South Africa: Waiting for Godot Has Been Translated Into Afrikaans - What Took So Long

South Africa: Waiting for Godot Has Been Translated Into Afrikaans - What Took So Long

Analysis - At last, the most infamous latecomer in all of literature has arrived - not in the flesh, but in South Africa's Afrikaans language. Irish playwright Samuel Beckett's best-known drama, Waiting for Godot, now also lives as Ons Wag vir Godot.

Waiting for Godot has been translated into Afrikaans: what took so long

At last, the most infamous latecomer in all of literature has arrived – not in the flesh, but in South Africa’s Afrikaans language. Irish playwright Samuel Beckett’s best-known drama, Waiting for Godot, now also lives as Ons Wag vir Godot. Published and staged in 2024, the translation was inspired by the official centenary of Afrikaans in 2025. As a Beckett scholar, I think it’s worth asking why Afrikaans is so late on the scene – and why it mat…