Namibian Black German, also NBG, (, "kitchen German") is a pidgin language of Namibia that derives from standard German. It is nearly extinct. It was spoken mostly by Namibians who did not learn standard German during the German Empire's rule over German South West Africa from 1884 until 1915. It was never a first language. It is currently spoken as a second language by people generally over 50 years old, who today usually also speak Standard or Namibian German, Afrikaans, or English. Along with general learning in the metropolitan environments of Southern Namibia where Namibian German is spoken, NBG may be preserved nominally through parent-to-child or in-house transmission.
Colonial acquisition of German in Namibia often took place outside of formal education and was primarily self-taught. Like many pidgin languages, Namibian Black German developed through limited access to the standard language and was restricted to the work environment.
Currently several thousand Namibians speak German as a second language â many, but not most of them Black, and while Namibian German often does not adhere to standard German, it is not pidgin.
English and Afrikaans have left an influence on the development of NBG, leading to three primary prepositional patterns:
Examples of phrases with Standard German equivalents: