Globetrotting

One thing that is always interesting in a new country are the peculiarities of the language. South Africa has 11 official languages, and in Johannesburg you get around quite easily with English (which is one of them, obviously). The (white) South African accent is quite strong. Generally, it sounds similar to the Kiwi or Australian accent, but it has its own sound – particularly that in many vowels or vowel combinations that have two sounds (five, south), only the first sound is really audible – so “five” becomes “faav” (with the “a” pronounced as in the British “can’t”).

In addition to how things are being said, there is of course also what is being said. For one thing, the South Africans are even more extreme than US Americans in asking “How are you” as part of every greeting. Alternatively, the shortened South African form can be used: “Howzit?” Related is the confirmatory question “Izzit?” which is used basically like “okay” – and does not have to follow a sentence with “is” in it at all (for example “I bought a car yesterday” – “oh izzit?”).

Other words that are commonly used come from Dutch/Afrikaans roots, such as “Braai” for barbeque, “lekker” for nice or “bakkie” for a pickup truck. The cutest local word, in my opinion, however, is “robot” – which simply means a set of traffic lights, but it is quite funny to imagine that a robot is standing on an intersection controlling the traffic… 🙂