Two languages, both alike, in dignity

          The other day I mentioned that I’d like to learn Zulu, which is the most widely spoken language at the clinic, and someone said, “oh, that’s a black language.” It was hard to tell it its in a racist tone or just an observation- I’m slowly delving into the racism that permeates this culture, although apartheid ended nearly 17 years ago and technically everyone is equal, I see the inequality in the poverty of the black people who come to the clinic, and the fact that we’re staying in the very wealthy neighborhood of Northcliff, which is almost exclusively white.

          Afrikaans is one of the most widely spoken languages (of the 11 national languages here), though I imagine its mostly among the white population. Lauren and I have struggled with- do we learn the language of the poor black people we’re working with, Zulu, or do we learn Afrikaans, the mainly white language which is spoken more around South Africa? Suffice it to say, we’re buying books in both languages, if we can find them.

Update on this: The news tonight showed that students in South Africa will have to learn an African language, and some media outlets are saying they won’t be able to study Zulu, which is a widely spoken language. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds, especially as Afrikaans might be the other language they have to learn. Afrikaans was the language they had to learn during apartheid, so there’s implications in that, too. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Some Super South African slang:

Just now: meaning ‘sometime in the near future’

Now-now: very shortly

Stop street: stop sign

Pudding: dessert (British influence!)

Sorted: it’s all set

Lekker: great (Afrikaans slang)

Howzit- hello!

“Is it?”: used instead of ‘really?’ or ‘is that right?’ I actually used this one successfully today!

Sharp sharp: “cheers”, used when parting ways

“Are you winning?”- “are you doing alright?” Surprisingly they used this expression before Charlie Sheen got crazypants and used it.

Boerewors: sausages used in braais (bbqs)