Lesson no 4

 

 

South African English

 

Before I came to South Africa I sometimes wondered if it wouldn’t be boring just to improve my language skills, as my English already was not too bad, instead of learning a whole new language. But when I came here I quickly realized that the South African English has quite some peculiarities that I still had to learn. It starts with all the different accents that developed as English isn’t the home language of most South Africans. So it doesn’t astonish that you can hear the weirdest and most diverse pronunciations of some words. I often actually feel like every single person here has his very own accent not comparable to anyone else and influenced by the very own history. In the beginning all these different accents made it harder for me to understand some people than I had expected. But by now I think I got used to it quite well and don’t need to smile approvingly anymore hoping that it fits the situation after not having understood what someone wants to tell me even after asking several times. And I also learned lots of new South African idioms, most of them originating from one of the other 10 official languages. At this point I just want to share some with you:

Sharp – was probably the first and maybe most important new word that I learned here and can mean almost everything. Most of the time you use it to show agreement or thank someone and it’s often doubled up to sharp-sharp and combined with a thumb up.

Robot – In South Africa robots aren’t strange figures from science fiction movies but the normal term for traffic light.

Bakkie – many people, including me, are driving them:  pick-up trucks

Braai – the South African barbecue.

Howzit (How is it?) – A popular alternative to “how are you?” that you are normally asking everyone you meet during the day.

Askies – the Afrikaans word for “sorry” and both words are probably those that you hear the most throughout your day as South Africans like to say sorry for literally everything no matter if something is their fault or not!

Lekker – another Afrikaans word that does not only mean delicious, as Germans might think. It can be used to describe all sort of things, including food, as “nice”, “good” or “great”. In the beginning it always sounded strange to me when people said things like: “That was a lekker weekend.”

Shame – is also a very important word in my South African English repertoire. Shame can be used in almost every sentence and means everything and nothing. You can use it to express pity or just say “shame” because you saw a cute baby. It works for any kind of sympathetic feelings.

Now, just now, now now – South Africans seem to have a very special relationship to time. That’s why they need many different expressions to describe when they are going to do something. I’m still not sure which of the three expressions is the worst, but I think it is just now what could mean every time in the next several days. Now is maybe comparable to later and now now is what comes closest to now. But there is one thing you can always be sure about: Even though it sounds so none of them actually means now! 

Eish – A cry often used to express surprise or frustration or just to fill the silence.

I make a plan – A phrase that South Africans love to use!

Auntie – is coming from aunt and that’s how women older than oneself often are called. Also at work the children use to call me auntie, mam or teacher.

Is it? – also a frequently used expression to show your interest or again just to fill the silence.

Klap – “I klap you!” is often used instead of “I smack you!”