Learning a Few South Africanisms

We bellied up to the Point Yacht Club bar the other night and ordered a Hansa draft. It was cold and luscious, and the glass immediately began to sweat … exactly what we'd been doing all day long. As we sat there, Ed, a young fellow who'd been out sailing all day, walked in and we started up a lively conversation regarding South Africanisms.

South Africa has 11 official languages:  English, Afrikaans, and the nine major African languages including isiZulu, isiXhosa, seTswana and seSotho. Other languages such as Hindi, Arabic, Khoi-San, Portugese as well as other community and religious languages are also recognized. Google is offered in English, and six other languages here. With all those languages floating around, the chances of borrowing bits from everyone's language to spice up the local lingo was inevitable.

I had read that officially, Afrikaans is the youngest language in the world. By the early-20th century Afrikaans had developed from Dutch, German, French and other influences into a full-fledged language complete with its own dictionary. After just a century, Afrikaans, not English, is the third most spoken language in South Africa, right after isiZulu and isiXhosa. Many street signs here are written in three languages: English, Afrikaans and Zulu.

Ed told us he'd been brought up in a “proper” Afrikaans-speaking household with English as his second language. A female friend of his at the bar noted that she'd had to learn Afrikaans the hard way, as a required language in school. Afrikaans words are very prevalent and in common usage in South Africa, mixed with English and a little Zulu and ... I asked Ed to give us few examples and he happily complied.

The most common one we learned when we first visited South Africa and Ed didn't have to help us. It's braai … a South African BBQ. “Come on over for a braai.”

Lekker – Cool, great, sexy, awesome.

Slops - flip-flops

Swak – literally “weak” in Afrikaans, but it can mean you're broke (no money) or can be used to describe varying forms of harsh behavior or rudeness.

Bru – literally brother, but comparable to “bro” or “dude”

Robot – traffic light (really?) When I asked for directions to the bank, here's what I was told. “Turn right at the second robot. Cross at the zebra.” (Pronounced Zeh-bra not zee-bra which of course makes sense … you don't say Dee-bra, you say Deh-bra.) Why are traffic lights called robots? Zebras are crosswalks designated with striped lines.

Bakkie – pick-up truck

Geyser – hot water heater

Takkies – sneakers, athletic shoes, trainers

Eish! (Zulu) –  Geez! Dang! Heck! Or the like

Babelaas/babbelas – hangover (of Zulu origin); there's also stukkend from the Afrikaans. Perhaps it depends on the type of hangover … not sure.

Dagga (Khoikhoi) – (dak.hah) slang for marajuana

Howzit – short for “how's it going?” except used by itself as a greeting

Is it (izit) – in response to a statement where you're usually say “Really?”

Yebo or ja (yah) – Yes, affirmative

Certain words have been borrowed directly like mamba (as in snake) or impala from Nguni and marula (as in the fruit from which Amarula is made) and tsetse (as in fly) from Sotho.

Just now and now now – This was a difficult one for us to learn, especially when dealing with tradesmen. “I'll be there just now.” You'd think we'd expect them immediately, but no, it means perhaps sometime today. Whereas as “now now”, that's more immediate, but still not necessarily within the next 10 minutes.

We're still learning and there's much more to learn. By the way, here we're from America, rather than the United States or the States. Vive la difference!

FAQ - How do you deal with all the different languages?

 

When in Rome … speak Italian! In our experience, there's nothing as pleasing to the locals as someone who at least attempts to speak their language and wants to learn more. Contrary to some urban myths, speaking loudly and slowly in English does not make non-English speakers understand you.

Though we don't learn a new language for every place we visit, we do, in fact, make an effort to learn at least some words.

Part of our enjoyment of a place is communicating as effectively as possible with our hosts. Since we planned to be in South America for awhile and since I have a fascination with languages, I took Spanish lessons every chance I got … especially in Colombia. I bought a Spanish dictionary and really studied hard. It's a beautiful language and once you make it through the verb conjugations and learn some vocabulary words, it's not that difficult. In Ecuador, I taught English to Spanish-speaking marineros (dock workers) which enhanced my own Spanish vocabulary considerably, especially the more “colorful” words and local sayings.

Kathy Parson's Spanish for Cruisers was a godsend when it came to talking about everything from boat parts and repairs to getting medical help or buying groceries. We highly recommend it, if you're heading to Spanish-speaking countries. It offers not only bi-lingual translations, it also has pictures. Pictures, by the way, are a great way to communicate if you're stuck for a foreign translation of any part. As long you can draw it somewhat credibly, you'll find what you need if it's available. Unlike many English-speakers, we found the Latin and South Americans to be especially helpful and patient with our poor Spanish skills.

When we headed to French Polynesia, my high school French came in handy. I spoke Sp-rench for awhile and Fr-anish on occasion … that odd combination of Spanish and French that no one understands: “Oui, Senor” and “Si, Monsieur”. I finally converted over to actual French about the time we were ready to leave. Many people spoke English in the cities, but in the outlying islands and smaller towns where French and only French was spoken, we were certainly able to make ourselves understood with gestures, a few French words and patience. Kathy Parson's French for Cruisers was very helpful this time. I was one of the editors, so we were pretty proud of the finished product.

Though the romance languages work well in the eastern South Pacific, places like Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu as we moved further west were definitely a challenge at times. I tried learning at least a few words in each language: Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, sailboat and my name is ... are a good start. Sometimes we played the pointing game and asked for the local word. We'd repeat it in the language of the land and then say it in English. It was usually a good icebreaker and led to further conversation.

Whenever we could, we'd buy a local newspaper, try to read traffic signs, check out local ads for identifiable products and/or concentrate on figuring out what the words on grocery market signs were pointing to. We picked up lots of vocabulary words that way … something new each day. Of course, remembering what we'd learned was a challenge in itself, but hey, c'est la vie.