So for my language edition, I thought I'd include a few anecdotes from my time here so far. Although this country has eleven (yes 11) official languages, the ones most spoken around these parts are Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. By the way, to say the last one you have to say it as "Kosa" but make a click sound with your tongue when pronouncing the "k." It is obviously not an easy language to speak. But it does sound incredibly cool. It's like tongue gymnastics every time I hear someone speaking it and it just leaves me blown away that someone could make all those sounds with their mouth.
Anyways, getting back to the matter at hand, I've had quite a few interesting experiences with the language barrier so far. Not only must we struggle with the obstacle Afrikaans poses for our daily lives, but South African English is not always completely intelligible either (the accent is very charming and I can see why girls dig South African guys).
To give an example, I went into town the other day to do some shopping and when I was at the till (checkout counter) and the attendant said something to me (presumably in Afrikaans). I told her I didn't understand, so she said it again, only this time it was equally impossible to understand. So I asked if she spoke English by any chance. "I AM SPEAKING ENGLISH!!" she responded. Wooooops. Sorry. So yeah, that just goes to show that even though it's all English, American and South African are sometimes two different languages.
Some of my favorite words I've learned so far in South African are "chunder" and "over share." Chundering is the process of blowing chunks, upchucking, or saying hi to your friend Ralph. It's pretty hilarious to hear South Africans describing their wild escapades around town and hearing things like, "Well, the night was going pretty well until I chundered all over the police car." Needless to say, the accent makes it way better, but the word itself is quite spectacular on it's own as well. OH, and this brings me to my next point. South Africans, almost universally, will say the phrase "as well" as more of an "AS well". The emphasis on the "as" not the "well." It might not make sense unless you hear it, but picking it up all the time in people's everyday parlance is a constant reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore, Todo. Another phrase that I've had fun with is "over share". I stumbled upon it one day talking with my South African friend, Joe, who was telling me a story. At one point, he shared a little more than I was interested in hearing, so I said "TMI dude!" Having been around enough Americans, he understood what that meant, but explained to me that in South Africa, they don't say TMI (for too much information), they say "over share." I don't know why but I thought that was hilarious. So yeah, over share = TMI.
Moving on to my experience with Afrikaans, which has been pretty limited since I've only been taking language classes for two weeks now, I just thought I'd share a funny story. The other day in class I was introduced to the longest word I've ever seen: "grondboontjiebottertoebroodjie." HA! Are you serious? Yes, I am. Well, unfortunately that is the word for "peanut butter sandwich," which is sad only for the fact that I eat so many I'm going to have learn that word down pat pretty quick. But apparently, I was already complimented on my pronunciation, so maybe it's the Dutch blood in me helping me out. Oh, and that also reminds me, even though my name is already as Dutch (or Afrikaans for that matter) as they come, I was given a new Afrikaans name for my language class: Gert Gerber. What is funny is that the "g" sound in Afrikaans is probably the most repulsive and guttural sound of any language, so my name having two of them is just ridiculous.
Alright well that's all I can remember for now. I'm sure there are more things I'm forgetting that will have to be worked in to future posts. I hope you all can forgive me for the lack of posts recently (and pictureless post this week). Thanks for reading, and until next time!
And for your YouTubing enjoyment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNJVMJH5OhI
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2 comments:
The clicking is crazy! Uncle John (my dad ;)) can do it from his linguistics studies in college. You should get him to do it next time we're all together. It sounds crazy!
Have you ever seen the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" ??? Hilarious movie about a nomadic African tribe stumbling upon a coco-cola bottle that falls out of the sky. They've never seen anything like it before. You should try to rent it and have a movie night with your abroad group because it's a good illustration of total culture clash in Africa.
-Olivia
TMI Carl. Do you really say that? Along with you going to the groc, Los, and other shortened sayings you say.
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