 June 2019 (UTC)